A former Senate candidate, charged with six felonies related to the alleged misuse of public campaign money, has pleaded guilty to one count of perjury in exchange for dropping the five other counts.

Sentencing of Yuri Downing, 34, has been set for 8:45 a.m. Jan. 26 before Judge Jeffrey Hotham in Maricopa County Superior Court. Downing, 34, will at least serve probation, but Judge Hotham reminded the former candidate he could serve prison time of up to 3 1/2 years.

Downing, who gave his full name as Yurikino Cenit Downing-Garcia, told the judge in a hearing Dec. 22 that he submitted financial reports that did not include every transaction involving his campaign account. By submitting an inaccurate accounting of campaign spending, Downing said he committed perjury.

Downing made an unsuccessful bid as a Libertarian candidate for the Senate from District 17 in 2002, and also served as campaign manager to two other Libertarians seeking the House seats in the same district.

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC), which administers public campaign funding, sanctioned all three candidates for failing to properly report how much of their more than $100,000 in campaign funds was used.

The two House candidates, Paul DeDonati and Trevor Clevenger, have since settled with the Clean Elections Commission for $15,000 each, even though each received more than $30,000 in public campaign funds.

Downing chose to fight the commission’s order that he repay all of the $41,155.43 in public campaign funds he received by appealing through the state Office of Administrative Hearings. Weeks into that process, though, Downing decided to drop the matter so the civil order from the CCEC still stands.

During the Dec. 22 plea conference, Downing agreed to pay restitution on the criminal charge of $15,000 but the agreement will allow that money to also count against the $41,155.43 he still owes the Clean Elections Commission.

The conference was congenial, although assistant state attorney E.G. Noyes disputed Downing’s contention in addressing the judge that he paid back $2,472 in campaign funds he took for personal use.

Mr. Noyes said the issue of whether Downing repaid the money wasn’t relevant to the plea agreement on the perjury charge, but said the state was prepared, if the case had gone to trial, to prove that Downing hadn’t paid back the money, which was the basis for the theft charge alleged by a state grand jury in July. Besides the theft charge, the four other charges that were dropped were a fraud charge and three perjury charges.

Downing was to face trial on the six counts beginning Dec. 21, but the day before the trial was to begin, a status conference was announced on a possible plea agreement. Downing originally had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.—