Ahwatukee neighbors fighting construction of a hyperscale data center pressured a Phoenix city councilmember to give their group a $5,000 campaign donation he'd received from an executive of the company building the project.
Councilmember Kevin Robinson, a former 36-year police officer and assistant chief, is nearing the end of his first term in office and has amassed over $400,000 in campaign contributions from hundreds of supporters.
Construction that began earlier this year on the million-square-foot, five-building data center near 48th Street and East Thistle Landing Drive has angered neighbors, who formed the opposition group.
Robinson said he had no idea that a $5,000 contribution to his reelection campaign in March was from Jane Vaughan,
a partner in California's Menlo Equities and chief development officer for Menlo Digital, which is building the data center.
Robinson represents the city's District 6, which covers the Arcadia and Ahwatukee neighborhoods. He flew to the company's headquarters in August to talk about the neighbors' concerns and informed Vaughan he would give the same amount she donated to the Ahwatukee Community Alliance, he told The Arizona Republic.
"I appreciate anytime someone wants to support my campaign," Robinson said. "And I was just turning around, sending the same amount to a nonprofit in the area because, well, I thought it was the right thing to do."
He further explained it "just looked bad" and there was "a concern on the part of some of my constituents" about why he would take money from the Menlo Digital partner.
Vaughan didn't respond to messages seeking comment.
The donation didn't impress Craig Evans, the opposition group's leader.
Evans criticized Robinson for doing too little on the issue and referred to campaign finance records showing the councilmember also accepted the maximum individual contribution of $6,750 from a Phoenix lawyer who represents Menlo Digital, plus another $6,750 from the lawyer's wife, but Robinson isn't doing anything about those donations.
Robinson and other City Council members, plus the city's planning and zoning department, have sold Ahwatukee down the river," Evans said.
But stopping the project isn't an option the city could take without significant financial risk.
Phoenix data center opposition targets politician
With Phoenix's Nov. 3 election drawing near, the flipped donation is the latest example of the political storm over data centers.
Frustration with data centers' noise, visual blight, heat generation and need for water for cooling has sparked protests and opposition across the country.
In Arizona, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and Republican legislative leaders agreed on a three-year moratorium on tax incentives for new data centers in this year's state budget, although the action drove a rush of new data-center applications before it took effect. Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, who like Hobbs is also running for reelection this year, recently called for a statewide pause on new data centers and scheduled a town hall on the Ahwatukee project for Oct. 14.
Several Arizona cities have either changed their data-center regulations or are preparing to. Gilbert officials are considering new rules to limit new data centers, while Peoria is exploring potential zoning changes that would give the city more options on how to deal with different kinds of data-center projects.
The Ahwatukee Community Alliance is scheduled to hold a protest of the project starting at 8 a.m. on Sept. 26.
Members have complained about the construction noise, which can begin as early as 5 a.m. on weekdays from May 1 to Oct. 15 due to a 2025 law. Concrete pouring can start an hour earlier. Residents worry about the noise, pollution and other potential problems from the data center.
Robinson became a prime target for the Ahwatukee Community Alliance and submitted to a barrage of questions in August in a forum scheduled by the group that drew about 100 people. It was his second meeting with the group.
In addition to questions about the project itself, a group member asked Robinson why he was "more interested in protecting Menlo's interest" over those of the community members, a video the group posted shows. Robinson then referred to "another question" that would come up and acknowledged Vaughan's donation, which an anonymous group member had mentioned in a July 2025 Facebook post.
Robinson told the group his wife told him, "It's a bad look, and she's right."
Group members asked him to give them the money, which Robinson told The Republic was a "good point."
He added that a July 2025 ordinance he and the council passed that added regulations to address where data centers could be located and other issues, like noise, but those couldn't be applied retroactively.
"The one in Ahwatukee was far enough down the road" in terms of the approval process to avoid the new restrictions.
Campaigns can donate to nonprofits
Robinson said city election officials gave him the green light to make sure he could donate campaign funds to the nonprofit group.
Tom Collins, executive director of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, noted that campaign donations to nonprofits aren't prohibited under Arizona law and Federal Election Commission guidelines note that "charitable donations" from campaigns are acceptable as long as they don't "personally benefit the candidate."
Evans said the Ahwatukee group is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization "and endorses no candidate or cause."
"To the extent that we advocate, it is for the enforcement of existing laws," he explained.
The group added the money to its legal fund, which is "woefully underfunded" compared to Menlo Digital's and Phoenix's, Evans said.
As an individual voter, Evans said he believes Robinson's opponent for the council seat, real estate investor Michael Del Prete, "could distinguish himself better on this topic."
Del Prete, however, told The Republic he's "not anti-data center in any way." He added he is "anti-irresponsible," explaining he believes city officials could have done a much better job letting its neighbors know how large the data center would be.
Reach the reporter at rstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on X @raystern.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix candidate took $5K from data center, gave to its opponents
