Arizona Senate delaying and revising probe of 'pay-to-play' allegations against Gov. Hobbs

The state Senate is delaying and revising its probe of "pay-to-play" allegations against Gov. Katie Hobbs.

And GOP Sen. Jake Hoffman said Monday that he will no longer lead the investigation because "the crooked political media" has pointed out that he is financially benefiting from advertising placed by others to defeat the incumbent governor.

What that most immediately means is that the scheduled Sept. 29 meeting of the Senate Government Committee, which Hoffman heads, has been canceled — as have been the subpoenas for the governor and others, at least for now.

Instead, the probe will go to the Senate Appropriations Committee headed by Sen. David Farnsworth.

No hearing has been set by Farnsworth. But that doesn’t eliminate the possibility that public questioning of Hobbs, Attorney General Kris Mayes, their staff, and former employees of the Department of Child Safety could still occur as Arizonans are casting their ballots: Early voting starts Oct. 7.

Farnsworth, like Hoffman, has not shied from criticizing the Hobbs administration. At a press conference earlier this month, he said that a statement provided to the Senate by a former DCS employee that raises questions about why the agency twice increased the amount of money it was paying to Sunshine Residential — a firm that has contributed $550,000 to Hobbs, her inaugural fund and the Arizona Democratic Party — to house foster children.

It is that link between the governor and the company headed by Simon Kottoor that forms the basis of the Senate inquiry.

Farnsworth also said that statement contradicts findings by Mayes, who said DCS provided the 60% increase in rates to Sunshine in 2023, after Hobbs was elected, because the state was at risk of losing the beds. The Senate inquiry also is looking into how Mayes handled her own probe. And she, too, has been subpoenaed.

Farnsworth also was at Hoffman's side a week ago when the Senate probe was first announced.

The other big change announced by Hoffman Monday is that the Senate is hiring former Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould to serve as "special counsel" to the Appropriations Committee on this matter.

Kim Quintero, publicist for Senate Republicans, said Gould will work with Farnsworth "to conduct a thorough review of the available information and determine the appropriate next steps."

"His work may include reviewing records and speaking with relevant individuals as the process moves forward," she said in a prepared statement.

But Gould is no stranger to Republican politics.

After leaving the bench in 2021, he made an unsuccessful bid for attorney general, coming in third in a race won by Abe Hamadeh.

Hamadeh eventually lost the 2022 general election to Mayes.

More recently, Gould represented American Encore and the America First Policy Institute, groups with ties to Republican interests, in their lawsuit against Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes over some rules he put to the Elections Procedures Manual. That resulted in the Court of Appeals striking some of what Fontes enacted as illegal.

And Gould is still representing Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Steve Montenegro, both Republicans, who are trying to reimpose restrictions on abortions despite voter approval in 2024 of Proposition 139 which enshrines a right of women to terminate a pregnancy into the Arizona Constitution.

There was no immediate response from either the governor or her campaign.