When former GOP favorite Kari Lake contested the results of the 2022 general election following a disastrous Election Day in Maricopa County, Governor Katie Hobbs didn’t have to fret over a costly legal battle — special interest groups had the bill covered.
It wasn’t a sudden change of heart on the governor’s part that made known the existence of this secret special interests fund. Hobbs was found out, once again.
Arizona Capitol Times discovered an undisclosed legal fund established by Hobbs’ team to cover her campaign’s legal fees thanks to records published by what’s believed to be one of the biggest donors: the Arizona Public Service (APS) parent company, Pinnacle West Capital Corp.
Editor’s Note: The investigation and story published in the Arizona Capitol Times is a product of Capitol Media Services.
Pinnacle West Capital Corp. gave Hobbs $100,000 through her “Katie Hobbs Legal Defense Fund,” per the company’s Political Participation Policy annual expenditures report.
Their donation to Hobbs for legal fees marked their largest political donation last year.
Following their generous donations to Hobbs’ inaugural and legal defense funds, Arizona Public Service received a serious benefit with the signing of a bill they wrote enabling them to begin securitizing. Hobbs defended the bill as a means of lowering energy costs and creating jobs.
Even though this marks yet another secret fund exposed, Hobbs refuses to provide further transparency. It is not yet known how many other special interest groups have donated to the fund, nor how much the fund contains. Campaign spokesman Michael Beyer defended the fund’s creation in a statement to Arizona Capitol Times, but didn’t speak to the decision to keep details of the fund under wraps.
“Kari Lake baselessly challenged the results of a free and fair election she lost,” said Beyer. “We won eight times in court, and yet Lake fought the results all the way through November 2024 when she finally lost her last appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court.”
Hobbs relied on pro bono counsel, States United, for the 2022 challenges, alongside the firm Coppersmith Brockelman.
Hobbs and Maricopa County requested nearly $700,000 in attorney fees and legal costs, which the judge denied. The judge did order Lake to pay over $33,000 in expert witness fees, however.
This latest discovery is in keeping with the governor’s practice of shadowy fundraising from special interest organizations. In fact, Hobbs began her administration that way.
With the help of her campaign manager, Nicole DeMont, Hobbs established a 501(c)(4) nonprofit social welfare organization titled “The Katie Hobbs Inaugural Fund.” This classification of nonprofit is exempt from disclosing its donors. Hobbs and her team used state resources to solicit funding.
Others officers for the inaugural fund were Erin Fyffe and Debra Hammes.
Although the inauguration cost about $200,000 — well within ability of the Katie Hobbs Inaugural Fund to pay, having raised almost $2 million — the organization reported insufficient funds for outstanding invoices. Hobbs refused to transfer leftover money from her inaugural fund to the Governor’s Protocol Fund, flaunting the standard set by governors past and ignoring requests from then-House Speaker Ben Toma, Senate President Warren Petersen, and House Appropriations Committee Chair David Livingston.
This story was updated on May 19, 2025 at 9:16 p.m.
Democrats: Dark money is evil! Except when it benefits us.
Democrats: Citizens United is prima facia wrong! Except when it benefits us.
Democrats: Opacity in election finance is wrong! Except when it benefits us.
Democrats: Out-of-State and foreign interference in our elections is wrong! Except when it benefits us.
If it weren’t for double standards politicians would have no standards at all.
I appreciate you crediting Arizona Capitol Times for the report. But please note the investigation and story came from Capitol Media Services, a separate and independent news wire whose clients include newspapers and radio stations throughout Arizona, all of whom also published the story.
Done
Typical politicians with unlimited taxpayer money. Just wait until Pima County has to pay out millions for the wrongful death lawsuits filed for the Pima County Constable shooting debacle. An untrained, unqualified constable, high on drugs and appointed by Sharon Bronson, attempted to evict a madman with a gun that resulted in multiple deaths. The constable’s autopsy report read like a drug dictionary. So naturally Bronson resigned from the board, the news media failed to pick up the story and the constable’s drug problem was buried, at least for now. Fasten your seatbelts taxpayers, this one is going to be costly.
Not surprising. What else can you expect from the woman who campaigned for office from the safety of her cave thus insuring no one in the media would have any access to her? And once in office, she has exercised her veto powers like the Queen of Arizona to stop the elected Republican majority in the AZ Congress from wielding its voter given power. Accepting money from public utilities for personal use is just a perk for the monarch.
The thing that disturbs me the most is the lack of any coverage in the media, except for The Arizona Independent. Thank you, AI for your coverage.
Where is the outrage from the citizenry? Nowhere! I blame the citizenry and the voters that let all these happen. No one is protesting, demanding resignations. There is apathy only. Arizonans deserve whatever happens to them.
have to agree 100% whats coming is coming… dumb ass SOBs you never win if you don’t fight
The problem is that all the local news media and papers are left of center and only go hard after the AZGOP while cast shade against the opposition. And the AZGOP are still split between the McCainnites and reformers.
yep sounds about right – big business in pocket
just like the ‘chamber of commerce’ in Tucson – for big business by big business
Problem is, I’m sure the local main stream media will not cover any of this, just as they white washed all the missing money. Therefore, the uneducated voters will know nothing of this. She has been the most corrupt governor this state has ever had and has spent money like a drunken sailor!
no like a crack whore
Well, that is why R legislators should fight. That should include raising hell on tbe steps of the Capitol and thereby drawing in the media. And go to national media that is symphatethic to their cause. It will then flow back into the corrupt AZ media. They cannot just rely on sending letters of protest.
She is and always has been a fraud.
Money can buy an election for cheating Dems and APS.
What’s the course of action? Sad state.. not a solution – what ever it takes – where’s these power executives seeing a jail cell ? if they know this is what’s happening – no one cares? SO WHAT ? Really?
I guess it’s good to be on top! Unbelievable corruption everywhere in Politics and no one ever gets held accountable. Sad state of affairs in AZ that’s for sure!