Biggs slams Hobbs on pay-to-play but stays quiet on Trump donors – AZ Family

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Rep. Andy Biggs has been hammering Gov. Katie Hobbs over an alleged pay-to-play scheme, calling it proof that the state capitol is rotten with corruption.
But when the same questions were recently raised about President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for governor had nothing to say — at least initially.
Last week, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes cleared Hobbs of any wrongdoing following a two-year investigation. The case involved a six-figure political contribution from a donor whose company later secured a seven-figure state contract.
Biggs has made the allegations a focal point of his campaign, running attack ads declaring “Katie Hobbs is for sale” and promoting his own ethics and transparency platform to clean up the capitol.
The campaign’s focus on the Hobbs case amplifies Biggs’ initial silence regarding a recent Washington Post report on President Trump, who has endorsed the current congressman for governor.
According to the report, donors to Trump’s ballroom secured $50 billion in federal contracts over the last six months.
Democratic political consultant Stacy Pearson criticized the federal awards, noting that most of the contracts were not competitively bid.
“That is the definition of pay-to-play,” Pearson said, warning that voters may question Biggs’ commitment to fighting corruption if he remains quiet on Trump while continuing to attack Hobbs. “Voters will see right through that. This is just politics at its worst.”
Biggs eventually did say something about Trump’s ballroom doners, but only after we asked him. A spokesperson for the campaign sent Arizona’s Family a text message.
“Comparisons to the private funding of a ballroom are ridiculous and are only being made to distract from Hobbs’s obvious pay-to-play scheme that funneled taxpayer dollars to a political donor,” the campaign’s statement said.
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