Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes' office is pursuing a criminal investigation into a group home for foster children that received increased state funding after donations to Gov. Katie Hobbs' campaign.
On Friday, Mayes sent letters to the state's auditor general and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell's office asking them to stand down from their own probes as Mayes conducts her investigation into Sunshine Residential Homes.
Sunshine is a state-contracted group home for foster children, receiving taxpayer dollars to care for some of the state's most vulnerable.
In April, ABC15 Investigators published its report on 9-year-old Jakob Blodgett, who died in 2022 after Sunshine reportedly allowed him to refuse his life-saving insulin shot.
This week, TheArizona Republic revealed Sunshine had donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to both Hobbs' inaugural fund and the Arizona Democratic Party.
Even as Sunshine dealt with the fallout of Blodgett's death, the Arizona Department of Child Safety gave the group a roughly 60% pay rate increase according to State Sen. T.J. Shope R-16th District. Sunshine is now being paid more daily per child than any other group home contractor, Shope said. While Hobbs does not have a direct say in the pay-rate increases, she did appoint the DCS chair.
Shope said the situation was "angering" to him.
"We are talking about taxpayer dollars being sent to an entity — and frankly one of the only entities — that got a rate increase after campaign contributions," said Shope.
Shope said it's the reporting from ABC15 and The Arizona Republic that prompted him to write letters to Mayes, MCAO, and the auditor general seeking an investigation into whether any laws had been violated.
"It seemed based on the reporting that it was serious enough for us to look into," Shope said. "This is something that I'm not turning my back on. It's my responsibility as the Health and Human Services chair of the Senate to look into it, as well. And I think that we'll have many eyes looking at many documents over the next days and months."
Mayes announced on Thursday she would be launching a criminal probe, but some Republicans have expressed concerns that Mayes, a Democrat, will be fair and impartial in her investigation. Letters sent by Mayes on Friday to the auditor general and MCAO outlined that additional investigations could be inappropriate and could "jeopardize the integrity of the criminal investigation" in her office.
Shope said there was more work to be done, even beyond Sunshine Residential Homes, to ensure services rendered had been appropriately financed.
"In the Senate, I believe anyway, it is incumbent on us to begin looking at the contracts that the Department of Child Safety has already rendered with other entities to see if there are any other potential improprieties that have taken place," Shope said.
Hobbs' office was adamant in a statement that she would be cleared of any wrongdoing.
"Governor Hobbs is a social worker who has been a champion for Arizona families and kids," read a statement from Hobbs' communications director Christian Slater. "It is outrageous to suggest her administration would not do what's right for children in foster care."
ABC15 has reached out to Sunshine via email and phone call and have not received a response.
