Over the past few years, a government pay-to-play scandal has been brewing in Arizona that rivals the malfeasance we have come to expect from American bastions of impropriety like New York, Illinois, and California. 

A couple of years ago, the state’s paper of record, The Arizona Republic, exposed a troubling relationship between Governor Katie Hobbs and Sunshine Residential Homes, LLC. The reporting revealed a suspicious link between political donations benefiting Hobbs’ inaugural fund and the Arizona Democratic Party and government-approved rate increases for Sunshine — at a time when similar increases were not being granted to other providers.

The revelation of a possible pay-to-play scandal at the highest levels of Arizona government sent shockwaves across the state and launched a quest for answers.

Thanks in large part to media reporting, we now know that more than $580,000 in political contributions from Sunshine Residential Homes and individuals connected to the company benefited Katie Hobbs and Democratic organizations. Then, the Hobbs Administration approved rate increases that made Sunshine Arizona’s highest-paid group home provider per child. Internal messages uncovered over the past two years referenced Sunshine’s........

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