How candidates for Arizona attorney general Kris Mayes, Abe Hamadeh would lead if elected
The Arizona Republic asked candidates for attorney general Democrat Kris Mayes and Republican Abe Hamadeh to respond to a series of questions related to policy and the role of Arizona's top law enforcement official.
Below are their responses, which were submitted in writing and listed in alphabetical order.
Qualifications for office
What makes you best suited to be Arizona’s attorney general?
Hamadeh: I’m the only candidate in this race who has put criminals away as a prosecutor and has defended our country as an intelligence officer having served overseas in the U.S. Army Reserve. My experiences and background have been dedicated to protecting our country and state. As an Intelligence Officer, I negotiated defense contracts with high ranking foreign military officials and helped implement new enhanced security vetting to prevent another terrorist attack in the aftermath of the 2019 Pensacola terrorist attack.
I have the leadership skills necessary to keep Arizona safe and that’s why I have earned the endorsement of the U.S. Border Patrol and every top law enforcement association throughout our state.
Mayes: I am the only candidate for attorney general who is committed to the rule of law and to putting the needs of Arizona before any political party. When I served as an Arizona Corporation Commissioner for seven years, I walked into the office every day with one thing on my mind: How can I make Arizonans’ lives better? We got big things done by working with both Republicans and Democrats, including passing Arizona’s first renewable energy standard, passing our nation-leading energy efficiency standard and implementing the largest expansion of water conservation programs in history.
We also protected vulnerable Arizonans by aggressively prosecuting securities fraud. That’s what you can accomplish when you focus on looking out for the people of Arizona instead of partisan politics.
Opponent's policies
There has been a great deal of vitriol on social media between the campaigns. Do you agree with any of your opponent’s policies?
Hamadeh: I give credit to anyone who runs for public office. I don’t doubt the intentions of my opponent and her desire to serve, I just know that every single instance of Democrats implementing criminal justice reform, ending cash bail, and defunding the police has turned cities into chaos. Democratic policies have failed time and time again and we see the results in San Francisco, Chicago, Portland, New York, and even here in Tucson.
Mayes: I respect my opponent’s service in the U.S. military.
Death penalty
What is your stance on the death penalty?
Hamadeh: Capital punishment is the law in Arizona and the attorney general has a duty to carry out lawful sentences by holding the worst of the worst accountable for their heinous crimes. Too much emphasis is placed on the degenerates who commit unspeakable crimes and we should instead be focusing on justice for the victims. No family member or loved one should have to wait three decades for a convicted death row murderer to finally be held accountable for their crimes.
Mayes: The death penalty is the law of Arizona. Any attorney general takes an oath to faithfully enforce the law. Sadly, our elected politicians have been so incompetent that they’ve made a mess of this. There was a botched execution in 2014 because the Department of Corrections couldn’t figure out the correct drug dosage.
This should be a matter of justice, not politics. Our current attorney general has turned it into a political circus. He’s even tried to get Zyklon B, the gas used in Nazi death chambers, to use here in Arizona. We need to take some time to assess how the death penalty has worked, and make sure that this is done legally and correctly.
Prosecution experience
What is the most serious crime you've prosecuted?
Hamadeh: I have tried both misdemeanor and felony cases ranging from domestic violence, DUIs, drug cases, assaults on law enforcement, and numerous others. I’m the only candidate in this race who has actually put criminals behind bars.
Mayes: From 2003 to 2010, as an Arizona Corporation Commissioner, we worked directly in conjunction with the attorney general to prosecute scammers and return stolen money to victims in securities fraud cases — often millions of dollars. Many of these Civil Securities Division cases were very high level, multi-year cases that included the participation of our badged, armed and brave law enforcement officers. During my time on the commission, we restored tens of millions of dollars to the victims of fraud.
Management experience
The office isn't just about prosecuting crimes but managing budgets and staff. What is your budgeting experience? Describe your managerial experience: What's the largest number of employees you've overseen at one time?
Hamadeh: As an Intelligence Officer for the U.S. Army Reserves, I served for 14 months overseas in the Middle East where I assisted in overseeing a 120-million-dollar programs budget. I interfaced with foreign governments, their security forces, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Department of Defense in negotiating complex contracts and budgeting on behalf of the United States military.
While overseas, I oversaw and managed civilian contractors as well as U.S. soldiers in a complicated geopolitical environment through two different presidential administrations with an active terrorist threat from the Yemen Houthi Rebels. I have skin in the game and have proven myself to be a strong leader while under pressure.
Mayes: From 2003 to 2010, as an Arizona Corporation Commissioner, where I, along with the other commissioners, oversaw and managed attorneys, engineers, support staff and law enforcement officers — approximately 400 people. In this quasi-judicial role, we handled complex utility rate cases, prosecuted securities fraud, regulated pipeline and railroad safety and managed the $26 million yearly budget of the commission, as well as advocated for the Corporation Commission’s budgetary needs before the Arizona State Legislature.
