The Citizens Clean Elections Commission has refused to find reason to believe that Governor Napolitano’s re-election campaign illegally coordinated with private political advocacy groups to attack Republican challenger Len Munsil.
The vote on Sept. 28 was 4-1.
On Sept. 20, Mr. Munsil’s campaign filed a complaint with the commission urging the panel to investigate a possible connection between Ms. Napolitano’s campaign and the recently formed Arizona Values Coalition and the Arizona Conservative Trust.
It was also suggested in the complaint that Project for Arizona’s Future, which lists itself as a non-partisan group, may have operated illegally by funding the two groups to create a Web site attacking Mr. Munsil and to launch an alleged pre-primary election push poll against the GOP candidate.
However, earlier this week the chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party told The Associated Press that the party had contributed $100,000 to the Arizona Values Coalition.
A spokesman for the party had earlier denied the party’s funding of the group, but Chairman David Waid said the spokesman was not aware of the transaction when he communicated with The Associated Press.
At the meeting, CCEC Executive Director Todd Lang said that the independent expenditure groups may or may not have operated illegally, but recommended the commission drop the prospect of an investigation because it did not appear Ms. Napolitano and her campaign were involved.
“Was there coordination?” he asked the commission. “To me, the answer is a satisfactory no.”
David Maddox, an attorney working on behalf of Mr. Munsil, urged the commission to investigate.
Mr. Maddox had contributed to a private investigation that revealed the listed chairman and treasurer of the Arizona Values Coalition, Beau Memory and Seamus Perry, were Democrats who had worked for the 2004 John Kerry and John Edwards presidential campaign, as did Thomas Ziemba, executive director of the Project for Arizona’s Future.
The complaint filed by Mr. Munsil’s campaign included a copy of a portion of a North Carolina newspaper notice that said Mr. Memory intended to contribute to Ms. Napolitano’s re-election campaign.
That information was discredited by Andy Gordon, an attorney for Ms. Napolitano’s campaign.
“What is the so-called evidence that gives basis to the complaint?” he asked. “It’s a snippet from a North Carolina gossip column.”