PHOENIX (CN) — Arizona House Republicans convened in a newly created committee Thursday afternoon to discuss an investigation into the state’s Democrat attorney general.
The conservative lawmakers announced the creation of the House Committee on Executive Oversight Wednesday in response to Attorney General Kris Mayes’ ongoing investigations into “megafarms” she says are overusing groundwater and draining the wells of rural Arizonans.
“The attorney general has no role in water policy,” committee chair Austin Smith, a Republican from Surprise, said Thursday afternoon. “The last time I checked, the legislature did not fund her office to weaponize our public nuisance laws against lawfully operating businesses that are vital to the state’s economy.”
Mayes has recently indicated in multiple town halls across rural Arizona, specifically La Paz County, her intent to file a public nuisance complaint against large industrial farms and corporations that she says are sucking rural Arizonans dry.
One such corporation is Fondomonte, the Saudi Arabian company that was cut off from its lease in the Butler Valley in March. But that lease represented only a third of the company’s holdings in La Paz County, and it is still sucking up Arizona water to grow alfalfa for cattle halfway around the world.
Mayes said her team of investigators, including an outside expert in hydrology, is still “developing the evidence,” to bring against corporations that on paper seem to be following state groundwater law, which allows for nearly unlimited pumping in rural areas.
“We’ll see in a court of law whether or not I’m right,” Mayes said. “The people in these counties are desperate for help.”
Committee members denounced Mayes’ actions as beyond her statutory authority, and filed two public records requests for everything she’s said in public town halls on water policy, emails she’s sent and received about groundwater pumping and all expenses regarding the town halls.
Mayes called the committee a “sham,” in a press conference hours before the committee convened.
Members heard a presentation from former Arizona Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould, who lost the attorney general race in the 2022 Republican primary. Mayes called him a “sore loser.”
Gould explained that Mayes has no common law authority, and can only take legal action against state agencies if given specific statutory authority by the state Legislature. While Mayes doesn’t represent the Arizona Department of Water Resources, he said she still has authority to investigate on their behalf.
Members asked Gould whether she has the authority to start her own investigations, or if it has to be requested by a state agency. Gould said investigations are typically requested by a police agency, but he’d “have to think about” whether the attorney general can start one on her own accord.
Gould didn’t provide direct answers to the majority of the Republicans' questions, instead admitting he wasn’t sure about most of them. State Representative John Gillette from Kingman asked whether the attorney general can threaten state officials with prosecution if they disagree with her legal opinion. Gould said he couldn’t answer that question.
To combat the attorney general’s efforts, Republicans in the Senate amended House Bill 2124 — which is still awaiting a floor vote — to eliminate Mayes’ authority to bring a public nuisance complaint, instead vesting that power into local elected officials like city and county attorneys.
“House Bill 2124 will prevent the attorney general from continuing to harass our farmers and act outside the scope of her authority," committee chair Austin Smith said in a House Republicans press release. “We can’t allow Arizona’s laws to continue to be weaponized by General Mayes."
Outside the meeting, Gould said while the Legislature is allowed to amend the attorney general’s statutory authority, they cannot “take away their ability to perform their constitutional function.”
It’s unclear which bucket that amendment would fall in.
Mayes called the Republicans’ investigation a distraction from “everything we’re doing at the AG’s office,” notably, her own investigation into the 11 “fake electors” who tried to give Arizona’s 2020 electoral votes to Donald Trump rather than rightful winner Joe Biden.
Those included current Republican senators Anthony Kern of Glendale and Jake Hoffman of Queen Creek, the former of which is under FBI investigation for his presence at the January 6 insurrection.
The committee invited three House Democrats to participate in the meeting, but state Representative Oscar De Los Santos told a gaggle of reporters that they “will not be participating in this joke of a committee.”
“As always, House Democrats are proud to be the adults in the room,” the Laveen Democrat said on the House lawn.
Gillette criticized the decision.
“This is a bipartisan committee, and the other side didn’t even bother to show up,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll show in the future so we can have some dialogue."
Committee chair Jacqueline Parker of Mesa invited the public to submit to her complaints about Mayes’ “dereliction of duty.”
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