There isn’t necessarily a smoking gun in the campaign coordination case against Attorney General Tom Horne and Kathleen Winn, but election law experts say the circumstantial evidence against them may be enough.

An administrative law judge scheduled three days of hearings in January for the campaign coordination case against Attorney General Tom Horne and Kathleen Winn, who ran an independent expenditure campaign to assist Horne’s campaign during the 2010 election.

Senate President Andy Biggs and House Speaker Andy Tobin will ask the Arizona Supreme Court to allow the state’s higher new campaign contribution limits to go into effect, saving a lower court argument that the old limits are unconstitutional for another day.

Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk reached the same conclusion as her counterpart in Maricopa County, finding that Attorney General Tom Horne and a top aide illegally coordinated their campaign activity during the 2010 election.

Both sides claimed victory as a federal judge dismissed the bulk of Margaret “Meg” Hinchey’s retaliation lawsuit against Attorney General Tom Horne and a top aide, but allowed the case to proceed on several allegations.

Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk has agreed to pursue campaign finance allegations against Attorney General Tom Horne and a top aide.

Arizona Solicitor General Robert Ellman, who reports directly to Horne, stated in a June 27 letter to Polk that he was referring the case to her office to avoid a conflict of interest in the case.

A judge ruled that the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office lacks to the authority to pursue campaign finance allegations against Tom Horne and a top aide, giving the attorney general at least a temporary reprieve.

Mark Brnovich, the director of the Arizona Department of Gaming, may challenge Attorney General Tom Horne in the Republican primary next year. Brnovich, a former assistant U.S. attorney and assistant attorney general, said supporters have been urging him to run for the office.

Before the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office can try to win its campaign finance fight against Tom Horne and Kathleen Winn, it’ll have to win the fight over whether it can prosecute the attorney general and his ally in the first place.

A May 7 evidentiary hearing in Attorney General Tom Horne’s campaign finance case is back on after Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery officially rejected an administrative law judge’s recommendation that the case be dismissed.