Departed chief of Election Integrity Unit seeks $2M in claim against Attorney General Mayes

A former Arizona assistant attorney general wants $2 million from Attorney General Kris Mayes and her office, claiming statements about her departure from the office were defamatory.

Jennifer Wright, former head of the Attorney General's Election Integrity Unit under the previous administration, filed a notice of claim July 5 against Mayes, in both her personal and professional capacity, and the state of Arizona.

The notice of claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, focuses on comments made by a representative of the Attorney General's Office, who initially stated she was "fired" from the office.

The statements were published in an article on Jan. 5 in The Arizona Republic. Soon after publication, the article included Wright's denial and ultimately included revised information from the Attorney General's Office.

That article damaged Wright's reputation as a lawyer, the claim states, "by leading the public to believe, incorrectly, that her professional services did not meet the minimum quality standards of her current employer."

The claim is a legally required step before suing government agencies in Arizona; Wright can file a lawsuit against Mayes and the state if they don't respond to it within two months.

Wright, a Republican, contends that she resigned before the new Democratic attorney general took office, which Mayes' office stated was indeed the case four days after the publication of the article. The claim also accuses Mayes' office of violating state administrative rules that limit what state agencies can say publicly about an employee.

"Your lies to the media fit nowhere within the authorized public disclosures," Wright wrote to Mayes in the claim.

The claim's attached exhibits include her accounting of "lost salary & health benefits" over 10 years, which come to more than $1.1 million. She also seeks reputational, distress-related and punitive damages of about $860,000.

"It's unfortunate we have to worry about Arizona's chief legal officer floating false, politically motivated stories in newspapers," Wright told The Republic in an interview on Thursday. "She should be held accountable so she doesn't lie about other people in other circumstances."

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Former Attorney General Mark Brnovich installed Wright as head of the Election Integrity Unit in 2019 to investigate alleged election fraud. A Republican like Brnovich, Wright didn't hold back in public statements before the 2022 election, posting on social media in support of far-right candidates before the election via likes and retweets along with an endorsement of one candidate. She said her account was personal in nature.

The Jan. 5 article quoted Mayes' office as saying that Mayes fired Wright "shortly after being sworn in." However, Mayes didn't take office until Jan. 2, and Wright produced a resignation letter dated Saturday, Dec. 31, 2021. According to a document Wright provided to The Republic, Mayes' office received the resignation letter on Jan. 3. Mayes' office later agreed she had resigned.

Mayes' representative repeatedly told The Republic that Wright was told to quit or be fired. The office later clarified that the demand was communicated to Wright via messages to Brnovich's office and not to Wright directly.

Wright denies that she ever received any such messages, claiming that she resigned of her own volition.

Mayes' office said it wasn't clear if Wright had directly received its messages.

Wright continues to work in private practice, including on the election challenge to Mayes' win in November over Republican Abe Hamadeh.

Mayes' office declined comment for this article.

Reach the reporter at rstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on Twitter @raystern.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Jennifer Wright seeks $2M from Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes