The author of Arizona's Citizens Clean Elections Act wants a judge to block vote on a plan by Republican lawmakers to take away some of the power of the commission that administers the program of public financing of candidates.

A new member has been chosen to replace a Citizens Clean Elections Commissioner whose term expired.

Republican Corporation Commission candidates Tom Forese and Doug Little now admit they broke Arizona’s campaign finance laws, and each has been assessed a $1,000 fine by the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission, meaning the two will avoid a deeper investigation into their campaign finance reports.

Gov. Jan Brewer endorsed Horne’s GOP primary opponent, Mark Brnovich, on Thursday afternoon, citing the need for an attorney general “who will fill the office with integrity and compassion.”

The Citizen's Clean Election Commission would be consolidated with the Arizona Secretary of State's office and take on added responsibilities for overseeing election law violations and lobbyist reporting under a bill approved by a Senate committee Tuesday.

Republican Party officials in Legislative District 10 are scheduled to choose three people on June 21 to potentially replace Rep. Doug Quelland, whose seat was declared vacant after the court upheld his removal from office.

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission decertified a Senate candidate after finding that dozens of his $5 contribution forms had been allegedly forged.

The shaky future of matching funds isn't leading any publicly funded candidates to shy away from Clean Elections funding. CCEC Director Todd Land said four new candidates have filed to run publicly funded campaigns since Judge Roslyn Silver's Jan. 19 order deemed matching funds unconstitutional.

Opponents of Arizona's system of publicly funded campaigns were further encouraged by a federal judge's Aug. 27 decision to eliminate Connecticut's campaign finance reform method in entirety. The ruling by District of Connecticut Judge Stefan Underhill blasted the state's Citizens' Election Program, a voluntary program enacted in 2005 to provide legislative and statewide candidates with public campaign funding.

A struggle that began weeks after the November elections moved into the courtroom on Aug. 6 when Rep. Doug Quelland petitioned an administrative law judge to undo a state agency’s order that could force him from office. Quelland has appealed to the Office of Administrative Hearings in hopes of keeping his seat as a District 10 representative.