{"id":2389082,"date":"2025-01-11T06:11:01","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T11:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizona-gop-audit-reveals-past-financial-mismanagement\/"},"modified":"2025-01-11T06:12:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T11:12:57","slug":"arizona-gop-audit-reveals-past-financial-mismanagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizona-gop-audit-reveals-past-financial-mismanagement\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona GOP audit reveals past financial &#8216;mismanagement&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Farizona-gop-audit-reveals-past-financial-mismanagement%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2389082&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>An audit of teh Arizona\u200b Republican Party&#8217;s financials\u200b from 2022 has revealed significant mismanagement contributing to their losses in statewide elections, which resulted in Democrats \u2063obtaining control\u200c over the governor&#8217;s office and two U.S. \u2063Senate seats \u200cfor\u200c the first time since 1950. The audit, conducted\u2064 by treasurer Elijah Norton, criticized former chairwoman Kelli Ward for \u200ba lack \u2063of \u2063strategic deployment of party resources, \u200cwith only\u2063 6% of the budget\u2062 allocated to voter \u2064contact efforts. In contrast, \u200dthe party significantly\u200d increased its\u200d outreach efforts leading into the 2024 elections, spending over $14 million on\u2062 voter contact\u201474% of the budget\u2014thus <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">achieving considerable electoral success<\/a>. The audit found no evidence of theft \u200cor fraud by Ward or executive director Pam Kirby, but identified gross incompetence in management of \u2062the\u2062 party&#8217;s finances. Norton \u2062emphasized that the previous administration\u200c failed to prioritize voter engagement in favor of other expenses,such as events and travel.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Arizona GOP audit reveals financial mismanagement from 2022: &lsquo;A total lack of awareness&rsquo;<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1932330\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><strong>EXCLUSIVE &mdash; <\/strong>An audit of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/arizona\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Arizona\">Arizona<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/republican-party\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Arizona\">Republican Party<\/a>&rsquo;s finances from 2022 reveals clues about the state party&rsquo;s &ldquo;disastrous&rdquo; losses in every major statewide race &mdash; issues the state party says it corrected in time for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/2024-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"2024 elections\">2024 elections<\/a> as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/republican\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Republicans\">Republicans<\/a> won up and down the ballot.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/814136960\/2022-Azgop-Audit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"memorandum\">memorandum<\/a> provided to the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> from the Arizona GOP treasurer Elijah Norton detailed an audit of the 2022 financials of the party, which found mismanagement of resources from the party&rsquo;s former chairwoman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kelli-ward\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Kelli Ward\">Kelli Ward<\/a> that presented a &ldquo;clear failure to properly deploy assets in the right areas.&rdquo; Some believe the financial decisions could have been responsible for election losses that led to Democrats controlling the Arizona governor&rsquo;s office and two U.S. Senate seats<a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/opinion\/editorial\/2022\/11\/18\/arizona-republican-party-kelli-ward-turning-point-wreck-how-save\/10721811002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"> for the first time since 1950<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" title=\"2022 Azgop Audit\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/embeds\/814136960\/content?start_page=1&amp;view_mode=scroll&amp;access_key=key-hrsJKiBx8kvkOJpHtic8\" tabindex=\"0\" data-auto-height=\"true\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.7729220222793488\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"   margin: 12px auto 6px auto;   font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;   font-style: normal;   font-variant: normal;   font-weight: normal;   font-size: 14px;   line-height: normal;   font-size-adjust: none;   font-stretch: normal;   -x-system-font: none;   display: block;\"><a title=\"View 2022 Azgop Audit on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/814136960\/2022-Azgop-Audit#from_embed\" style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">2022 Azgop Audit<\/a> by <a title=\"View web-producers's profile on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/user\/701058553\/web-producers#from_embed\" style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">web-producers<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Norton&rsquo;s audit found no evidence that Ward or executive director Pam Kirby had engaged in theft or fraud or received kickbacks from vendors.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Based on the numbers, I think there was gross incompetence and mismanagement and just a lack of political knowledge on how to deploy resources properly,&rdquo; Norton said in a phone interview with the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>on Friday. &ldquo;I think maybe Kelli and Pam Kirby were just unqualified to lead a large, important political party.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>reached out to Ward and Kirby for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Norton found that Ward&rsquo;s administration did not prioritize voter contact and instead placed a higher value on &ldquo;events, travel, and fundraising expenses,&rdquo; leading him to conclude &ldquo;the end result spoke for itself.