Former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has died; he was 59 years old.
A statement from his family announced his death Tuesday. A spokesperson says Brnovich died following a heart attack.
Brnovich was elected attorney general in 2014, defeating the then-incumbent Tom Horne in the Republican primary. He went on to serve two terms in the office before unsuccessfully running for U.S. Senate in 2022.
Brnovich was also nominated by President Donald Trump to be ambassador to Serbia, the country from which his parents immigrated, but that nomination was withdrawn late last year.
Joe Kanefield is a partner at the law firm Snell and Wilmer. He served as chief of staff in the Attorney General’s Office.
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: Joe, good morning. Thanks for being here.
JOE KANEFIELD: Good morning, Mark.
BRODIE: So when you think about what Mark Brnovich like, what his philosophy was — especially in the AG's Office — what comes to mind for you?
KANEFIELD: Oh, well, Mark very much cared about doing the right thing for the people of Arizona, and that was what drove every decision he made. He definitely was a conservative, a lifelong conservative, and that guided his principles. But at the end of the day, it was about doing right by the people of Arizona. And he loved this state and loved the people he served.
BRODIE: One of the sort categories of law that a lot of people have been talking about is his work on consumer protection lawsuits against Volkswagen and Theranos. He had a number of fairly high-profile lawsuits during the pandemic about, you know, companies that claimed — that were making, you know, kind of outrageous claims about what they could do in terms of protecting you from COVID. It seems like that kind of falls into what you were just talking about.
KANEFIELD: Yeah, that's right. The consumer protection work was very important to Mark. You know, that's protecting the people from fraudsters, deceptive advertising and marketing tactics by companies that, you know, serve us all every day. And he took that work very seriously and was able to get some great results. You mentioned a few with Volkswagen and Theranos.
The opioid settlement comes to mind. You know, that was pretty significant to go after the companies that were supplying these drugs to folks and, you know, killing a lot of people. And Mark, you know, wanted to fix that. I mean, it's still an ongoing problem, of course, but he made some great headway in that area. And I'm very grateful to have been a part of that.
BRODIE: One of the other suits that got a lot of attention while he was in office was his lawsuit against the Arizona Board of Regents, suing over the cost of in-state tuition for Arizona residents to go to the three public universities. What were the conversations like in the office? Because that was a pretty good, controversial move, like suing an organization that he, at least in theory, was also representing.
KANEFIELD: Yes, so that predated me. You know, remember, I was his chief deputy and chief of staff during his second term, so that all happened during his first term. But of course, I'm very familiar with all that. And I think it was important to Mark to manage tuition. I mean, he felt, as a former graduate of Arizona State University, that ... — and Mark and I both attended Arizona State university in the '80s when tuition was dramatically lower than it is now.
And I think that was always a problem that he felt needed to be addressed in the skyrocketing cost of tuition and the justifications for that. And he felt that as attorney general, he had the public support to ask those questions, to raise those issues and to try to get to the root problem as to why tuition was going so high. So I think that was what was driving his decision to bring that lawsuit and try to lower tuition costs.
BRODIE: In listening to some interviews we had done with Mark Brnovich over the years, I was listening to one today where he is, of course, a well known Grateful Dead fan. And he talked about how when he would talk, he would not go off a set list. He really just kind of said what was on his mind in interviews. I wonder if that was kind of how he was like just sort of in the workplace also.
KANEFIELD: Absolutely 100% correct. Mark was a lifelong Deadhead, as you know, and he ... wasn't scripted. You know, I mean, he would have his talking points, but he spoke, always spoke from the heart, and he connected with the people. And there, you know, something about that that was special. You know, I work for Gov. Brewer as well, and she had that and has that ability, you know, to just connect. ... They just speak directly to the people. They love what they have to say, love the way they say it and articulate it. And that sort of free-spirited manner about him was what made him so wonderful.
BRODIE: What was that like for you as, somebody who I imagine was trying to keep him on message?
KANEFIELD: Well, that was an interesting dynamic, and I'm sure some of my colleagues are listening right now. ... My job was to be the taskmaster and keep the trains running. So we would go into our staff meetings, and I had a stack of information to go through that Mark referred to in colorful terms because I had to keep — But when he tuned in and paid attention, which he always did and focused, he had a very deliberative, thoughtful approach to dealing with every issue. ... He wanted everyone to be heard in the room. And we had an excellent senior team. I can't say enough great things about the people that he assembled to help and counsel him.
And there were different viewpoints in that room, and he listened to them all. And ultimately, he was the decision maker. But it was a very thoughtful and very deliberative process.
BRODIE: Joe, very, very quickly, before I let you go, something else that he was very well known for was his love of nunchucks. Did he ever give you a lesson?
KANEFIELD: Well, you know, it's funny you should bring the nunchucks up, because ... that happened the first week on the job for me, and I never had a direct experience with the viral video. And I'll tell you, that thing went viral, and, you know, some people loved it and some people didn't like it.
But at the end of the day, I think most people showed that he had a human side and he had a sense of humor — and he also was a pretty talented martial artist.
Clearly, my years of martial arts training paid off. Pulled my old nunchaku out of storage...like riding a bike. #WayOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/ibVf9ADWmx
— Mark Brnovich (@GeneralBrnovich) May 13, 2019
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