Hoffman Taps Former GOP Candidate Andrew Gould To Lead Hobbs Investigation

State Senator Jake Hoffman announced Monday that former Arizona Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould will serve as special counsel in the Senate investigation involving Gov. Katie Hobbs and Sunshine Residential Homes. The Senate says the move adds independent legal oversight and places the matter before Sen. David Farnsworth’s Appropriations Committee.

“Transferring the proceedings and placing former Justice Andrew Gould at the center takes away their excuses for non-cooperation, strengthens the investigation, and ensures the evidence, not their predetermined political narrative, drives any resulting legislative reforms,” Hoffman said in a Senate press release.

Gould is a former Arizona Supreme Court justice who left the court in 2021 and subsequently ran as a Republican for attorney general in 2022. He lost the GOP primary. He now practices at Holtzman Vogel and has represented conservative organizations in Arizona election-law litigation, including the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and Center for Arizona Policy. Federal court filings also show him representing plaintiffs, including America First Policy Institute, in litigation against Arizona officials.

Senate Democrats responded by again characterizing Hoffman’s investigation as partisan, as they did last week.

“There has been no coordination or communication from Senate Republicans to us about this investigation, and we expect this to continue as the partisan investigation it was originated,” said Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan in an email to Arizona Globe. “We will participate as necessary to set the record straight.”

Sundareshan said that “Senate Democrats do not view Andrew Gould as an independent third party investigator given his own significant partisan history in seeking elected office and his continued association with conservative organizations seeking to influence elections.”

In the Senate press release, Gould said that he’d conduct the investigation “dispassionately and according to the law, with respect for individual rights, due process, and a disciplined review of the evidence.”

The Senate release says investigators will seek testimony and records concerning more than $500,000 in political contributions, later taxpayer-funded rate increases benefiting providers, decisions made inside the Hobbs administration, and Attorney General Kris Mayes’ handling of the prior investigation. “This investigation involves state contracts, agency spending, extraordinary rate increases, and millions of taxpayer dollars, placing it squarely within the oversight responsibilities of the Appropriations Committee,” said David Farnsworth, head of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Farnsworth said, “This transfer does not narrow the issues under investigation or diminish the Senate’s resolve. It places the investigation where the money can be examined directly and adds an experienced former prosecutor and Supreme Court justice to lead that work.”

On Aug. 21, Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that her office’s two-year investigation had not found evidence of the quid pro quo necessary to support a bribery charge. She nevertheless called for legislative reforms governing political donations by state contractors. Hoffman’s Senate inquiry now seeks to scrutinize both the underlying Hobbs/Sunshine matter and Mayes’ handling of the investigation.

The Hobbs campaign was quick to label this investigation as an extension of Rep. Andy Biggs’ campaign, the Republican gubernational nominee, to unseat Nobbs. “Partisan extremists are now scrambling to keep this taxpayer-funded sham alive,” Hobbs campaign communications director Michael Beyer told Arizona Globe. “But no matter how many times Biggs’ cronies change course, they cannot change the facts: it has been made abundantly clear, through public reporting and the Attorney General’s report, that there was no wrongdoing by Gov. Hobbs, the Governor’s Office, or the Hobbs campaign.”

Gould denies partisan motives. “My responsibility,” he said, “will be to help the committee establish a complete factual record, evaluate testimony and documents objectively, and ensure its work is thorough, fair, and legally sound. No factual or policy conclusion should be predetermined. The evidence will determine where this investigation leads, and what reforms if any are ultimately recommended to the Committee.”