The Citizens Clean Elections Commission voted unanimously on July 13 that no violations against the Clean Elections Act or commission rules were committed by either gubernatorial candidate Len Munsil or District 23 Senate contender Cheryl Chase.
The commission found no reason to believe that Mr. Munsil had illegally coordinated with the vice-president of a Prescott-based firearms firm to create an editorial requesting cash contributions be made to the Republican candidate.
A complaint against Mr. Munsil was filed with the CCEC and the Secretary of State’s Office by Jeffrey R. Fox. It alleges that at a minimum the value of the mailing to Mr. Munsil’s campaign was $17,500 and sufficient to remove Mr. Munsil from the ballot for overspending his primary campaign funding limit by greater than 10 percent.
The editorial ran in a 20-page brochure produced by J & G II, Inc. and was sent to 45,000 of the company’s customers, including 13,000 Arizona residents, wrote Brent DeSaye, the company vice-president in a letter to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Todd Lang, executive director of the CCEC, said the commission will move to determine if the mailer will qualify as an independent expenditure made on behalf of Mr. Munsil.
Under state law, efforts made by independent groups to influence statewide or legislative elections — even without the knowledge of candidates that stand to benefit — can result in funds being distributed to publicly funded competitors to compensate for the provided advantage.
It is not clear if the brochure will trigger the matching funds provision because Mr. Munsil does not yet have a qualified publicly funded opponent in the primary election, said Mr. Lang.
Republican Don Goldwater has not turned in the necessary 4,200 signatures and $5 contributions to qualify for public funding. A 20 percent surplus of signatures and contributions is recommended by the CCEC to ensure that a sufficient number of signatures is valid.
The application deadline for public funding is Aug. 31 for the 2006 election cycle, according to the CCEC.
Mr. Munsil’s lawyer David Maddox praised the commission’s decision to drop the complaint, labeling it “frivolous and politically motivated.”
The brochure mailed to customers of the arms company does not qualify as expenditure under state law, Mr. Maddox said in a press release.
“Under the clear words of the statute this was a First Amendment protected editorial published in a periodical and is not an expenditure subject to review by the commission,” he said.
A media advisor for Mr. Munsil said he was not sure if the complaint had originated from campaign workers for other Republican candidates for governor, but viewed it as politics as usual.
“This isn’t a prom date,” said Vernon B. Parker. “This is a campaign.”
A complaint filed with the CCEC against Ms. Chase, a Republican Senate candidate, alleged the candidate accepted illegal donations for her officeholder expense account and provided Ms. Chase’s Jan. 31 campaign finance report.
Four checks made to Ms. Chase’s account were “well in excess of the maximum $60 limit” set by commission rules, according to the complaint brought by Joseph Robison, chair of the Pinal County Democrats.
Mr. Lang said there was no reason for the commission to discipline Ms. Chase for the error because the amounts in excess were returned to the contributors and her campaign finance reports were immediately amended to reflect the changes.