By Chris Woodward
A lawsuit has been filed against Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.
Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute brought the lawsuit. Attorneys want Mayes to release alleged price-fixing complaint records from a 2024 lawsuit that Mayes filed against nine residential landlords and the RealPage software company.
At the time of filing her lawsuit, the attorney general’s office said the parties were “conspiring to illegally raise rents for hundreds of thousands of Arizona renters” in the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas.
Goldwater Institute attorney Stacy Skankey said the institute does not take a position on the merits of the underlying case. However, when reviewing the announcement and complaint made by Mayes, the institute discovered there was no mention of actual consumer complaints, Skankey said.
“It just says very broadly and generally that consumers were harmed,” Skankey told The Center Square. “So when the attorney general is using their consumer protection enforcement powers, Arizonans need to know whether consumers are actually being protected by these actions.”
The lawsuit against the Democratic attorney general was filed Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court. The county is home to Phoenix, the state’s capital.
Skankey said attorneys want to “get information about that lawsuit regarding who complained.” Goldwater also wants to know if there were “any unsolicited complaints from the public.”
In April 2024, Goldwater filed a public records request. According to Skankey, Goldwater did not get a response until January of this year.
“Even then you know it was a denial, we tried to follow up and get communication before filing suit, but here we are, now in November 2025, and we still don’t have our answers, and so we brought this lawsuit,” said Skankey, litigation director of the Goldwater Institute’s American Freedom Network. The institute is a nonprofit that focuses on liberty issues.
Skankey added Goldwater is not asking for much, only numerical data.
“It should be very easy to comply with, and yet, you know after this long, drawn-out process, here we are now having to demand that these be produced,” said Skankey.
The Center Square sought comment from the Attorney General’s Office and was told that staffers responded to the Goldwater Institute’s request for records. Mayes’ office said it produced all documents required to be disclosed under Arizona law.
“Attorney General Mayes is proud to have taken on major corporate landlords and RealPage for allegedly orchestrating a price-fixing scheme that drove up rents for families across Arizona,” said Richie Taylor, communications director for Attorney General Mayes.
“She will continue to aggressively pursue this case to hold landlords and RealPage accountable for their anticompetitive conduct,” Taylor told The Center Square.
Taylor added that the Goldwater Institute is “free to follow the case as it moves through the courts, just like anyone else.”
Skankey later told The Center Square her team disagrees with the Attorney General’s Office’s claim that it complied with the Arizona public records law.
“Our records request for the total number of consumer complaints regarding RealPage was denied, and follow-up communications went unanswered,” said Skankey. “Taxpayers deserve transparency, and without transparency, officials lose the public’s trust.”
Everyone forgets about ASU’s starting Tailback Kyson Brown has been hurt all year! Sam Leavitt has been battling his injury almost all season! He won’t even say how long he’s been playing hurt! The starting FS Xavion Alford who was potentially going to be an All American and a 1st or 2nd round draft choice hasn’t played all year! Ben Coleman has been out for weeks and won’t play the rest of the year! ASU’s DE rush ends Clayton Smith and Prince Dorbah have been hit and miss with injuries! I can’t remember a team with so many injuries to starters and actually they’ve had a few others out also but they’ve hung strong and beat Texas Tech who’s ranked 6th in the nation besides being close to maybe playing for the Big 12 Championship who has given this program credit for all the strife! Just saying
The way this story is written is very confusing. Here is my take on it.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a lawsuit in 2024 against 9 residential landlords and the RealPage software company alleging they were conspiring to illegally raise rents for Arizona renters. She justified this action based on the Attorney General’s consumer protection enforcement powers. But the lawsuit did not include any actual consumer complaints that might be a basis for the action.
Now the Goldwater Institute has filed a lawsuit asking Kris Mayes to release the alleged price-fixing complaint records from her 2024 lawsuit in order to get information about the number of consumer complaints filed and to see if there were actually any unsolicited complaints from the public.
We need to rid ourselves of this corrupt, woke administration soonest.
That will not work because of the apathetic and dumb voter base. Major re-education of voters is needed and there is no one up to that task. AZ will spiral down as CA did.