A state commission approved a settlement Oct. 30 under which Republican attorney general candidate Bill Montgomery must surrender $43,000 in public campaign funding that he intended to use to pay for airing a commercial allegedly produced partly with the services of illegal immigrants.
The Citizens Clean Elections Commission had said that Mr. Montgomery should not have used primary election funding to both tape a commercial on primary election day and pay for broadcasting it.
The commission initially sought repayment of both the $30,000 spent to produce the ad and $43,000 that Montgomery planned to use to air it.
Publicly funded candidates are supposed to use their primary election funding for that election and return anything that wasn’t spent.
The $43,000 represents a sizable portion of Montgomery’s public funding for his campaign. Like Democratic incumbent Terry Goddard, Mr. Montgomery received $143,325 in primary and general election funding.
In filing the complaint that prompted the commission’s investigation, Mr. Goddard’s campaign said that Mr. Montgomery was seeking an unfair advantage in the general election by misusing his primary election funding.
Mr. Montgomery did not attend the commission meeting but he has said he tried to have the commercial shot earlier but that scheduling problems prevented it. He also said he didn’t think the timing of the shoot or that post-primary use of the resulting commercial violated the law.
However, commission Executive Director Todd Lang said it was a clear violation because there was no way that the commercial could be used during the primary election campaign.
Mr. Lang said the commission could have required that Mr. Montgomery also return the $30,000 used to pay the production company but that the settlement was fair because Mr. Montgomery tried to produce the commercial earlier, his campaign cooperated with the commission’s investigation and Mr. Montgomery apparently had a good-faith belief that he was acting within the law.
Mr. Goddard’s campaign attorney Kelly Flood criticized the settlement because Mr. Montgomery still can use the commercial. “It seems to be ill-gotten gains if he’s allowed to use it during the general” election campaign, she said.
While voting Oct. 10 to launch a formal investigation of the late spending issue, the commission declined to act on the allegation of illegal hiring of illegal immigrants.
However, law enforcement agencies are looking into whether Mr. Montgomery or the film crew hired illegal immigrants for the commercial.
Mr. Montgomery has said he has no reason to believe that occurred and that he believed the men were volunteers. Two production crew members have denied knowingly hiring illegal immigrants as extras.
Mr. Goddard’s campaign has submitted affidavits from witnesses who said illegal immigrants apparently were used.
Taping took place Sept. 12 in a Gilbert park. One affidavit was submitted by a town employee who reported that a member of the production crew told him that Hispanic men participating in the video shoot were illegal immigrants being paid for their participation.
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