'Moderate' AG's office turned to groups that spent years suing prisons for recruiting help: emails reveal
EXCLUSIVE — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office repeatedly sought recruiting help from two prominent left-wing legal groups that spent years suing the state’s corrections department alongside Mayes’ top deputy, internal emails obtained by Fox News Digital show.
Chief Deputy Attorney General Daniel Barr sought recommendations from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Berkeley-based Prison Law Office (PLO) for attorneys to handle Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) work inside the Attorney General’s Office and later for candidates to serve as ADCRR general counsel, according to the emails.
Barr already had a long history with both groups before joining Mayes’ office. Prior to his position in the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, he was a partner at Perkins Coie, where he spent years litigating alongside the ACLU and PLO in a federal case that ultimately resulted in a judge finding Arizona’s prison conditions to be constitutionally inadequate.
Both groups advocate substantial changes to incarceration policy. The ACLU has pursued a nationwide goal of cutting jail and prison populations by 50% through reforms including decriminalization, bail reform, shorter sentences and clemency, and has called for reductions in immigration detention. The PLO, meanwhile, says it works to reduce incarceration while also litigating on issues related to prison conditions, medical care, disability rights and solitary confinement.
In November's general election, Mayes is slated to face Arizona state Sen. Warren Petersen, a Republican, as she seeks to defend her role as the top law enforcement officer in the state. Mayes won her 2022 race by just 280 votes, one of the narrowest margins in state history.
"Maybe FOX News should start with the facts: the ACLU has repeatedly sued Kris Mayes over issues where they disagreed with her," Delaney Corcoran, the campaign manager for Mayes' re-election campaign, told Fox News Digital when asked about the email correspondence.
"Mayes has consistently fought for funding for Arizona police and cartel task forces — and stands shoulder to shoulder with Arizona sheriffs and police. Together, Mayes and law enforcement have seized 27 million fentanyl pills off of our streets, more than any other Attorney General in state history."
Mayes has defended Arizona against lawsuits from the ACLU challenging laws that allowed state and local police to arrest people illegally entering the country between ports of entry and restricted when people could film police officers. She later settled with the ACLU in the police filming case, agreeing to permanently prohibit the unconstitutional police recording law.
Though Mayes describes herself as a "moderate" and sparred with liberal legal groups, Barr — one of her top aides — repeatedly sought candidate recommendations from the progressive ACLU and PLO for corrections-related legal roles.
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"I am looking to bring as much ADCRR work back in-house as possible in the Arizona AG’s Office. To do that, I need to hire attorneys to represent ADCRR in numerous capacities. If you know of anyone who may be interested in helping to turnaround things around here, please let me know," Barr wrote to representatives of the ACLU and PLO in February 2023.
In April of that year, Barr again turned to the groups, this time seeking possible candidates for ADCRR’s top legal position.
"Let me know if you have any suggested candidates," he wrote, forwarding an email to PLO and ACLU representatives soliciting applications for ADCRR general counsel. When his efforts to fill the role of ADCRR’s top lawyer bore no fruit, he again turned to the two groups.
"Still no takers for the ADCRR general counsel job. If you have any suggestions, please let me know," he wrote to them on May 11, 2023.
That same day, ACLU National Prison Project director David Fathi responded, promising to "redouble" his efforts to find a candidate for Barr.
Among the priorities of the ACLU National Prison Project are "substantially reducing the incarcerated population" and promoting a criminal justice system in which incarceration is used only as a "last resort." Fathi has also criticized relying on police and prisons to address drug problems,stating in one social media post that "we will never solve drug problems with police and prisons."
Corene Kendrick, the deputy director of the National Prison Project, responded in turn to Barr's email that one of her possible recommendations was already "enjoying suing ADCRR in civil rights damages cases in her spare time of running her café in Carrizozo," showing that at least one prospective candidate being floated to Barr had experience suing ADCRR in civil-rights cases.
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Fox News Digital only obtained email records, not call transcripts or in-person meeting minutes, so it’s unclear what further assistance, if any, the PLO and ACLU gave the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. ADCRR ultimately hired Ashley Oddo to serve as its general counsel.
Before joining ADCRR, Oddo led Arizona State University’s Academy for Justice and had backed several criminal-justice positions associated with the left, including addressing systemic racism in policing and pardoning people convicted of nonviolent federal marijuana offenses.
Oddo has no institutional affiliation with the ACLU or the PLO nor was her name mentioned by either organization in email communications with Barr.
Other communications obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital show a cordial relationship between Barr and staffers working for the ACLU and PLO. Fathi, for instance, requested a phone conversation with Barr in February 2023, and Barr responded two minutes later. Fathi disclosed in another email that the director of ADCRR reached out to him "to schedule a call about working together on ADCRR issues."
Don Specter, a longtime PLO attorney, also reported having a "productive meeting" with the head of ADCRR in June 2023.
To reduce incarceration, the PLO has pursued litigation that contributed to court-ordered reductions in California’s prison population, supported credit systems that can advance release or parole eligibility, and advocated reentry programs allowing eligible people to serve portions of their sentences in the community.
The organizations Barr turned to for recruiting assistance have taken positions on policing and incarceration that differ sharply from Mayes’ public law-and-order posture.
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"As Attorney General, Mayes has been a partner to law enforcement, delivering millions of dollars in funding and resources so border sheriffs and Arizona police can keep us safe," her campaign website reads. "She has locked up drug cartel members, seized more than 27 million deadly fentanyl pills off our streets and gone after criminals trying to take advantage of our kids."
The ACLU, meanwhile, has explicitly advocated defunding or divesting from police departments and redirecting resources toward other community services — publishing blogs with titles such as "Defunding the Police Will Actually Make Us Safer" and "Local Officials: Pledge to Divest from Police and Reinvest in Black Communities." Additionally, the legal advocacy group has urged Congress to cut federal police funding while also calling on state and local leaders to reduce law enforcement spending.
The PLO likewise advocates reducing incarceration, expanding release opportunities and increasing community-based alternatives.
Those positions differ sharply from Mayes’ stated position on police funding. During her 2022 campaign, Mayes responded with "a resounding no" when asked whether she supported defunding the police.
Barr, Fathi, Oddo, Specter, Kendrick, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, the ACLU and the PLO did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Monday.