Gov. Jan Brewer's campaign attorney accused the Citizens Clean Elections Commission of abdicating its responsibility after commissioners decided not seek help for publicly financed candidates who are now forced to run their campaigns without the benefit of matching funds.

Arizona’s matching funds system for publicly financed campaigns may be going down, but it probably won’t go alone.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to block Arizona’s Clean Elections system from distributing matching funds is a bad omen for similar systems in other states, and could portend their end if the court rules that matching funds are unconstitutional, according to legal experts and campaign finance reform advocates.

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission decided there is little it can do to help publicly funded candidates who are suddenly without matching funds, and Gov. Jan Brewer won't throw it the lifeline it's asking for either.

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission may consider enacting an emergency clause that would allow publicly funded candidates to raise additional campaign cash, a change that Gov. Jan Brewer's campaign is hoping can alleviate the sudden loss of matching funds.

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Arizona's Clean Elections system from distributing matching funds, throwing a number of high profile campaigns into disarray just weeks before candidates were to start receiving money.

Arizona officials have told the U.S. Supreme Court that it's too late in the current election cycle to block payment of extra campaign money to publicly funded candidates.