Arizona group home provider at center of pay-to-play scandal escapes penalties for boy's death

PHOENIX (AP) — The staff caring for Jakob Blodgett said he already had been sneaking candy and refused to take his insulin. An employee at the Arizona group home where the 9-year-old boy was being cared for texted a supervisor… Give him water.After two missed doses of the long-lasting insulin he needed, he was taken to the hospital.

He was diagnosed with brain swelling, put on a ventilator and died in 2022 of complications from Type 1 diabetes.There were no penalties imposed for Blodgett’s death, and Arizona's largest group home provider now stands at the center of a political controversy swirling as Democratic Gov. Records show Sunshine Residential Homes made political donations beneficial to Hobbs and months later received a rate increase from the state for providing beds for children.The Arizona attorney general, a fellow Democrat, found no evidence of bribery. But Republican legislators are pushing back with their own questions, and the state auditor general's office is conducting a separate investigation.The boy’s death and the pay-to-play allegations highlight questions about Arizona's congregate-care capacity for children, training for workers who care for them and oversight of providers and other contractors who hold leverage over the state simply due to their size and influence.Alleged political favors become campaign fodderHobbs maintains she wasn’t involved in the decision to increase rates for Sunshine Residential Homes.

Andy Biggs, has made the scandal a centerpiece of his campaign to unseat her.“That was all handled by the department," Hobbs said, "and they made the decision based on what was in the best interest of the department and the kids in their care.”The allegations were first reported by The Arizona Republic and prompted an investigation by Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes. However, Mayes' office said it couldn't find evidence to support bribery charges against Hobbs and concluded that Sunshine’s rate increases were the result of its “outsized leverage” as the state's largest group home provider, not because of politics.The company had threatened to reduce its bed capacity if it didn’t get an increase, saying it would instead use beds to house unaccompanied immigrant children for the federal government, …