Rivals for Ariz. AG spar over suing Trump, regulating data centers

Warren Petersen said Attorney General Kris Mayes engages in "political lawfare,'' using her office to go after perceived enemies. If nothing else, he said, the lawsuits are not a good use of Arizona taxpayer funds that could be used for other priorities.

But in an hour-long debate with Mayes, Petersen could not identify any one specific case that, had he been the attorney general, he would not have filed. Instead, he said, it comes down to the question of whether Arizona should be involved at all in these multi-state lawsuits.

"We are a center-right state,'' said Petersen, who is president of the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate. "For our attorney general to be going completely far left on a bunch of these lawsuits is a waste of money.''

He said Mayes should have let states like California and New York sue the administration on everything from efforts by President Donald Trump to curtail federal funding to, most recently, the legal battle over Trump's directive to have the U.S. Postal Service set rules for who gets an early ballot.

"But she is the attention general,'' Petersen said. "She loves the headlines.''

Mayes said every one of those lawsuits not only had merit but paid off — literally — for the state.

She said her decision on whether to go to court depends on whether the state is being harmed. More to the point, Mayes said the lawsuits in which she is involved — and she says the state prevailed 83% of the time — have saved Arizona $2.3 billion.

"This federal government was going to defund Meals on Wheels, Head Start, AmeriCorps funding for our public schools,'' Mayes said. She called whatever the state has spent "a good return on investment.''

'Absolutely worth it to the people'

And then, the attorney general said, there are situations where she believes the rights of Arizonans are being attacked. Those specifically include Trump's directive that the Postal Service block the delivery of mail-in ballots to voters not included on lists submitted by the state and verified at the federal level.

That case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court where the justices blocked the president's move, at least for this election.

"I think it's absolutely worth it to the people of Arizona to save mail-in voting for them,'' Mayes said. "Let's think about how close (it came) to Arizona losing mail-in voting because people like Warren Petersen wouldn't stand up to the administration.''

Petersen was noncommittal when pressed after the debate about his stance on what Trump was attempting to do, saying he would "have to do more research.''

"From what I know, the principles of it are we want to make sure legal citizens are voting and we want to have chain of custody,'' Petersen said, meaning that the ballots can be tracked. "So I agree on the principle.'' Still, he said, there were "some holes in it,'' which led to the Supreme Court's 7-2 vote. 

Mayes, however, said the issue is larger than that, with the federal government trying to take over how Arizona runs its vote-by-mail system, one she said is so successful that close to 90% of voters use it.

Lawsuits against Trump aside, Mayes defended other legal actions her office has taken, such as against a company that was helping residential landlords engage in price fixing, and another against the owner of a Tucson mobile home park over its chronic power outages that left residents without air conditioning.

She also said Petersen is the beneficiary of a donation of more than $600,000 to his campaign made by the head of BioVida, the company that owns that mobile home park. Petersen did not dispute that donation but said it did not go to him but instead went to an independent committee that is spending money to get him elected, a committee over which he has no control.

But there clearly was a connection. In a previous statement, Eli Werner, founder of BioVida, made it clear he wants Mayes ousted in November. "We're not a fan of the AG's practices,'' he said. 

Regulating data centers

Petersen also criticized Mayes for seeking a moratorium on allowing new data centers in Arizona. That proposal goes farther than one offered by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs to allow their construction but simply remove the tax breaks the state had offered. In the end, the state's final budget deal included a three-year moratorium on those incentives.

Petersen said Mayes' proposal would lead to elimination of data centers.

"If you like your tech and your phone and your computer and the stuff you can use that for, you probably think data centers are important,'' he said.

Still, Petersen said there are issues about data centers that must be addressed, including where they should be located. He said that should be left to local communities to decide where they are appropriate, such as in an area zoned for heavy industrial use.

Petersen said data centers also should generate their own power rather than tapping into the grid used by others. And he said they should also provide for their own water needed for cooling.

Mayes said a more radical plan is needed if Arizona is to allow data centers, especially with the state losing 30% of its Colorado River water supply. Mayes, who used to be a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission which regulates utility rates, said she believes the rate hikes being sought by Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power, originally at 14%, "are being driven by data centers, by all the big infrastructure that has to be built to feed them.''

Anyway, Mayes said, all she wants is a "temporary pause so we can get our hands around the situation.'' But she already has an idea of what she wants to happen if data centers are allowed.

"A community would need to vote,'' Mayes said. Even then, she said there should be a special panel — similar to the commission that decides where new power plants' high-tension power lines can go — that would have to approve the data center plan. 

Utility rates, renewable energy

Petersen also took some shots at Mayes for using her position as attorney general to fight a decision by the Arizona Corporation Commission to repeal its Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff Rules. 

These rules, enacted two decades ago when Mayes was a commissioner, require utilities to get a certain percentage of their energy from renewable sources. 

The current commissioners determined they were no longer needed and could not be justified by the additional cost to ratepayers. Mayes blocked the move, saying the panel did not follow the process for making rules. 

Petersen said her objections are because Mayes believes it's acceptable to increase costs to consumers to ensure the purchase of "green energy.'' 

"I don't think you should ever pay more,'' he said. 

Mayes responded: "Everybody knows what you just said here is ludicrous and absurd."

"We saved Arizonans $2 billion with the policies that I passed,'' she said. "And as for the two people standing on this stage, I'm the only one fighting the APS rate increase.''

ICE comments 

Mayes also found herself having to justify statements she made in January as part of a website she set up to have Arizonans report potential illegal activity by federal agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As part of that, she warned of what could happen when ICE officers, without identification, break into homes without warrants — especially in a state where many residents have firearms and there is a "stand your ground'' law that allows people to use deadly force to defend themselves and their property.

"When armed, masked agents force their way into the homes of U.S. citizens without warrants, the risk of dangerous and volatile situations rises dramatically,'' she told Capitol Media Services at the time. "The Trump administration must start acting within the bounds of the Constitution so we can ensure public safety in Arizona and across the country.''

Petersen said during the Wednesday debate, "Kris Mayes gave a tutorial on how to shoot law enforcement. Her comments put law enforcement in danger.''

Mayes retorted, "That is such an absurd statement by Warren Petersen." She said Arizonans understood the point she was trying to make.

"The vast majority of Arizonans, many of whom support both the Fourth Amendment (against illegal search and seizure) and the Second Amendment, understood exactly what I was saying,'' Mayes said.

The debate was sponsored by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.