Friday, October 27, 2017

UPDATE: Arizona GOP Redirects Insys-Related Contributions To Southwest Behavioral Health Services

Last night, Arizona's Politics reported that newly-arrested Insys founder and majority owner John Kapoor had donated monies to the Arizona Republican Party (in addition to President Trump and other Republican groups). The Arizona GOP informs Arizona's Politics that it disgorged the $1,500 the same day and gave the money to Southwest Behavioral Health Services.

Our report yesterday noted that AZGOP Communications Director Torunn Sinclair had tweeted that the monies had been donated. However, it was later in the evening that she gave the details.

"They gave us $1,500, once we learned of the indictment today, we immediately donated the money. The funds were donated to Southwest Behavioral Health Services," Sinclair told Arizona's Politics. (SBHS runs opioid four addiction treatment centers in central and northern Arizona.)

She went on to compare and contrast the AZGOP's swift action to the Arizona Democrats and Democratic candidates who had received money from the founders of Backpage. While there are similarities and it can be argued that candidates/parties should not be required to disgorge contributions even from people under indictment, the $500,000 Insys/Kapoor contribution to fight the marijuana legalization initiative in Arizona cannot be disgorged, had some impact on the defeat of that initiative, AND was designed to further the business interests of a company allegedly mis-selling an opioid product.

The $2,700 to President Trump's campaign, the $1,500 to the NRCC and the $3,000 to the Republican National Committee are still at large.

We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com or call 602-799-7025. Thanks.

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