PHOENIX — Questions surrounding campaign contributions in the governor and other state legislative races involve a man trying to shut down a Graham County business.
The Arizona Republic reported that contributions to two political action committees listed California donors who deny donating any money.
The Put Arizona First PAC claimed it received $2 million from California’s SPH Medical, whose owner denied making the donations or knowing anything about the Arizona Governor’s race. The money was spent on ads supporting Republican candidate Kari Lake and attacking fellow Republican Karrin Taylor Robson.
Put Arizona First’s treasurer is Youssef Khalaf, whose son, George, is the man behind the initiative seeking to stop Bayacan from growing medical-grade cannabis in the former NatureSweet greenhouses in Bonita. Youssef Khalaf is also listed as the treasurer for the Kari Lake campaign.
The second political action committee, Securing Arizona, claimed to receive money from California’s Yellow Dog Estate Sales for attack ads on incumbent Speaker of the State House Rusty Bowers. Yellow Dog Estate Sales’ owner also denied making any donations.
Securing Arizona spent most of the money with the Resolute Group, a far right consulting and polling business that is owned by George Khalaf.
Any complaints would be investigated by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. However, it should be noted that George Khalaf is a campaign consultant to current Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate race.
