Yavapai News

Arizona State Sen. Ken Bennett (R-1) said he "would be concerned" if an outside legal group's involvement "goes beyond" administrative help with Gov. Katie Hobbs' (D-Ariz.) elections task force. His comments come after the chair of the House Elections Committee raised questions about the group's involvement.

"If their involvement stays at the logistics and note taking, helping schedule meetings and things like that...if it goes beyond that, I would be concerned, but I haven't seen any evidence that they're going beyond that," Bennett, a member of the task force, told Yavapai News. 

On April 28, the Grand Canyon Times reported that State Rep. Jacqueline Parker (R-15), chair of the House Municipal Oversight and Elections Committee, sent a letter to Hobbs asking about the involvement of the outside group, States United Democracy Center (States United), in the elections task force, as that group also represented Hobbs in election-related litigation in 2022.

Parker tweeted on May 3 that Hobbs did not respond to Parker's request for information about the group.

"Hobbs hasn’t bothered to respond to my request for more information yet," said Parker. "Safe to say that her task force is not interested in transparency & the House Elections Committee will swiftly reject any election-related recommendations of this biased, corrupt, & secretive “task force'."

Bennett told Yavapai News that in a "two hour" task force meeting earlier this week "there were two people from States United, one girl said one sentence telling us that she was going to be taking notes for the meeting, the other guy never said a word."

Hobbs announced the creation of the “Governor’s Bipartisan Elections Task Force” in January 2023 to “strengthen election laws, policies, and procedures in the State of Arizona,” according to a press release. In March, Hobbs appointed members to her elections task force, including Bennett.

Bennett said that he has not discussed States United's involvement with Hobbs.

"Because they weren't driving the ship or doing anything beyond the logistical stuff that they said they were being asked to help with, I didn't think it was necessary to discuss it with the governor," Bennett said. "If they were to start going beyond that role and influencing the policies or the discussions or whatever, then I would become concerned very quickly and would discuss it with the governor, but so far it's only been logistical and administrative support." 

Regarding Parker's request for records and correspondence between the governor's office and States United, Bennett said he doesn't think it's necessary as long as States United's representatives remain in a logistics role.

Bennett, 63, was elected to represent District 1 in the Arizona State Senate in November 2022. He defeated Democrat Mike Fogel, winning 66 percent to Fogel's 34 percent. 

A Tucson native, Bennett previously served as Arizona Secretary of State from 2009 to 2015. He graduated from Prescott High School in 1977, from Yavapai College in 1981, and from the University of Arizona in 1984. 

He served as CEO of Bennett OIl Company until 2006 and currently resides in Prescott with his wife, Jeanne, with whom he has three grown children.