Three Days in August: The Investigation of Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs that AG Kris Mayes Promised—and Never Completed
Katie Hobbs Answered the Attorney General on August 17. The Declination Memo Was Finished Three Days Later, on August 20.
By Linda Brickman
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is not an accusation of wrongdoing. It is a question about what happened during three days at the end of a two-year investigation — and whether the public has yet been shown the full record. Cover-up or was something deliberately withheld – or Is There More to The Story That Hasn’t Been Disclosed?
THE CLOCK STARTS
Katie Hobbs did answer the Attorney General’s investigators…Just not in person as guaranteed by AG Mayes.
On August 17, 2026, attorneys for the Governor delivered written responses to questions from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office concerning Sunshine Residential Homes. Those questions were not trivial. They covered Hobbs’s and her office’s knowledge of Sunshine’s 2023 and 2024 rate increases, her interactions with Sunshine CEO Simon Kottoor, communications between DCS and the Governor’s Office, political contributions, and Sunshine’s donations to Hobbs’s legal-defense fund.
According to Mayes, Hobbs’s answers were categorical: she denied influencing the rate decisions, denied directing anyone else to influence them, and denied that Sunshine’s political support affected state action.
Three days later, the Attorney General’s Criminal Division completed the memorandum recommending that prosecution be declined.
That does not mean investigators did nothing with Hobbs’s answers during those three days…But the “limited” publicly released record does not tell us what they did.
And That Is The REAL STORY…
THE QUESTIONS BEHIND THE ANSWERS
Curiously, the exact questions sent to Hobbs have not been publicly released. Only her attorneys’ August 17 letter tells us what investigators were asking about.
According to Hobbs’s August 17 written responses, the Attorney General’s Office had asked for information concerning (1) Hobbs’s and the Governor’s Office’s knowledge of Sunshine’s 2023 and 2024 rate increases; (2) Hobbs’s interactions with Simon Kottoor; (3) communications between DCS and the Governor’s Office; (4) Kottoor’s purported statements about political influence; (5) campaign contributions; and (6) Sunshine’s donations to Hobbs’s Legal Defense Fund.
Those were not peripheral subjects. They went directly to the heart of the investigation. Hobbs responded with sweeping denials. She said neither she nor her staff directed DCS’s rate decisions, denied discussing Sunshine’s rates or procurement decisions with Kottoor, and said political contributions did not influence state action.
Her campaign attorneys also disclosed something that had not previously been public: Sunshine contributed $150,000 to Hobbs’s Legal Defense Fund — three separate $50,000 donations between November 2023 and May 2024.
The answers were now on the investigators’ desks. The Question Became What They Did With Them.
THREE DAYS. NO PUBLIC ROADMAP. NO INTERVIEW.
On August 17, Hobbs’s written responses reached the Attorney General’s Office. On August 20, Chief Counsel Nick Klingerman completed the memorandum recommending that prosecution be declined.
Three days…The public record does not show What Happened Inside That Window.
- It does not tell us whether investigators compared Hobbs’s answers against documents already collected.
- It does not tell us whether contradictions were identified and pursued.
- It does not tell us whether witnesses were re-contacted.
- It does not tell us whether investigators asked Hobbs for clarification or challenged any of her written assertions.
- And it does not tell us whether her answers changed anything in the investigation at all.
That does not prove those steps were never taken. It means something much narrower:
The Public Has Not Yet Been Shown Whether They Were.
WHEN THE STORIES DON’T MATCH & NO INTERVIEW
One reason the missing investigative mechanics matter is that investigators were not dealing with perfectly matching accounts.
Former DCS Director Mike Faust later described an alleged conversation in which Simon Kottoor offered to recommend that Hobbs retain Faust as DCS director if Faust approved a rate increase for Sunshine. Kottoor allegedly gave investigators a different account. He said Faust contacted him about wanting to remain as director and discussed a possible congregate-care rate increase.
Two different versions of an important conversation – No Documents Disclosed.
Mayes’s office has acknowledged it knew of Faust’s allegation. What the public still does not know is whether investigators confronted Kottoor with Faust’s version, challenged either account, or took additional steps to determine which version was more credible.
AG Mayes has since said her office considered the conflicting accounts and concluded the “he said, he said” allegation was insufficient to support a bribery charge. She also questioned Faust’s credibility because he acknowledged not immediately reporting what he believed could have been an improper offer.
But that explanation makes the underlying interview record more — not less — important to understanding how investigators resolved conflicting evidence.
THE FILES BEHIND THE FINDING
The Attorney General’s Office says investigators conducted 12 interviews and reviewed more than 100,000 documents during the Sunshine investigation. But the underlying interview files and documents have not yet been released. WHY?
That means the public still cannot see the documents, the complete questions, the complete answers, the follow-up, or how conflicting accounts were tested. Senate President Warren Petersen has demanded that the interview materials and documents be made public BEFORE EARLY VOTING BEGINS!
The Attorney General’s Office says they will be released after review and redaction.
Good… but no date given or guaranteed before voting begins.
Because those records may show that investigators aggressively tested every important answer before declining prosecution. Or they may raise new questions.
Either Way, The Public Should Be Able to See ALL the Records.
This is not a question about whether Katie Hobbs should have been charged. It is a question about how the Attorney General’s Office reached its decision not to charge her. Those are two different things. An investigation involving a sitting Governor does not have to produce a prosecution to deserve public confidence — but the process that produced the decision should be able to withstand public scrutiny.
WHAT HAPPENED IN AUGUST AFTER A 2-YEAR INVESTIGATION?
Katie Hobbs answered the Attorney General’s questions in writing on August 17. The prosecution memorandum was completed on August 20. If investigators spent those three days testing her answers against 100,000 plus documents, comparing them with prior witness testimony, pursuing contradictions, or seeking clarification, the record should clearly show it.
If they did not, that matters too…
Either way, Arizona should not have to speculate about what happened during the final three days of a two-year investigation, preceding a critical mid-term election.
The Attorney General’s Office has said the underlying records will be released after review and redaction. Good… But when?
Because this story no longer requires another political accusation – It requires something much simpler:
Show Us the Evidence and What Happened Between August 17 and August 20.
Three days that Changed an Election!
Three days should be Easy to Explain…
Coincidence? Or something else – A Coverup? A Coup?
SHOW US ALL THE RECORDS!
by Linda Brickman
©2026 Linda Brickman All Rights Reserved.
The talentless and marginal Hobbs is the cartel's puppet.
Don't be concerned. There WAS a coverup.
I know there was, but many don't. Kolodin has to win!