FBI investigating APS, commission and ex-regulator
Federal investigators are questioning Arizona Public Service Co., the Arizona Corporation Commission and former Commissioner Gary Pierce, the FBI confirmed Friday. Pierce said two FBI investigators knocked on the door of his home Friday and recorded their conversation. They requested Pierce not discuss the nature of their conversation, he said. He did, however, say the questioning focused on the 2014 election.
“They are trying to take a look themselves at the ’14 elections,” Pierce said of the FBI. “I am going to cooperate fully with them . ... They are talking to other people.”
The FBI confirmed the investigation. “The FBI is currently conducting a long-term investigation related to the financing of certain statewide races in the 2014 election cycle,” Special Agent Matthew Reinsmoen said.
Pierce was serving as one of five state utility regulators at the commission in 2014 as his son, Justin, campaigned unsuccessfully for secretary of state.
Critics, including former Commissioner Sandra Kennedy, voiced concerns that APS would contribute to Justin Pierce’s campaign — via independent political groups that don’t disclose their donors — in exchange for favorable votes from his father. Kennedy asked that Pierce recluse himself from a vote involving APS and solar.
The non-profit Arizona Free Enterprise Club, which isn’t required to disclose donors, spent more than $500,000 supporting Justin Pierce’s 2014 secretary-of-state run. In a 2014 statement to The Arizona Republic, Gary Pierce said there was no tie between his votes on the commission and his son’s campaign. Pierce termed out that year and now works as a political consultant.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has been investigating Pierce and the commission since February 2015. That investigation was the result of allegations by Pierce’s former assistant, Antonio Gill, who worked at the commission. Gill sent the Attorney General’s Office a letter in February 2015 that suggested years prior, Pierce hired a friend, Ron Ludders, who was involved with a non-profit “dark money” organization that campaigned against Democrats running for the commission in 2012.
APS’ parent company, Pinnacle West Capital Corp., also has been questioned, though it would not comment on the nature of the inquiry.
“Pinnacle West has been contacted by the U.S. Attorney and will be cooperating fully,” spokesman Jim McDonald said via email Friday afternoon.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona referred calls to the FBI.
The Corporation Commission is being questioned as well. “The commission is cooperating to the fullest extent possible,” spokeswoman Angie Holdsworth said Friday.
Republic reporter Yvonne Wingett Sanchez contributed to this article.