From 2009 to 2010, I served as the chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission, having been elected by my bipartisan colleagues. I am the only candidate who has the managerial experience necessary to run our state’s largest law firm, the Attorney General’s Office.
Combating elder abuse
Discuss elder abuse. Would it be a priority for the office if you won? If so, what would you do to address it?
Hamadeh: The Arizona Legislature recently granted the Attorney General’s Office primary prosecutorial jurisdiction in elder abuse cases, meaning the office no longer relies upon direct referrals from other agencies to proceed with investigations. Not only would prosecuting elder financial and physical abuse be a priority for my administration, but I believe more should be done to enact protections in our statutes for victims of senior financial abuse.
Mayes: As a “retirement state,” Arizona’s 65 and older demographic is our fastest growing population. It is absolutely critical that we be vigilant about investigating and prosecuting elder abuse and neglect. Elder abuse includes financial exploitation, fraud, physical/sexual abuse and neglect. These cases are often severely under-reported due to embarrassment, shame, coercion, or a combination of all.
Though tragic, many times a family member or close friend is the perpetrator in these cases. Long term care facilities (or “nursing homes”) also need more oversight and protections for residents, as a recent report by the auditor general said “state regulators wrongly downgraded complaints including severe allegations, such as sexual assault and neglect.” This is grossly unacceptable.
When I am attorney general I vow to make this critical issue a priority by aggressively prosecuting elder abuse, as well as all vulnerable adult abuse, working with county attorneys to assist them in prosecuting these cases, immediately investigating the findings of the auditor general’s report on elder and vulnerable adult abuse, and creating a statewide task force to put a spotlight on these critical issues and determine further steps to prevent it, which I have outlined on my campaign website, KrisMayes.com.
Representing state agencies
Discuss the AG’s role of representing state agencies as their counsel. Are there instances when you would side against an agency? How would you resolve a conflict between a personal political conviction and the duties of the office?
Hamadeh: Personal political convictions should be irrelevant when it comes to interpreting and following the law, and first and foremost, the attorney general has a duty to ensure the state and by extension its agencies abide by the Arizona Constitution and all relevant statutes. If an agency refuses to follow legal advice consistent with the law, then the attorney general must decide how to act in a fashion that is in the best interests of the people of Arizona.
Mayes: My office will provide the best unvarnished legal advice it can to state agencies. In instances where a state agency disagrees with our advice, my office will have an open, but confidential, dialogue with the state agency about why it disagrees with its action. If that conflict cannot be resolved, and I believe that litigation is necessary to protect the greater interests of the state of Arizona, I will hire private counsel to represent the state and recuse my office from litigating against a client to whom my office had previously given advice about the same matter.
As for my personal political convictions, they will not be a factor in how I carry out the duties of the office of attorney general or how I abide with my ethical duties and obligations to my clients. It is my goal to remove politics from the office of attorney general.
Defending state law
Does the attorney general have a duty to defend all statutes regardless of whether he/she agrees with them?
Hamadeh: The attorney general has an ethical duty to the state and its citizens to defend the law as it is, not as they wish it to be. Exercising broad personal political discretion or picking and choosing which laws to defend based upon individual preferences damages confidence in our legal system and further erodes the rule of law.
Mayes: Yes, the attorney general has the duty to defend all constitutional statutes whether she agrees with them or not. However, because I will take an oath to support the constitutions of the United States and Arizona and “bear true faith and allegiance to the same,” I will not defend statutes that are unconstitutional.
One example would be A.R.S. §13-3603, the statute passed in 1901 that makes it a crime for anyone to conduct or assist with an abortion. That statute violates the Arizona Constitution’s express guarantee that no person should be disturbed in his or her private affairs, and as attorney general, I will not prosecute any doctors, nurses or anyone else for carrying out or assisting with an abortion or any other women’s reproductive health care that some may claim to violate that statute.
Attorney general-secretary of state dispute
Secretary of State Katie Hobbs filed an ethics complaint in 2020 against Attorney General Mark Brnovich, claiming his office sabotaged election-related cases and failed to adequately represent her office as counsel. Who was right in this dispute, and why?
Hamadeh: The attorney general has a responsibility to client agencies, but more importantly a duty to the law and the people of Arizona. The issue is that the secretary of state weaponized the State Bar complaint process after failing to defend state election law on multiple occasions and the Attorney General must be enabled to defend the law when others won’t.
Mayes: An attorney has no greater ethical duty than the duty of loyalty to a client. If you disagree with a client, you don't do so publicly. You certainly do not make derogatory comments about a client on social media.