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In 2024 we had massive wins, from expanding the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-hampshire-republicans-target-democratic-rep-chris-pappas-with-new-congressional-map\/\" title=\"New Hampshire Republicans Target Democratic Rep Chris Pappas With New Congressional Map\">state legislative majorities<\/a> to keeping congressional races, both of the toss-ups we kept in Republican hands. President Trump won by 158,000 votes, even bigger than he did in 2016,&rdquo; Norton said.<\/p>\n<p>The audit found that only 6% of the entire party budget was spent on contacting voters. The party spent $365,611 on &ldquo;voter contact&rdquo; in 2022. In comparison, in 2024 the Arizona GOP spent $14,610,764.17 to reach out to voters, which amounted to 74% of the entire 2024 budget.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We sent out millions of pieces of mail in 2024,&rdquo; Norton said. &ldquo;We sent out thousands of text messages. We had hundreds of thousands of impressions on digital ads and all of those things. We were focused on reaching the voter that maybe wasn&rsquo;t paying as much attention to what was going on politically.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, there were a number of close races in the state including an Arizona attorney general race in which Democrat Kris Mayes narrowly defeated Republican Abraham Hamadeh, one of the closest elections in state history, following a recount. Mayes ultimately finished 280 votes ahead of Hamadeh.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Republican supporters wait for results as the celebration balloons stay in place at the Republican watch party in Scottsdale, Ariz., Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The audit also highlights &ldquo;excessive event expenditures&rdquo; in a non presidential election cycle. The 2022 administration spent $614,681, which amounted to 10% of the budget on &ldquo;event expenses.&rdquo; A major point of contention was an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/youtube-censors-ohio-attorney-for-saying-covid-not-deadlier-than-flu\/\" title=\"YouTube censors Ohio attorney for saying COVID not deadlier than flu\">election night party<\/a> in 2022 at a swanky Scottsdale resort which cost the party $406,231.99.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t even know the results for three to four weeks. So there&rsquo;s nothing really to celebrate until we know who wins,&rdquo; Norton said. &ldquo;It was a nice party, but it wasn&rsquo;t worth the money. If we would have spent $50,000 on a ballroom at a hotel and spent the remaining $250,000 on voter contact for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mi-lawmakers-just-made-it-easier-to-commit-election-fraud\/\" title=\"MI Lawmakers Simplify Process for Election Fraud\">attorney general&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s race, we could have seen a better result.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, Arizona Republicans ultimately decided against throwing an election night party. The party spent $512,007.63 on event expenses which often are dramatically higher in a presidential election year due to state conventions, the Republican National Convention, and events associated with those functions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A person looks at a cellphone while waiting at the Republican watch party in Scottsdale, Ariz., Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Another major revelation in 2022 the audit revealed was the party spent over 51% of its budget on fundraising expenses. They also spent nearly 20% of their budget on salaries in comparison to the previous election in a presidential cycle where payroll only amounted to about 6%.<\/p>\n<p>Norton admits the state party had a significant amount of help from outside groups that typically swoop in during a presidential cycle.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We had those outside groups in 2022 as well, but in 2024, we learned from what happened in the past &mdash; and everyone together had a collective effort, and it really paid off,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Arizona Republican Party <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2817064\/arizona-gop-faces-murky-future-scandals-subversion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"has faced its share of controversy\">has faced its share of controversy<\/a> in recent years. Senate candidate Kari Lake <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2814434\/arizona-gop-chairman-appeared-to-offer-kari-lake-bribe-to-stay-out-of-senate-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">released<\/a> a secret March 2023 audio recording she made of her conversation with Jeff DeWit, then-state party chairman, in which he offered Lake what she viewed as a bribe to keep her out of the Senate race. The recording ultimately forced DeWit to resign, shaking up the state&rsquo;s Republican Party in the battleground state.<\/p>\n<p>Since the 2020 election, the spotlight has been on Arizona as a center of debunked GOP&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/voter-fraud\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">voter fraud<\/a>&nbsp;theories. Ward was targeted by her own party following losses, with many calling for her resignation.&nbsp;Two years later, Republican officials in the 2022 midterm elections were charged after they refused to certify election results.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1932330\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1932330\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arizona GOP audit uncovers 2022 financial mismanagement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2657,"featured_media":2389083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AZ-GOP-scaled-1024x683.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4472,4261,48315,6203,5894],"class_list":["post-2389082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arizona","tag-audit","tag-financial-mismanagement","tag-gop","tag-politics"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AZ-GOP-scaled-1024x683.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2389082"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2389086,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389082\/revisions\/2389086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2389083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2389082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2389082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2389082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}