Maricopa County Democratic Party director quits as concerns swirl over $24K business deal
The executive director of the Maricopa County Democratic Party resigned Monday as controversy grew over a $24,000 business deal that the director appeared to direct to her fiancé.
Ne’lexia Galloway’s resignation was announced by county Democratic Party chair Nancy Schriber in an email to party officials. She did not give a reason for Galloway’s departure.
Galloway did not return a text message inquiring about her reasons for leaving.
Axios Phoenix first reported the concerns about the party's spending.
A mail piece that never was mailed
The announcement came as tensions heightened among the party’s activists over a planned campaign mailer featuring the party’s slate of Democratic candidates in November’s general election. It was intended to hit the mailboxes of 118,000 county Democrats ahead of the election.
Although the party was billed $24,480 for the work, the mailer never went out.
Heather Mrowiec, who recently resigned as the party’s treasurer, tracked what happened with that transaction and said she discovered U.S. postal records appeared to be falsified to give the impression the mailer was distributed.
She reached that conclusion when she obtained postal receipts, after multiple efforts, from the vendor, the political consulting firm Agave Strategy.
Mrowiec shared her findings late last month in a statement sent to party board members. The Arizona Republic obtained a copy of her statement.
“We suspected the documents provided were not legitimate; this suspicion was confirmed by USPS (the U.S. Postal Service) who told us that no jobs were processed with the quantities/prices on the documents, and that the documents contained inaccuracies indicating they were not authentic,” she wrote.
The receipts showed that a California printing company called 4Over.com provided the mailing permit. But, Mroweic wrote, 4Over.com told her they had no jobs that matched the information on the documents provided by Agave Strategy.
4Over.com is the same company used by Blaque Printing, a company owned by Galloway’s financé, Bruce Franks Jr., Mrowiec noted.
None of this information came easily, Mrowiec wrote. Agave Strategy did not provide any evidence of its work, such as printer proofs of the mailer or canceled checks for postage, she wrote. The money was only refunded after attorneys for the party contacted the consulting firm. The full $24,480 was returned in January, as reflected in state campaign finance reports.
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'We used the vendor the executive director told us to use'
Dawn Penich-Thacker, a principal with Agave, said Galloway instructed the firm to use Franks as a sub vendor but to keep his role quiet because of what Galloway described as petty political differences with party officials.
“We used the vendor the executive director told us to use; it was her own partner,” Penich-Thacker said.
On Monday, Penich-Thacker said the firm was used as a pass-through to get business to Franks. At the time, she thought nothing of it, she said, since Franks was a fixture at the party and had provided other services for the party.
“Come to find out, there was more to it,” she said.
Last fall, when the job passed to Franks, Penich-Thacker said her firm was unaware the party had created a conflict of interest policy that barred giving business to family members and partners unless the board granted specific permission. The policy was instated after several officials questioned contracts given to Franks, according to Mrowiec and other party members.
Penich-Thacker said it "wasn't easy" for the firm to reclaim the $24,480 from Franks.
"It didn't feel like he had those funds at the ready," she said of efforts to recoup the party's payment.
Franks is a former Missouri state lawmaker who resigned in 2019, shortly after he started his second term. He was fined $14,000 by the Missouri Ethics Commission for improperly using campaign funds to pay for personal items and for failing to file accurate finance reports.
Last fall, he ran Democrat Julie Gunnigle’s unsuccessful campaign for county attorney.
Intra-party arguments about deal
For months, suspicions had grown among some party activists about the mailer agreement. They intensified after Mrowiec shared her findings, with some complaining about a lack of leadership.
In emails obtained by The Republic, Schriber dismissed claims of cronyism and fraud because the $24,000 was refunded. She described the situation as “an unfortunate issue with a vendor and a mail house” and said efforts to paint it as anything else “borders on conspiracy theories.”
“The constant attacks on my tiny organization are exhausting,” Schriber wrote. “Wouldn’t the Republicans be gleeful if they knew we were attacking our own.”
She urged party unity to elect Democrats in 2024.
Schriber did not respond to The Republic’s request to comment on the reasons for Galloway’s resignation.
Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-228-7566 and follow her on Twitter @maryjpitzl.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Ne’lexia Galloway quits as Maricopa County Democratic Party director
