Bee served in the Arizona State House from January 1991 to January 1993. He then served in the State Senate from January 1993 to January 2001,representing District 9.[2]:vii[3]:vii[4]:vii[5]:vii
He was succeeded in office by his brother,Timothy. In 2002,Bee was an unsuccessful candidate in the Republican primary for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction.[6]
Justice Court
In 2007,he was appointed as Justice of the Peace Bee. He faced an election challenge from Wesley Kent for the September 2,2008 primary and initially lost. He took the case to the Arizona Supreme Court and prevailed.[7]
Tax evasion
Justice of the Peace Bee resigned on August 4,2018. Reports published shortly afterward indicated that his early departure was likely related to a four-count federal indictment alleging the filing of false statements on three years of tax returns for his business,Bee Line Bus Transportation.[8]A change-of-plea hearing was scheduled for August 27,2021.
Bee subsequently pleaded guilty to Count 3 of the indictment,which charged that on October 15,2014,he filed a false Internal Revenue Service Form 1040 reporting $4,441,113 in business expenses. The figure included personal expenses and the depreciation of personal assets treated as business assets,which Bee acknowledged he did not believe to be accurate. Sentencing was initially set for November 9,but on October 8 the parties filed a stipulation requesting that the date be vacated and reset.
On November 29,Defense Counsel Michael Piccarreta and Assistant United States Attorney David R. Zipps filed a second stipulation to continue sentencing. Piccarreta was engaged in a separate vehicular-murder trial scheduled to begin on February 15,2022,and the defense stated it required additional time to prepare objections to the Presentence Investigation Report. Judge James Soto granted the request,setting a new sentencing date of March 16,2022,at 3:00 p.m. Objections to the Presentence Investigation Report were due January 14,2022,and the government was directed to file responses by February 11,2022.[9] Bee faced a potential sentence of up to ten months in prison or home confinement,along with $343,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.[10]
On March 16,2022,Bee was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James A. Soto to six months in federal prison,followed by one year of supervised release.[11] He was ordered to pay $343,000 in restitution and interest. Although public records indicated that Bee owned real estate valued at more than $3 million,his attorney described him as indigent,and the court waived a potential fine of $250,000 on the basis that he lacked the ability to pay.[11]
Prison
The same Sentencing Minute Entry gave Bee until noon on June 15,2022,to self-surrender for service of the sentence at the institution designated by the Bureau of Prisons or the United States Marshal. Inmate Keith Allan Bee was assigned Federal Register Number 02716–508 by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and released from Federal Prison on November 28,2022 for a total prison stay of five months and 13 days.[12]
Bee Line Bus Transportation,LLC &Baboquivari School District
Bee continues his involvement in the school transportation industry.[13][14] Baboquivari School District was the subject of a 2024 Arizona Auditor General Report that concluded it was not maintaining transportation records. It is unknown if Bee was hired to address the Report's conclusions.
Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct
On May 17,2022,the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct issued Complaint 21-290. The Commission concluded an investigation against Bee from 2018 by stating that the commission was aware of the indictment through "news reports",that Bee "did not respond to the Commission’s inquiries",and,further that the commission was aware that Bee pled guilty to criminal acts committed while he was a full-time judge. In short,the commission had a plethora of facts sufficient to issue a sanction and even had an aggravating factor in Bee's failure to cooperate. Nevertheless,the Commission opted to not "...expend the Commission’s limited resources in pursuing formal charges against an individual who no longer holds judicial office...",and closed the investigation with no resolution even though their own records betray past inquiries where they chose to do the opposite.[15] Bee's Judicial Conduct Complaint is not easily discoverable in the relevant year.[16] Remarkably,the Commission states,in the above-noted order,that it is "...in the interests of justice to make this disposition public.",yet even in the commission's relevant annual report there is no mention of the disposition at all.[17]
Finally,the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct has a searchable site for all dispositions yet no mention of Bee is found therein even though the Commission stated that the disposition was public.[18] There is little wonder why this commission has been the object of public distrust and obloquy.
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