Stay off the grass
Volunteers for the Democratic party argue with a Senate employee after being told to move to the sidewalk during a recent GOP news conference on the Senate lawn. The volunteers showed up with signs to protest an appearance by Republican candidate for attorney general, Bill Montgomery. The signs refer to charges that Mr. Montgomery had hired illegals in making a campaign commercial saying too little had been done to stop the flow of illegal immigrants.

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission on Oct. 12 found reason to believe two publicly funded candidates for statewide offices may have violated state election laws by spending primary campaign funds for use in the general election.
Complaints against Bill Montgomery, a Republican candidate for attorney general, and Israel Torres, a Democrat running for secretary of state, were addressed by the commission, which voted 4-0 and 3-1, respectively, to continue investigating the charges.
On Sept. 22, a complaint was filed with the CCEC alleging that Mr. Montgomery hired illegal immigrants to participate in a campaign commercial and he had used approximately $73,000 of his primary funds to film the commercial and to buy television time during the general election period.
The commission’s executive director, Todd Lang, recommended the commission dismiss the portion of the complaint filed by attorney Marty Harper pertaining to the alleged use of illegal immigrants, but begin an investigation to find out if the funds were spent unlawfully.
Commercial filmed day of primary
Mike Bailey, an attorney working on behalf of Mr. Montgomery, told the commission the commercial’s producers were paid in mid-August, but the commercial was filmed Sept. 12, the day of the primary elections, because of “scheduling problems.”
He also said the state statute covering the funding of the primary and general election was ambiguous and left campaign committees with unanswered questions.
“Is it OK to spend the money two days before the election?” he asked. “How about seven days?”
Kelly Flood, an attorney and colleague of Mr. Harper, called for Harsh penalties against Mr. Montgomery. She asked the commission to order the Republican challenger to Attorney General Terry Goddard to repay $73,000 to the CCEC and to cause the forfeiture of the commercial and purchased air time.
She also called for sanctions to be applied to Mr. Montgomery if it is found that he overspent his primary limit by more than 10 percent.
Participating candidates who overspend their campaign spending limits by 10 percent or greater are to be removed from office, according to the Clean Elections Act passed by voters in 1998.
Mr. Lang told the commission that he is interested in investigating circumstances that Mr. Montgomery’s campaign says affected the timing of the filming of the commercial.
“If there is exonerating evidence out there, I’d certainly like to have it,” he said.
Torres campaign questioned about 10,000 brochures
Mr. Torres was the target of a recent complaint that he had purchased thousands of brochures that arrived late in his uncontested primary campaign, but were intended to be used for his general election versus Republican Secretary of State Jan Brewer.
His attorney, Jim Barton, told the commission that 10,000 brochures were ordered by Mr. Torres’ campaign and they were received Sept. 6 and distributed shortly after, although some “spillover” to the general election might have occurred.
Since Mr. Torres did not have a primary opponent most of his campaign funds were spent during the “backend of the primaries,” said Mr. Barton.
Mr. Lang told the commission that Mr. Torres’ campaign should be looked at more closely to determine if “they were using these materials in the primaries and not just buying them in the primaries.”
Campaign signs were also the subject of commission attention during the Oct. 12 meeting. The regulatory body voted to find probable cause that Jason Williams, a privately funded candidate for superintendent of public instruction, violated reporting requirements when he failed to provide notice that he purchased $7,000 worth of campaign signs.
Mr. Lang told the commission that Mr. Williams, a Democrat, who was not in attendance, said the signs were “defective” and therefore did not need to be reported to the commission.
Commissioner Carl Kunasek did not attend the meeting.