A dormant Clean Elections enforcement action against a 2002 candidate for the state House of Representatives may be revived next month.

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission, which administers public campaign funding in Arizona, considered in January whether it would make a formal finding that Thom Strawn, an unsuccessful candidate for the House from District 1, broke commission rules in failing to properly file campaign finance reports.

The commission decided to postpone any further administrative action against Mr. Strawn while the state Attorney General’s Office looked into the matter.

ARS 16-913(K) requires that candidate campaign committees file at a minimum four financial reports during and after the election season. The statute also requires that the reports be filed electronically using free software provided by the Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees Arizona elections.

The Attorney General’s Office issued two orders demanding that Mr. Strawn properly file the reports. Mr. Strawn then filed an appeal with the state Office of Administrative Hearings.

On July 30, Administrative Law Judge Daniel G. Martin found that Mr. Strawn had failed to properly file three of the four reports, and set a fine of $2,450.

Mr. Strawn, who couldn’t be reached for comment, told officials at the Secretary of State’s Office that he was having trouble with the software, which he said might have been defective, according to Jessica Funkhouser, who was state elections director in 2002 and who now is an assistant state attorney general.

Despite Mr. Strawn’s claims that the software wasn’t working properly, he made no effort to get a replacement copy, Judge Martin stated in his decision.

Because Mr. Strawn decided to run as a publicly funded candidate, he also will have to answer to the Clean Elections Commission for failing to file timely campaign spending reports. Colleen Connor, executive director of the commission, said Mr. Strawn’s case could be on the agenda for the Nov. 18 meeting. The commission’s next meeting is at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 21 in the commission boardroom at 1616 W. Adams St., Phoenix.

Mr. Strawn received $26,938.78 in public funds for his 2002 campaign. As of Oct.15, he had not paid the $2,450 fine levied by the administrative law judge.

Ms. Funkhouser said she has not heard from Mr. Strawn on whether he will file an appeal of the fine in Maricopa County Superior Court. —