Department of Correction Secretary Joe Profiri

Governor-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ appointment of Joe Profiri to head up the Arkansas Department of Corrections marks the second hire she’s made from Arizona, where the governor’s office went from red to blue in 2022.

Profiri will leave his post as deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections to come to Arkansas. He served briefly as acting director of the Arizona prison system in 2019 after Director Charles Ryan retired amid an investigation that revealed he failed to address broken locks and other safety concerns. Profiri served as deputy director under Ryan, and resumed that position when Arizona Governor Doug Ducey appointed David Shinn to take over the director job.

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Profiri’s interim appointment as director of the Arizona prison system earned the ire of some correction officers, who said Profiri knew as much as Ryan did about the security failings inside Arizona prisons and failed to act.

Like Profiri, Sanders’ Chief of Staff Gretchen Conger comes to us from Arizona, where she leaves behind some unsatisfied customers. Conger got sideways of conflict of interest rules and best practices when she helped lobby for a tax cut that would just happen to deliver $10 million to her dad’s company.

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Outgoing Republican Arizona Gov. Ducey was term-limited and couldn’t run for a third term. Democrat Katie Hobbs beat Trump-endorsed Republican Kari Lake for the office.

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