Fired executive director sues Arizona Democratic Party, alleges self-dealing

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(Note: This story comes from the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting through a Creative Commons license. AZCIR is a nonprofit investigative newsroom.)

According to a lawsuit filed earlier this month, the chairwoman of the Arizona Democratic Party directed campaign expenditures toward her friend and husband, and when the party’s top staffer objected to the payments, she was fired.

Former Arizona Democratic Party Executive Director Sheila Healy claims in her lawsuit that a rift between her and Democratic Party Chairwoman Alexis Tameron grew out of Healy’s attempts to stop “what appeared to be self-dealing by Ms. Tameron.”

Healy said she objected to awarding a “large direct-mail contract to a close friend of Ms. Tameron,” and “expressed concerns about the cost of a sizable digital contract awarded to Ms. Tameron’s husband.”

Tameron’s husband, Adam Kinsey, is a partner at Saguaro Strategies. Campaign finance records show the Arizona Democratic Party paid $124,000 to Saguaro Strategies from its federal campaign account.

While Healy raises the issue of “self-dealing” in her lawsuit, the bulk of the complaint deals with how Healy’s bonus was to be structured and whether she is owed more money since being fired by the Arizona Democratic Party.