Goldwater Institute sues Arizona attorney general for records

Audio By Carbonatix

(The Center Square) - A lawsuit has been filed against Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.

Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute brought the lawsuit. Attorneys want Mayes to release alleged price-fixing complaint records from a 2024 lawsuit that Mayes filed against nine residential landlords and the RealPage software company.

At the time of filing her lawsuit, the attorney general’s office said the parties were “conspiring to illegally raise rents for hundreds of thousands of Arizona renters” in the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas.

Goldwater Institute attorney Stacy Skankey said the institute does not take a position on the merits of the underlying case. However, when reviewing the announcement and complaint made by Mayes, the institute discovered there was no mention of actual consumer complaints, Skankey said.

“It just says very broadly and generally that consumers were harmed,” Skankey told The Center Square. “So when the attorney general is using their consumer protection enforcement powers, Arizonans need to know whether consumers are actually being protected by these actions.”

The lawsuit against the Democratic attorney general was filed Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court. The county is home to Phoenix, the state's capital.

Skankey said attorneys want to “get information about that lawsuit regarding who complained.” Goldwater also wants to know if there were “any unsolicited complaints from the public.”

In April 2024, Goldwater filed a public records request. According to Skankey, Goldwater did not get a response until January of this year.

“Even then you know it was a denial, we tried to follow up and get communication before filing suit, but here we are, now in November 2025, and we still don’t have our answers, and so we brought this lawsuit,” said Skankey, litigation director of the Goldwater Institute’s American Freedom Network. The institute is a nonprofit that focuses on liberty issues.

Skankey added Goldwater is not asking for much, only numerical data.

“It should be very easy to comply with, and yet, you know after this long, drawn-out process, here we are now having to demand that these be produced,” said Skankey.

The Center Square sought comment from the Attorney General’s Office and was told that staffers responded to the Goldwater Institute’s request for records. Mayes' office said it produced all documents required to be disclosed under Arizona law.

“Attorney General Mayes is proud to have taken on major corporate landlords and RealPage for allegedly orchestrating a price-fixing scheme that drove up rents for families across Arizona,” said Richie Taylor, communications director for Attorney General Mayes.

“She will continue to aggressively pursue this case to hold landlords and RealPage accountable for their anticompetitive conduct," Taylor told The Center Square.

Taylor added that the Goldwater Institute is “free to follow the case as it moves through the courts, just like anyone else.”

Skankey later told The Center Square her team disagrees with the Attorney General’s Office's claim that it complied with the Arizona public records law.

“Our records request for the total number of consumer complaints regarding RealPage was denied, and follow-up communications went unanswered,” said Skankey. “Taxpayers deserve transparency, and without transparency, officials lose the public’s trust.”