In her Bar complaint, Secretary Hobbs listed several election lawsuits where the Attorney General’s Office had represented the Secretary of State’s Office, received confidential attorney-client communications, provided legal advice, and filed papers in the trial court on behalf of the secretary of state, but then later withdrew from representing the secretary of state so that it could appear in an appellate court in the same litigation on behalf of a different party to assert a position materially adverse to the secretary of state.
No ethical attorney can defend his client in the trial court but then switch sides on appeal to his client's detriment. Nor does an ethical attorney, while representing a client in a case, attempt to assert legal positions that he knows his client disagrees with, especially when he does not get advanced permission from the client to do so.
Resources for multistate litigation
An attorney general might be involved with multistate litigation. Some cases might be consumer oriented, but other lawsuits might be politically charged. How would you allocate time and resources spent on these cases?
Hamadeh: The Arizona Attorney General’s Office is equipped to handle multiple forms of complex litigation at the same time. The reality is that state attorneys general have recently become more active in federal court because they are often the last line of defense in protecting states from the overreach of the federal government. Attorneys general wouldn’t have to be so active in federal court if Congress would do their job or if the Executive Branch would respect the separation of powers. As Attorney General, I would ensure Arizona’s voice is heard in the courtroom if D.C. won’t listen.
Mayes: Consumer protection is tremendously important to the people of Arizona, and I will prioritize working with other states on these cases, as my friend Attorney General Grant Woods did in the tobacco settlement. I will not engage in multistate cases in order to score political points. Looking out for the people of Arizona will be my North Star.
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Consumer protection
How important is consumer protection?
Hamadeh: Consumer protection is one of the most important public functions the attorney general can provide. Often a harmed consumer has nowhere else to turn and the Attorney General’s Office provides a critical role advocating on behalf of consumers and, when necessary, suing a fraudulent company for particularly egregious conduct. The Arizona Consumer Fraud Act is one of the stronger consumer protection statutes in the country, and while I believe the current administration has done a fine job recovering restitution for Arizona consumers, I believe even more can be done to educate the public on the front end to ensure consumers do not fall prey to the latest scams.
Mayes: Consumer protection is a great deal more important for the people of Arizona than our current attorney general has treated it. Earlier this year, 3TV/CBS5 reported that Arizonans made 15,000 consumer fraud complaints to the Attorney General’s Office during the past year, but the current AG diverted millions away from the Consumer Fraud and Protection Fund to other politically motivated lawsuits.
The Attorney General’s Office needs to crack down on fraud and cyber scams, which disproportionately harm our seniors, as well as many others. As your attorney general, I vow to investigate and prosecute these con artists and swindlers and will restore the funding to do so.
Revenue from consumer protection
Will consumer protection play an integral part in generating revenue for your office?
Hamadeh: The Arizona Legislature is the only entity that can appropriate money to the office. I will prioritize advocating for general fund dollars to support the critical functions of the office, but I won’t allow the office to endure any sort of budgetary cuts that compromise public safety or diminish support for victims in this state.
Mayes: Yes, as it should.
Most important issue
What is the most important issue for Arizona’s next attorney general? Why?
Hamadeh: It is critical for the attorney general to advocate for the rule of law and pursue justice at all costs. Public confidence in our legal system and our elected officials is in shambles, driven by examples such as lax attitudes towards combating rising crime, the refusal of federal officials to secure our southern border, or the perception that there is a separate justice system in this country for the politically-connected. Justice should not be a partisan issue and Arizonans want an attorney general who will be guided by the law, not partisan affiliations or pursuits.
This country has been a beacon of hope for so many, primarily because we are a nation of laws that respects individual rights and liberty. America has always been great, but whether it stays that way depends upon all of us. As attorney general I will do everything in my power to enforce the law and ensure future generations continue to experience an America that remains a “shining city upon a hill.”
Mayes: I've spoken about consumer protection and elder abuse. Other issues of critical importance are: water security and protecting Arizona’s water rights, tackling our fentanyl crisis, protecting voting rights including protection of vote-by-mail which the majority of Arizonans use, and protecting our democracy to make sure that the candidate who receives the most votes is always declared the winner.
It is also vital that we immediately restore our reproductive rights in Arizona. Unlike the U.S. Constitution, Arizona’s Constitution contains an express right to privacy, and I intend to fight for women and our reproductive healthcare providers. As attorney general, I will not prosecute doctors, PAs, nurses, midwives, doulas or pharmacists for providing, or women for receiving reproductive services. This includes abortions, providing care to women who have had miscarriages, IVF services and women seeking Plan B and/or any form of birth control.
I believe abortion should be legal and safe, and that women should have both privacy and bodily autonomy. The government does not belong in these decisions that should remain between women and our healthcare providers.
Tara Kavaler is a politics reporter at The Arizona Republic. She can be reached by email at tara.kavaler@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @kavalertara.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona attorney general candidates Kris Mayes, Abe Hamadeh on issues
