Group home investigation involving Governor Hobbs

There is an ongoing investigation involving Governor Katie Hobbs in a pay-for-play scheme with a group home. Sunshine Residential Homes, which helps children in foster care, made large donations to Hobbs’ inauguration fund. The home then asked for and received the highest amount of funding from Arizona Department of Health Services.

Stacey Barchenger, a reporter at “The Arizona Republic” and azcentral.com, joined us to discuss details.

“Sunshine Residential Homes had no donation history, no political donation history, in the decade they started giving to the Governor and her party in 2022 and 2023,” Barchenger said. “About the same time, they get what amounts to a 60% increase in the daily pay that they get from the state.”

In Governor Hobbs’ 18 months in office, there have been about a dozen requests and only one of those was approved, and it was for Sunshine Residential Homes. Out of all the group homes in the state, they were the only ones to receive an increase in pay. This resulted in this home receiving the highest daily rate per child.

There is a bit of distrust from Republican panels on whether Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes will be able to investigate this fairly considering this is occurring within the Democratic party.