Former Arizona assistant attorney general pushes back on claims she was forced out
Arizona's new attorney general is getting heat from one of the former administration's lawyers over how she left the agency.
Jennifer Wright, who led the Election Integrity Unit until December, says she resigned before Attorney General Kris Mayes took office. She said she had no idea that the new administration wanted her to leave.
However, Mayes' office said in statements to The Arizona Republic that it informed former Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s administration “several times” in late November and December that Wright would not be retained.
Mayes' office said this week that Wright had resigned.
Wright's attorney has sent a letter to Mayes and staff members accusing the office of "falsely claiming" that it removed her from office as one of its first acts of business and that its actions were "intentional discrimination" based on Wright's politics. The letter asked the office to provide all records and communications surrounding Wright's employment.
Jan. 9 comments from Mayes' office added context to initial reports that came from a person in Mayes’ office, who told The Republic multiple times that Wright was forced out and that she would be removed if she didn't resign.
“Because Attorney General Mayes did not have access to the office until January 2nd, it was relayed to the administration of then-Attorney General Brnovich that Jennifer Wright’s services would no longer be needed,” Mayes' office said when The Republic asked for clarification.
“Ms. Wright resigned on December 31st and her office was empty when the Mayes Administration arrived. The Mayes Administration does not know what message, if any, was directly conveyed to Ms. Wright by the Brnovich Administration.”
Asked when the information was relayed, a second statement said, "It came up several times in transition conversations with the Brnovich Administration beginning in late November and was reiterated to the Brnovich Administration again in late December, prior to Ms. Wright’s resignation."
Forced out:Assistant attorney general who launched dubious Arizona election probe resigns
Wright, in emails to The Republic and in social media posts, denied being fired. She said she resigned before Mayes took office. She provided The Republic with a copy of her resignation letter, dated Dec. 31, which was the Saturday of a holiday weekend.
Turnover at the top comes with any change in administration, particularly if the new officeholder is from the other political party.
In emails to The Republic after the initial story was published, Wright said: "I will swear in court that I was never told to resign or be fired, that I never had any communication with anyone in Mayes' administration, that no one in Brnovich's administration made any intimations to me that I must quit or be fired."
Brnovich declined comment on Wednesday, and his former chief of staff could not be reached.
Wright declined a request for an interview.
"It is exactly as Jennifer Wright was (saying) all along," her attorney, Phoenix lawyer Kory Langhofer, said Thursday. "She was never fired and never told she was going to be fired. It is a disgrace."
The attorney general’s human resources office confirmed receiving Wright’s letter Jan. 3, a day after Mayes took office, according to another document provided by Wright. It asked Wright to review exit paperwork and said any state equipment, including her state ID, must be turned in to her immediate supervisor.
Langhofer, in a letter to the Attorney General's Office on Wednesday, said Wright was the one who fired the Arizona Attorney General's Office, not the other way around.
The letter was addressed to Mayes, her chief deputy and the office's equal opportunity administrator. An office spokesperson declined further comment Thursday.
Langhofer said Wright was targeted because of her politics. Mayes is a Democrat. Wright is a Republican.
"Your deliberate and repeated transgressions of the personnel confidentiality law constituted intentional discrimination against Ms. Wright based on her political views and affiliations," Langhofer said in his letter.
Brnovich hired Wright in 2019 to run the newly created Election Integrity Unit, which Republican lawmakers funded in 2018. The Attorney General's Office said at the time the unit's primary focus would be debunking voter fraud claims.
Wright issued a legal ultimatum to Maricopa County election officials after the Nov. 8 general election, claiming they potentially violated laws after equipment problems prevented machines from reading ballots in about 30% of polling stations. On Nov. 19, she demanded officials respond to a series of questions before certifying election results.
An investigation by The Arizona Republic later in November found Wright was criticizing county officials and raising claims about procedures on Election Day, about 10 days before she sent her demand.
She also posted support of right-wing candidates and positions on social media weeks before the election, including likes and retweets of Republican candidates and an outright endorsement of another Republican candidate on Twitter.
Between Oct. 23 and Nov. 6, Wright liked several posts by Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, one of which referred to Lake's rival, now Gov. Katie Hobbs, as not a serious person.
At other times ahead of the election, Wright retweeted a post by Republican attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh and said she was looking forward to electing Republican Congresswoman Debbie Lesko.
Lake and Hamadeh, who were endorsed by former President Donald Trump, filed lawsuits contesting their losses and potentially stood to benefit from Wright's election probe of Maricopa County. Both have claimed the election equipment failures disenfranchised thousands of voters on Election Day.
Wright said in emails to The Republic that she had intended to stay on in her position if Hamadeh had won the election.
“While I would have stayed on if Hamadeh had taken office, it was clear by Mayes public statements that our visions for the Elections Integrity Unit would not align,” she said in emails.
Mayes has pledged to shift the unit's primary mission from investigating allegations of voter fraud to combating acts of voter intimidation and threats to elections officials. She said the office should be ensuring the rights of voters are upheld and that there is "no voter suppression in the state of Arizona."
The race between Mayes and Hamadeh was the closest in Arizona history, triggering an automatic recount. The results of the recount initially were to be made public on Dec. 22 but were delayed until Dec. 29, when Wright was on vacation.
Mayes won by 280 votes.
Wright said she waited to submit her resignation letter because she was awaiting the results of the recount.
She said her direct supervisor would confirm that Wright stated her intention weeks before she officially resigned, "to resign as soon as Mayes was confirmed elected."
Langhofer, in his letter to the Attorney General's Office, said Wright was a public servant who "dutifully carried out" her office responsibilities. He said the office should turn over records.
“In the event your office and its personnel are unduly slow to produce or less than forthcoming with its production of such records, Ms. Wright is prepared to pursue litigation to vindicate her statutory right to access all such records and to establish that she was defamed and targeted for a deliberate breach of Arizona’s personnel confidentiality laws based on her political views and affiliations," Langhofer wrote.
Robert Anglen is an investigative reporter for The Republic. Reach him at [email protected] or 602-444-8694. Follow him on Twitter @robertanglen.
Help us fight for you and support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Former assistant AG pushes back on claims she was forced out by Mayes
