Yee selected as Quelland replacement in House District 10

Kimberly Yee

Well-known policy advisor Kimberly Yee was appointed Aug. 2 to replace former Rep. Doug Quelland, who was removed from office for violating campaign-finance laws.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to select Yee to fill the House District 10 seat for the rest of the year. Yee was appointed in favor of two other finalists, Henry Grosjean and Francine Romesburg.

“This will show the voters the Board of Supervisors had the confidence in me,” said Yee, who is Treasurer Dean Martin’s communications director.

She said voters will now have someone they can trust since a cloud has been hanging over Quelland since he took office.

Quelland was removed from office in May after the courts upheld allegations by the Clean Elections Commission that he paid a consultant $15,000 for campaign purposes in 2008, a violation of rules for publicly funded candidates.

Quelland, who has maintained his innocence, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Supervisor Max Wilson said that besides interviewing the candidates, he also spoke with Gov. Jan Brewer and House Speaker Kirk Adams about the selection.

Yee, who was Brewer’s choice to fill the spot, could be going to work soon if the governor calls a special session to address changes to S1070, Arizona’s strict new immigration law whose key provisions were blocked July 28 by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton.

Sen. Linda Gray, a Republican from Glendale, said Yee, who was also a former Senate analyst, already has a good understanding of the legislative process.

“I’ve supported Kimberly for a number of years and encouraged her to run for office. And that comes from my 14 years of knowing her and her high qualifications,” Gray said.

GrosJean, one of those nominated to replace Quelland, also said he wasn’t surprise that the board chose Yee, but he was critical of the pick.

“It’s Arizona’s version of Chicago politics,” he said. “Linda Gray is a good friend of the … supervisors and so she’s pushing for Yee. She’s already on the ballot so why would they give her a preferential ruling like that?”
Gray laughed off the reference to Chicago-style politicking.

“There was no pay off or anything like that. That (reference) kind of surprises me,” she said.

Yee has been in the public affairs arena for more than a dozen years.

Prior to her position in the state Treasurer’s Office, she was deputy cabinet secretary to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a senior research analyst in the Arizona Senate and a policy analyst for the state Board of Education in California Gov. Pete Wilson’s administration.