Garcia will return lobbyist donations

Gubernatorial candidate David Garcia — a Democrat who has repeatedly pledged to reject lobbyist funds — will return nearly $7,000 he got from donors recently revealed to be lobbyists registered with the state, according to his campaign.

The donations came to light after a tipster, who asked to remain anonymous, shared 19 names and corresponding dollar amounts with a

reporter Monday.

One of the names was incorrect, but

independently confirmed the active lobbyist status of the remaining 18.

Five donors had extensive lobbying histories, according to state records — including the executive director and chief lobbyist for Planned Parenthood of Arizona. also reviewed all campaign-finance reports available to date to calculate the donors’ combined contributions: $6,910.

“The campaign, of course, will refund any donations found to be from lobbyists, and we have before,” campaign spokeswoman Sarah Elliot said in a phone interview.

“If a donation comes in that someone on the team sees and recognizes as a lobbyist, we let them know we can’t take it or immediately return it,” she said. “And we do mention (the no-lobbyist promise) when we make outreach efforts for fundraising.”

Elliott said none of the donors in question listed themselves as lobbyists when they contributed, a statement campaign-filings corroborated. But some of the donors’ affiliations arguably should’ve spurred further review.

Jodi Liggett and Bryan Howard, for instance, identified themselves as highlevel staffers with Planned Parenthood Arizona. Liggett is the group’s policy director and regularly lobbies on issues at the Legislature. Howard is the group’s executive director. Another donor, David Bodney, is a prominent media lawyer who has advised

Others appear to be educators affiliated with school districts or parentteacher associations, rather than major political players.

The donations at issue were made months ago — in some cases, more than a year ago.

“David’s a teacher and veteran who’s running with broad-based community support. As of June 30, we had over 17,166 contributions,” Elliot said. “... That said, our pledge remains the same. A lobbyist is a lobbyist, so we will return the money.”

The contributions being sent back represent less than 1 percent of funds collected by the Garcia campaign as of June 30, the end of the most recent filing period. Ninety-six percent of donations came in at under $200, Elliot said.