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Editor’s note: This story has been revised to report that the Arizona Democratic Party reported payments to Treasurer Rick McGuire to the Federal Election Commission.
An Arizona Democratic Party executive board member is calling for an independent audit of party finances amid a claim the party treasurer engaged in “self-dealing” for an alleged $66,000 in payments in the past two years for his work responding to finance questions from party members.
Chair Yolanda Bejarano deemed any allegation of “self-dealing” to be “defamatory” and called the concerns outlined in a letter “misplaced,” given public reporting of party finances.
In a letter sent to Bejarano on Jan. 10, ADP vice chair Will Knight claimed Treasurer Rick McGuire billed the party, or “paid himself” for work done fielding finance questions from party members.
He claimed the party and McGuire had failed to properly disclose payment and engaged in “systemic thwarting” of efforts to review party finances, ultimately culminating in a demand that Bejarano commission an independent audit of party finances.
In response, Bejarano confirmed the party paid McGuire $36,000 in 2023 and $30,000 in 2024 under the budget line item “Treasurer Training and Support” but maintained he was paid legally as an independent contractor for work “beyond his voluntary role as Treasurer.”
She wrote his role as a consultant was “to assist umbrella organizations within our party, including county parties and legislative district (LD) committees, which were often incurring substantial fines due to preventable errors,” and added in 2024 alone, McGuire answered nearly 4,000 questions from county and LD chairs, treasurers, staff, vendors and candidates.
Party bylaws outlaw ADP officers and executive board members from concurrently working as party employees but say nothing about leadership working as contractors. The party implemented a similar structure as a way to start paying Bejarano in 2023.
The party has an internal conflict of interest policy, too, requiring party officers to report “a compensation arrangement with the ADP or with any entity or individual with which the ADP has a transaction or arrangement.”
But Knight alleges that McGuire’s work as an independent contractor was never properly reported and claims his attempts to investigate the expenditures hit dead ends in attempting to review party financial records.
“I am unaware of any authorized contract, Bylaw, or other legitimate authority that would have permitted the Treasurer to pay himself as much as $100,000, or more,” Knight wrote to Bejarano, “and I am disheartened at your persistent efforts to prevent the Executive Board from performing its oversight responsibilities.”
Knight, elected vice chair in January 2023, initially requested financial documents after the 2023 budget presentation in February. The party declined to share the documents electronically, given security concerns. McGuire allegedly offered to show Knight the documents in-person, but then deemed them confidential the morning of the budget vote.
Throughout 2023, Knight attempted to put a discussion of party finances on executive board agendas and create a financial committee, though neither materialized, and Bejarano directed him to the public campaign finance filings with the FEC and Arizona Secretary of State to fulfill his request for review.
Ahead of the 2024 budget, Knight said he was able to confirm with McGuire that he had been paid $36,000 for operating as an independent contractor during 2023 and planned to bill an additional $30,000 to ADP in 2024.
Knight further claimed McGuire admitted to making similar payments in years past.
Patricia Socarras, director of communications for the party, said the payments to McGuire were reported in filings with the FEC and confirmed McGuire was on a “similar contract” under previous leadership.
“McGuire’s training and leadership has been incredibly invaluable to the Party, which is why Chair Bejarano decided to continue the arrangement during her term,” Socarras said.
FEC records show McGuire received $25,000 in 2024 for compliance services, $9,900 in 2023 as a financial consultant for treasurer training, and $32,000 in 2022 and $37,000 in 2021 as a financial consultant for treasurer training and ongoing support.
In a letter sent Friday, Knight asked Bejarano to commission an independent certified public accounting firm with no ties to the party to conduct a review of party finances over the past 10 years.
Bejarano effectively deemed an audit out of the question.
“The Party does not have extra resources to placate unreasonable claims. What exactly would a costly independent audit show that a review of publicly available information would not?” she wrote.
Bejarano maintained the party “transparently” reported the contracts in filings to the FEC and secretary of state, which she noted are reviewed by a FEC analyst, “multiple layers of ADP’s professional staff, an attorney specializing in state campaign finance, our compliance firm, myself, and the Treasurer,” all of which have not identified “any problems with our reports or operations.”
She asked Knight to retract the claims of “self-dealing,” deeming it “false and damaging” to both the party and McGuire’s reputation.
Knight declined to comment beyond the letter.
Socarras said in a statement, “The Arizona Democratic Party is held to very high reporting standards by both federal and state law, which we enthusiastically meet because we believe all Arizonans should have that transparency from their local parties. Mr. Knight’s claim is baseless and a distraction from the hard work that we have ahead to ensure Democrats are prepared to win in 2026.”
