Runbeck Election Services (RES) confirmed this week that Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma’s (R-Peoria) brother, Mihai Toma, purchased a majority stake in the company on August 18.
RES is the private company that processes Maricopa County’s mail-in ballots.
Mihai Toma (pictured above, left) is the president and CEO of Black Mountain Investment Company, whose subsidiary Lincoln Shields acquired the majority purchase. The speaker owns a large share of Black Mountain.
Kari Lake, who continues to challenge her election loss in the gubernatorial race and has expressed concerns about hundreds of thousands of ballots lacking a chain of custody at RES, told The Arizona Sun Times, “I don’t think it is ethical for a member of the state legislature to have a money making interest in the mail-in ballot or election system while they have the power to write law pertaining to elections. I don’t see us getting rid of mail-in ballots as long as Ben Toma has a money making opportunity in the mail-in ballot system.”
“Ben Toma has no stake in Runbeck Election Services and was only notified shortly before the purchase,” a spokesperson for Runbeck said in a statement. “The connection is purely coincidental.” A spokesman for Toma said he would be divesting any financial interest in his brother’s company. “I have a very, very tiny part of Black Mountain; by no means do I have control or influence over the company,” he told AZ Central. Mandatory financial disclosure statements show he owns over a $100,000 stake in Black Mountain.
In December, the Arizona Daily Independent reported that Ben Toma (pictured above, right) denied ties to RES. The article said his brothers “serve on a corporate board with a senior executive of Runbeck.” That board is for an aerospace company run by Mihai Toma, Precision Aero, and the RES executive is Jeff Ellington, RES’s president and COO.
The speaker’s other brother, Andrei Toma, is the chief legal officer of Black Mountain and secretary of Precision Aero.
KNST talk show host Garret Lewis posted on X last December about the connection but confused Ben Toma’s brothers with being his sons and confused Precision Aero with RES. Ben Toma responded on X, “Fake news. First, if true, it’d be pretty impressive to have grown men as ‘sons’ since I’m only 44 myself. Second, a quick look at my website would show you that I have nothing but daughters. Third, the company in the website has nothing to do with Runbeck or elections.”
State Representative Alex Kolodin (R-Scottsdale) said in June that he and State Representative Jacqueline Parker (R-Maricopa) were launching an investigation into RES to determine “whether Title 16 adequately protects voters with respect to 3rd party vendors.”
In response to concerns from PCs about Runbeck, @electjacqparker and I are commencing an investigation into whether Title 16 adequately protects voters with respect to 3rd party vendors. pic.twitter.com/1MIDFjrKeO
— Rep. Alexander Kolodin (@realAlexKolodin) June 28, 2023
RES refused to turn over records Kolodin requested, prompting him to post on X, “Runbeck to Legislature: Eat sh**. We may run elections but our chain of custody docs/security footage are not public records! Oh, also we don’t care that the Court of Appeals said otherwise to Cyber Ninjas! We mention that our lawyer is related to Hobbs’ deputy chief of staff?”
Runbeck to Legislature: Eat shit. We may run elections but our chain of custody docs/security footage are not public records! Oh, also we don't care that the Court of Appeals said otherwise to Cyber Ninjas! We mention that our lawyer is related to Hobbs' deputy chief of staff? pic.twitter.com/9piTpLyJCN
— Rep. Alexander Kolodin (@realAlexKolodin) July 18, 2023
Lake’s attorney, Bryan Blehm and We the People AZ have also tried unsuccessfully to retrieve records from RES— video coverage. Blehm filed a lawsuit against the company over the refusal in May. We the People AZ posted on X, “We the People AZ requested footage of Runbeck’s loading docks and they are refusing to comply. Counties across the country use the services of Runbeck. Is this so they can hide from their public transparency obligation?”
We the People AZ requested footage of Runbeck's loading docks and they are refusing to comply. Counties across the country use the services of Runbeck. Is this so they can hide from their public transparency obligation? https://t.co/ZTFfaeYm5d
— We the People AZ Alliance (@WethePeopleAZA1) April 28, 2023
Brian Runbeck, brother to RES CEO Kevin Runbeck and who serves as Client Services Manager/Project Manager and Production Coordinator for the company, donated numerous times to ActBlue and Biden for president. According to The Gateway Pundit, Robyn Runbeck, who is married to Kevin Runbeck, contributed to the Stop Republicans PAC in 2020. RES posted a notice defending Brian Runbeck’s donations to Democrats.
The state’s information security director under then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, Ken Matta, left his position in May 2021 to work for RES as CIO. Six months ago, Matta joined Hobbs’ Bipartisan Elections Task Force. RES provided the printers to Maricopa County that malfunctioned on Election Day.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ben Toma” by Ben Toma. Photo “Mihai Toma” by Mihai Toma.
