Amy Love, Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes’ chief of staff, resigned on Monday, just six months into Mayes’ term. Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs’ first six months have been full of even more turmoil, with multiple high-level staffers leaving within the first six months.
Mayes titled the press release announcing Love’s resignation, “Attorney General Mayes Announces Leadership Change.”
The brief statement read, in full:
Attorney General Kris Mayes today announced the resignation of Chief of Staff Amy Love. Ms. Love’s final day with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office will be August 7, 2023.
“Amy Love is an exceptional public servant, and I thank her for her service to the Attorney General’s Office and the State of Arizona,” said Attorney General Mayes. “I wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”
Love’s resignation came immediately after Jen Wright, former Election Integrity Unit civil attorney under Mayes’ predecessor Mark Brnovich, served Mayes and others in the office with a Notice of Claim to start a defamation lawsuit against them for telling the media that Wright had been fired. Wright has been unable to determine who told Arizona Republic reporter Robert Englen that she was fired. Wright produced documentation showing she resigned voluntarily, and no one ever approached her about resigning.
Love (pictured above, left) caused controversy at the State Capitol in May when she demanded more money for the Arizona Attorney General Office’s (AGO) budget, referencing a threat by Mayes to sue the legislature. State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) shot back at her, pointing out that the Brnovich administration had requested less money and was satisfied with it.
“You’re looking at this entire pot of money and you have dollar signs in your eyes,” Hoffman said. “It just seems like you see a big pot of money and you wanna grab at it.”
State Representative David Livingston (R-Peoria) followed up with a scathing letter to Mayes denouncing Love’s remarks, which he described as “inaccurate” and “omitt[ing] important context.”
He said, “Senator Hoffman rightly expressed his concern that you threatened litigation over a budget you had not yet even seen and based only on rumors, and perhaps your own misplaced speculation. I encourage you to learn the facts in the future before wasting taxpayer money and resources on politicized demand letters.”
Love made $200,000 annually at the AGO. She served as a staffer for Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) before coming to the AGO, and before that spent several years working in Arizona government, including at the Arizona Supreme Court and Maricopa County Superior Court.
Only one employee in the Brnovich administration made over $200,000, who was also the chief of staff, Joseph Kanefield. However, unlike Love, he is an attorney and also served in the position of chief deputy. He began at $200,000 and ended at $220,000. A source told Arizona The Sun Times that most of the top staff under Brnovich took pay cuts from their previous jobs to come to work for him at the AGO. The most recently publicly available salary for Love was $94,874.98 in 2018, working as an officer for the Arizona Supreme Court.
An insider told The Sun Times that shortly after Mayes took office, she forced out two black employees in leadership positions: the criminal division chief and the chief criminal investigator. “First time in AG history you have two African-Americans in the key criminal division positions,” the insider said. “But Mayes forced them both out. Imagine if a Republican did that? They would be accused of racism. Anyway, they lost good people and now it’s political hacks running the show.”
Abe Hamadeh, who is contesting his election loss of 280 votes to Mayes, tweeted, “A lot more resignations coming once the courts count the votes…”
In a follow-up tweet, he said the judge will rule by Friday whether he will be awarded a new trial “on the ground that Hobbs and Maricopa County withheld evidence that would have resulted in us prevailing based on uncounted ballots.”
The Sun Times submitted a public records request to the AGO for copies of Love’s email correspondence with The Arizona Republic mentioning Wright, but did not receive a response before press time.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Amy Love and Kris Mayes” by Amy Love.
