Arizona State Representative Alex Kolodin called Arizona’s illegitimate Democrat governor out in a letter to her office Thursday after $339 million “disappeared” from the state budget.
Kolodin told The Gateway Pundit, “Maybe somebody’s siphoning off some funds.” He clarified, “Maybe some are mistakes. Who knows? But they don’t match up.”
This is not the first, nor the second, time Hobbs has come under scrutiny for mismanagement or corruption involving large sums of money.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, in November, Hobbs was in the spotlight after her Office of Tourism awarded a $700,000 contract to create a hideous new state logo to a company with close ties to the agency’s director.
“Hobbs’ fake director of tourism has been caught funneling MASSIVE contracts to her own brother,” State Senator Jake Hoffman said. “Katie Hobbs continues to exploit her office, break the law, and take advantage of the people of Arizona.”
Previously, Hobbs came under fire for other questionable contract decisions after accepting significant donations made to a dark money group that was used for Hobbs’ inaugural events in 2023 and appeared to influence state contract decisions. Hobbs reportedly received $400,000 from a company that later made millions in return.
Former Arizona Attorney General Democrat Terry Goddard even agreed that an investigation by law enforcement is warranted, and the Democrat Attorney General and Republican Maricopa County Attorney launched probes into the apparent quid pro quo.
Kolodin notes in his letter to Hobbs that the apparent pay-for-play scheme involving her inaugural fund “remains under investigation by the Attorney General’s and Maricopa County Attorney’s office.”
“This missing money was, seems like it could be connected to the inaugural fund, which has already been a subject of legislative investigation,” Kolodin told us. “It at least raises the appearance of a quid pro quo. The legislature is going to have to dig into this more to figure out whether it is, and if so, what changes we need to make to our budget process to account with the fact that we’re dealing with this administration.”
Arizona State Representative Alex Kolodin fired off a letter “Re: Mismanagement of State Funds and Agencies; Pressing Budget Questions” to Hobbs on Thursday.
“$339m disappeared from Arizona’s budget, and I have questions for Katie Hobbs!” Kolodin said on X:
$339m disappeared from Arizona’s budget and I have questions for Katie Hobbs! pic.twitter.com/1xTJHUrwcA
— Rep. Alexander Kolodin (@realAlexKolodin) January 30, 2025
In his letter, Kolodin outlines his surprise that “the Legislature was informed the State has several insolvent agencies and requires a $339 million bailout to close out the current Fiscal Year.” He continues, “Since your liaisons dedicated to briefing members of the Legislature failed to provide detail on how we got here, I am putting my request in writing: Arizonans deserve to know the details.”
Much of the controversy surrounds an expansion to the state’s Medicaid agency, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCS), which Kolodin says Hobbs did “unilaterally” without informing the legislature during budget negotiations.
“In the last budget cycle, when she submitted her draft budget when the legislature was negotiating her budget with her, she never told us that she was intending to approve a major expansion of ACCHS, which somehow she can do unilaterally, at least, to approve the expansion,” Kolodin told The Gateway Pundit. “As a consequence, that expansion was never budgeted for. But once the budget got passed, she did it and started sucking that money out of the state treasury for that expansion. So, it siphoned off a whole bunch of money that was supposed to go to other things.”
He added, “She didn’t tell us when we were negotiating the budget because she was trying to be sneaky and go around us.”
Also concerning is the resignation of Hobbs’ budget director contemporaneous with the new discovery. “Somebody had to take the fall,” said Kolodin. He continued, “From talking to colleagues and staff about the budget process and about this year’s budget process, it’s become very apparent to me that the line between malice and incompetence, with respect to the Hobbs administration’s capabilities to competently negotiate a budget with us, is a line that is hard to parse.”
“Her office, either they have no idea what they’re doing, or they’re like incredibly evil with a tinge of stupidity. And it’s very hard to tell the difference, but essentially, they make basic accounting mistakes that lead to absolutely huge divergences between her budget and reality.”
Hobbs again “refused to account for” an additional $60 million in state liabilities for Arizona schools, which “everybody knew about,” including Hobbs, said Kolodin. Still, she failed to account for this large obligation in her budget negotiations and spending.
Kolodin asks the following questions to Hobbs:
Why did you mislead the legislature about the spending you intended to approve?
Why did your budget team refuse to work with us to budget for a known cost?
Who in your orbit is profiting off of Arizona’s children?
Why has your budget director taken the fall?
“I think it’s probably time for at least a a first step in a more formal investigation,” Kolodin told us, noting that he needs a legislative committee chair to back him up and launch a formal investigation.
This is a developing story.
The post EXCLUSIVE: Democrat Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs Under Fire After $339 Million “Disappeared” from State Budget as Hobbs’ Budget Director Mysteriously Resigns appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.