Ariz. AG: No prosecution of ex-speaker after probe

PHOENIX — Prosecutors won’t bring charges against former House Speaker David Gowan for getting more than $12,000 in taxpayer funds for time and travel spent during his ill-fated campaign for Congress.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich said his attorneys and investigators found “a lot of questionable, even I would say unethical behavior” in the actions of Gowan. These included multiple trips that Gowan took around the state in 2016 while running for Congress — many far from his legislative district — while saying he was on state business, a claim that enabled him to get reimbursed by the state for his expenses.

And Brnovich said staffers found multiple uses of a state vehicle for what appear to be personal purposes.

“But it did not rise to the level of criminal conduct,” he said, because there is insufficient proof that Gowan had both actual criminal intent as well as knowledge of the laws that were being broken. And that, Brnovich said, ends the matter.

“At the end of the day as a prosecutor your job is not to win at all costs,” he said.

“It’s not to throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks,” Brnovich continued. “If there’s not a reasonable likelihood of conviction, you don’t move forward on a case.”

But Brnovich sidestepped the question of whether he believes that Gowan’s conduct clearly was unethical.

“I believe that the facts in this case speak for themselves,” he said.

“I do think that when you’re a public official it’s very, very important to avoid any sort of appearance of impropriety, the attorney general continued. “I will leave it to the people to make their own judgments.”

Despite the lack of any prosecution, the investigation has had positive effects.

Even before the probe started, Gowan reimbursed the state more than $12,000, saying that it was simply an error that he got all that money.

And Brnovich pointed out that, even as investigators were reviewing evidence against Gowan, current House Speaker J.D. Mesnard enacted new travel restrictions on members a year, a move he said he took specifically in reaction to the problems with Gowan’s travel.

That new policy limit when lawmakers can charge mileage to the state for trips to the Capitol and around their legislative districts. Mesnard said the rules, coupled with public disclosure, should prevent abuse.

And Mesnard has pretty much made the use of state “fleet vehicles” off limits to House members, saying that should be reserved only for the most limited of circumstances.

In a prepared statement, Gowan said the findings back his claim that “mistakes were made but any errors were unintentional and that no laws were broken.” But he took a shot at those who were critical of his practices, calling them “a handful of opportunists looking to settle a political score or score political points.”