Former gubernatorial candidate Matt Salmon says he will not file a threatened $3.2 million lawsuit against the Citizens Clean Elections Commission and its executive director, Colleen Connor.

Mr. Salmon on July 30 paid the $3,471.25 fine levied by the commission against him. The fine was imposed June 24 after the commission initially sought a penalty of $10,000 against Mr. Salmon for the late disclosure of nearly $100,000 in expenditures during his 2002 run for governor. The commission agreed to the lower amount on the recommendation of an administrative law judge to whom Mr. Salmon had appealed the $10,000 penalty as unreasonable.

Mr. Salmon said he decided against filing a lawsuit after the commission accepted Administrative Law Judge Brian B. Tully’s recommendation for the lower fine.

“The Clean Elections Commission finally came to their senses,” Mr. Salmon stated in a news release Aug. 21. “Although it might have been clear to everybody else, it finally became clear to them that they have a problem with their executive director and bit off more than they could chew. I believe that my efforts will help prevent the commission from ever harming another candidate again. I have accomplished my goal of stopping their abuse.

“While the commission’s unjustified actions were unfair and damaged my family and me, I will not resort to a lawsuit against them,” Mr. Salmon stated. “Lawsuits are hard on families. My family has been through enough. Lawsuits against the government are also hard on taxpayers. The taxpayers already have to foot the bill for politicians’ campaigns, and I don’t want to stick them with another multi-million dollar tab.”

Mr. Salmon contended in a draft of the threatened lawsuit that the commission violated his right to due process in pursuing an investigation into his campaign finances.

Mr. Salmon, who won the Republican Party nomination for governor but lost to Democrat Janet Napolitano, ran on traditional campaign contributions. He, as were other privately funded candidates, was nonetheless required to file a series of campaign finance reports that could be used to determine matching funds for the publicly funded primary campaigns of his GOP opponents, Betsey Bayless and Carol Springer.

Ms. Connor said Aug. 27, “We never thought there was any merit to the claim, and we’re not surprised that a lawsuit won’t be filed.”

“His press release contains numerous inaccuracies, including the amount of the penalty and the implication that the judge ‘threw out’ the $10,000,” Ms. Connor said. “The penalty was reduced by the commission on the recommendation of the judge.”

In the news release, Mr. Salmon describes the penalty as being $3,000, instead of $3,471.25, and states that his decision against filing suit was “prompted in part by the victory already awarded him by Administrative Law Judge Brian Tully when he threw out the commission’s fine….” —