Arizona Office of Tourism director resigns amid conflict of interest allegations

Gov. Katie Hobbs (left) and Arizona Office of Tourism director Lisa Urias unveil the state’s new rebranding for a tourism campaign called “Vibrant Arizona.” Photo by Shondiin Silversmith | Arizona Mirror

Lisa Urias, Gov. Katie Hobbs’ pick to head the Arizona Office of Tourism, tendered her resignation Friday. Her resignation followed a report that revealed a relative of the head of Urias’ communications agency was hired to help design the state’s new logo, and that Urias Communications was awarded a multi-year $250,000 contract from the Arizona Department of Education. 

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne claimed that number was incorrect, posting on the social media site X, formerly Twitter, that the department paid $15,000 for a one-year contract with Urias, and that the department did not have any plans to enter into a longer contract. 

The Arizona Agenda first reported on Thursday that graphic designer Kevin Coochwytewa was paid $27,500 to help create the logo, alongside an outside graphic design company. Kevin’s brother is Jason Coochwytewa, the CEO of Urias Communications, which Urias owns. 

The Agenda reported that the logo redesign was paid for with federal pandemic funds and cost around $700,000, including for nearly 60 listening sessions held virtually and in-person across the state. Urias wrote in her resignation letter that the total went toward the logo, as well as an effort to “refresh Arizona’s brand” including “the development of a state brand playbook” and a new state brand video. 

Urias was appointed to the job in January 2023, and started helming the agency in March 2023.

The Agenda also pointed out that Urias Communications was awarded a $250,000, five-year contract with the Arizona Department of Education last year to manage events for the Office of Indian Education.

In her letter, Urias adamantly denied that her communications firm profited from her position as tourism director. She claimed that Heart & Soul Agency, which won the bid to lead the rebranding project, chose Kevin Coochwytewa to work on the logo design, although Urias recommended him for the job. 

After the Agenda published its reporting, legislative Republicans ripped into Hobbs for the alleged corruption of the tourism director that she appointed. 

“Katie Hobbs continues to exploit her office, break the law, and take advantage of the people of Arizona,” Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, wrote in a post on X Thursday. “This is what it looks like when Democrats are in control of your government.”

In his post, Hoffman incorrectly claimed that Urias’ brother was hired to design the logo. 

Hoffman is the chairman of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus and a vociferous Hobbs critic He also leads a Senate committee, created shortly after Hobbs took office in 2023, that held lengthy and acrimonious approval hearings for her nominees for directors of state agencies. The committee often recommended that the Senate decline to approve her director picks, often because they espoused political beliefs — unrelated to their duties — that Republicans opposed. 

After Hobbs struggled to get her director nominees confirmed by the Senate, she pulled their nominations and appointed them as executive deputy directors, a new position that she said wouldn’t require Senate approval. Urias was one of those 13 directors who would be facing a Senate committee hearing in the new year, after a judge agreed with Senate Republicans that Hobbs had broken the law with her circumvention of the Senate approval process. 

“We live in an era of heightened political discord, where unsubstantiated allegations can

inflict immediate and lasting reputational damage,” Urias wrote in her resignation letter. “Despite the extensive effort and care devoted to rebranding Arizona and the professional management of the day-to-day operations of the office, it became evident that these false allegations would obstruct my confirmation by the Senate Confirmation Committee.”

Her last day with the Office of Tourism will be Dec. 4. 

Also on Thursday, state Rep. Teresa Martinez, R-Casa Grande, asked Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes and Republican Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell to investigate what she called “potential conflicts of interest.” 

“Simply put, Governor Hobbs already violated the law when she appointed Ms. Urias and as a consequence, Ms. Urias has avoided the checks and balances that are critical to maintaining the separation of powers and the integrity of state government,” Martinez wrote.