Former Attorney General Tom Horne staffer Sarah Beattie resigned earlier this year, and filed a complaint accusing Horne and other office top officials of handling campaign work on state time.
In his 44-page response to the allegations, Horne said nobody in his office spent time working on his reelection campaign while on the clock. He said, like any other office, there is “water cooler talk” but when significant discussions were held they were done so “off-site.”
Horne also said Beattie is a “fabricator." He added when she applied for a job she did not mention having a DUI or having taken cocaine when she was younger, or that she had worked as a stripper.
Beattie spoke to all of those issues in a Phoenix New Times article. Horne said the DUI would not have kept her from getting a job with his office, but the cocaine use and job as a stripper would have made her unemployable.
The attorney general said Beattie is correct when she said AG staffer Kathleen Winn drove a state vehicle to an off-site campaign meeting. Horne responded Winn was reprimanded, and paid the state back for the cost of driving the vehicle to the meeting.
Since Beattie’s resignation came to light, a number of high ranking Republican officials, including U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, have called on Horne to drop his re-election campaign for this year.
Horne maintains his innocence in public appearances, too.
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