AG: Gowan travel spending ‘troublesome,’ not criminal

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Former Arizona House speaker David Gowan will not be charged by the attorney general despite a lengthy investigation that called reimbursements for travel and per-diem payments given to him “troublesome.”

Gowan, a Republican from Sierra Vista, requested the AG investigation after the Arizona Capitol Times published a report in early 2016 detailing how use of state fleet vehicles had skyrocketed under his administration.

The investigation by Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, also looked into whether Gowan had illegally used the fleet vehicles to travel Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, where Gowan was campaigning at the time.

Gowan also repaid the state $12,000 that he had wrongfully received as reimbursement for trips he had taken in state vehicles (but reported as taking in his own vehicle) and per diem pay for days he had claimed to work, but didn’t.

“The investigation has shown that there was a substantial disregard for determining whether state funds for per diem, mileage, and official travel were paid pursuant to proper authority, acts which could be potential felony violations (of state statute),” an attorney general’s memo detailing the investigation says. “However, it appears that the violations were not undertaken knowingly or intentionally but were instead attributable to negligence – meaning that criminal charges could not be proven in court.”