Judge: AG's lawsuit against ASU hotel deal can proceed
PHOENIX (AP) — A judge has ruled that Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich can continue with a lawsuit to block a luxury hotel deal at Arizona State University, but he'll have to show he didn't wait too long to file it.
Maricopa County Superior Court judge Christopher Whitten on Tuesday declined to dismiss the lawsuit claiming the deal is an unconstitutional gift to the hotel developers. Building the hotel on university land would make it exempt from property taxes.
But Whitten says Brnovich will have to show he filed the suit within a year of learning that it may violate the gift ban in the Arizona constitution. Board of Regents Chair Larry Penley says Brnovich will have hard time with that because the deal was hotly debated for more than a year.