EXCLUSIVE — A Democratic congressional candidate in Arizona misused taxpayer resources to prop up her political campaigns, documents show.
Records reveal that Democrat Kirsten Engel, who is running against Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, misused taxpayer-funded government resources to enhance her legislative and congressional campaigns while serving in the Arizona legislature.
Engel used her email as a state senator to forward taxpayer-funded subscription publications to her campaign staff, according to documents obtained by the Washington Examiner. She sent her campaign staff articles from trade publications such as the Yellow Sheet Report and Arizona Legislative Report, both of which are pricey subscriptions the state of Arizona finances for legislative officials and their staff.
Some emails she forwarded from said trade publications include in large text a “DO NOT FORWARD THIS EMAIL” message and state that it is illegal to “electronically disseminate” their reports. Engel forwarded emails like these from her state subscription to campaign staff at least 15 times over the last three years.
In one instance, she used her state legislative email to coordinate social media posts for her campaign. She asked her campaign staffer to make a post about donating to a local Tucson, Arizona-based organization after her then-Republican opponent did the same. Her staffer complied with the request.
In addition to using her state legislative-affiliated email for campaign-related happenings, she used her University of Arizona email, as she teaches at the law school there, to schedule a time to meet with a prospective congressional candidate in 2017. Another faculty member at the university reached out to her to schedule a time to meet with a prospective congressional candidate, to which Engel responded with a proposed time frame.
Email addresses connected to state universities are, in part, taxpayer-funded via funds they receive from the state. The UA and other public universities typically enter a contract with email domain providers such as Microsoft or Google, for example. It is very unlikely, however, that the University of Arizona or the state is billed per email address or per email sent.
If holding office or working in any capacity for the state or government, candidates are supposed to use their email from the campaign, which is paid for by money via donations and themselves, when discussing campaign-related topics rather than their email associated with the government.
“Cash-it-in Kirsten’s ethical compass is broken,” Ben Petersen, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told the Washington Examiner. “From bilking taxpayers for ‘imaginary’ legal fees to misusing government resources, Engel has proven she will stop at nothing to game the system and benefit herself.”
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Engel and Ciscomani previously faced each other in 2022, with Ciscomani winning the seat by just over 1 percentage point. The Cook Political Report labels the race a toss-up.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Engel’s campaign for comment.