First Amendment Watch
Ariz. clean-elections panel backs state lawmaker's ouster
By The Associated Press
Saturday, November 21, 2009
PHOENIX — Arizona’s public campaign-financing commission has affirmed a judge’s decision to remove a lawmaker from office for violating campaign-finance rules and laws.
The Citizens Clean Elections Commission accepted the ruling that Republican Rep. Doug Quelland of Phoenix illegally padded his publicly funded campaign with private money.
The commission itself found the same thing in May and ordered Quelland removed from office, but he appealed to an administrative law judge. The judge upheld his removal but reduced his fine from $45,500 to $31,000 last week, which the commission approved on Nov. 19.
Quelland, who denies the allegations against him, did not return a call for comment in time for this story. His attorney, Timothy Casey, has said he would appeal the commission’s decision in Maricopa County Superior Court if it upheld the judge’s ruling.
Quelland has two weeks from the time he is served with the commission’s decision to appeal it. He remains in office pending the case’s outcome.
If ousted from office, Quelland would be the second Arizona legislator to face that penalty for campaign-finance violations under the optional public-funding system in use by Arizona since 2000.
Commission Chair Gary Scaramazzo said the lower fine against Quelland wasn’t a major issue.
“I think the forfeiture of an office is the primary punishment on that,” Scaramazzo said. “That’s a lot of money but it’s secondary to the forfeiture of the seat.”
He said the commission wants to send a clear message to lawmakers.
“When there are misinterpretations of the rules, we will work with anyone to clarify those and not unduly punish someone,” he said. “But if someone goes to the extent of purposefully misleading the commission or the system, then we take that very seriously.”
In reference to Quelland, he said: “We felt like there was a deception and a misuse of the funds and that it was just unacceptable to go ahead and basically use the system.”
When he issued his decision last week, Judge Thomas Shedden of the Office of Administration Hearings said the commission correctly ordered Quelland’s removal from office because his 2008 primary-election spending exceeded the state’s limit due to between $13,000 and $15,000 of private spending.
Quelland has said work done for his campaigns by employees of a public-relations firm was on a volunteer basis and that he paid the firm only for work done for his businesses.
Quelland was first elected to the House in 2002. He was re-elected in 2004 but lost in 2006 before winning again in 2008.