Reports have come out that Hobbs' top staff, former lobbyists all, just got PAID.
The Arizona Daily Independent reports:
In Arizona, it pays great dividends to put some time in as a lobbyist before landing a government job.
Several staffers within Governor Katie Hobbs’ office received pay raises amounting to around $200,000 each this year, based on data pulled by the Arizona Republic compared to December salary reporting.
Chief of staff Chad Campbell received a pay raise of $216,000. Per December reporting, Campbell’s annual salary was just shy of $207,000. Now he’ll make closer to half a million per year: over $423,000. That makes him the eighth-highest paid employee by the state of Arizona.
When Campbell joined Hobbs’ office in 2023, his salary was about $199,000. His prior pay raise only amounted to about $8,000.
Prior to joining Hobbs’ office, Campbell was a lobbyist for two firms: Lumen Strategies and Strategies 360. His clientele included the Arizona Coyotes, Constellation Energy, and NRG Energy.
Lourdes Pena — the deputy chief of staff of legislative, policy, and external affairs — now makes over $391,000. In December, Pena was reported as making over $192,000. That’s a pay raise of over $199,000. That makes her the eleventh-highest paid employee by the state of Arizona.
When Pena joined Hobbs’ office in 2023, her salary was about $180,000. Her prior pay raise amounted to about $12,000.
Prior to joining Hobbs’ office, Pena was the senior public affairs advisor for Triadvocates, and the minority policy advisor for the Arizona House of Representatives.
Both Campbell and Pena were scrutinized upon their initial hiring back in 2023 since they were former lobbyists, along with seven others:
Sambo (Bo) Dul, general counsel (former lobbyist, departed Hobbs’ office in August to work for the law firm Coppersmith Brockelman within its elections and public law practice);
Will Gaona, deputy chief of staff (former lobbyist for the ACLU of Arizona);
Jennifer Loredo, deputy chief of staff for legislative, policy, and intergovernmental affairs (former lobbyist for the Arizona Education Association);
May Mgbolu, finance and revenue advisor (former lobbyist for Children’s Action Alliance and Arizona Center for Economic Progress);
Zaida Dedolph Piecoro (former lobbyist for Arizona’s Oral Health Care Coalition, Children’s Action Alliance, Wildfire, and Protecting Arizona’s Family Coalition);
Andrew Sugrue, human services advisor (former lobbyist for Children’s Action Alliance and Arizona Center for Economic Progress); and
Whitney Walker (Daniels), listed as senior strategic advisor and hired on as deputy director of policy and civil rights advisor (former lobbyist for Planned Parenthood, the Arizona Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, and Protecting Arizona’s Family Coalition)
Per these latest salary reports, these other former lobbyists within Hobbs’ office received slight pay decreases or raises within a range of several thousand dollars.
Exempting those employed within the state’s university and college system, that makes Campbell and Pena among the highest-paid employees in the state.
Last year, Hobbs made sure one of her appointees rejected by the legislature, Dana Allmond, received a $170,000 contract for a newly-created position at the Department of Economic Security (DES) amid staff layoffs. The year prior to her nomination in 2022, Allmond was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the state legislature.
Katie Hobbs' administration is a racket!
She ONLY hires lobbyists, it seems.
She tries to reward those lobbyists with giveaways, but the BIG scandal is how she hires these people to cushy state jobs, then doles out raises of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
All at a time when Arizonans are suffering with Bidenflation. It's sickening.
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PAID FOR BY WENDY ROGERS FOR AZ SENATE
Wendy Rogers is a retired member of the Air Force. Use of military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by the Department of the Air Force or the Department of Defense.
