PHOENIX — State lawmakers have hired an out-of-state attorney who has defended Republican interests to act as an independent investigator in the long-standing probe of what they contend is a “pay-to-play” scheme by Gov. Katie Hobbs.
In a press release Monday, an all-Republican “advisory team” of the Arizona House that has been looking at the situation concluded it needs to proceed to the next step to determine if there is a link between political donations to the governor by the owner of Sunshine Residential Homes and a decision by her Department of Child Safety to grant a large increase in what it was paying to house children in the residential facility.
This is separate from an ongoing probe of the Democratic governor by Attorney General Kris Mayes into any link. It also is in addition to the fact lawmakers have asked Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell as well as the state Auditor General’s Office to investigate.
