http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/news/news1.shmtl
Stains on Clean Elections
BY MARK FLATTEN
TRIBUNE

The state's Clean Elections Law was pitched as a way to break the
stranglehold of special interests when it was sold to voters in 1998.

It was supposed to give outsiders the same chance of winning by ensuring
that
oldguard politicians did not have a financial advantage.

But with little more than a week left in the first primaryelection cycle in
which the state's top offices are up for grabs, loopholes and shortcomings
of
the law have become apparent.

To its critics, the Clean Elections Law has created a Soviet-style
bureaucracy that is spending millions of taxpayer dollars while hiding the
influence of special-interest money and creating problems unforeseen when
voters passed it.

"It has failed to fulfill the principles it was intended to fulfill," said
Rep. Steve May, R-Paradise Valley, who successfully challenged financing the
public elections account with fines on traffic tickets. "It has trampled on
the First Amendment freedoms of every Arizonan and created a Soviet-style
commission which controls the outcome of the elections by determining who is
on the ballot and how much money everybody gets to spend."

To its chief advocates, Clean Elections has lessened the influence of
specialinterest groups and encouraged candidates who otherwise might not
have
run. But even they acknowledge the law needs some fine-tuning to fix the
shortcomings that have surfaced in this election cycle.

"I don't think any of us are pretending this is a perfect law," said Cecilia
Martinez, executive director of the Clean Elections Institute, a private
group that champions the public financing system in Arizona. "It's a fluid
process. But in general, candidates are getting their checks on time, the
commission is doing a good job of enforcing the law. It's working well. We
have more candidates running for office. There's somebody for everybody and
I
know that's because of Clean Elections."

Issues that have emerged in the primary this year include:

. Excessive cost: The top contender in the Republican gubernatorial primary,
former U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, is not taking public funds and has raised
about
$1 million from private donors. That is more than double the $409,950 cap
set
in the Clean Elections Law for gubernatorial candidates in the primary. The
law says candidates running under Clean Elections will receive matching
funds
up to three times the amount of the original cap if they are competing
against a traditionally funded candidate who goes over the limits. The net
result is that Secretary of State Betsey Bayless and Treasurer Carol
Springer
have each received more than $1 million, and could receive an additional
$229,000, depending on how much Salmon raises.
Democrats remain capped at $409,950 for the primary.

. Special interests: State Attorney General Janet Napolitano, the leader in
the Democratic gubernatorial race, had help from two labor unions in raising
the 4,000 individual contributions of $5 each that she needed to qualify for
public money. Unions raised about 1,000 of those contributions for
Napolitano.

Napolitano said the help she got from the unions will not compromise her if
she is elected.

"My track record is one of being beholden to no one," Napolitano said.

. Paperwork: John Greene, a Republican candidate for attorney general, faced
the prospect of being disqualified from the ballot because he did not file
financial disclosure statements to the Clean Elections Commission on time.

Though Greene is not taking public funds, the law requires him to notify the
commission when his spending reaches certain levels so his opponents can
receive matching funds.

A complaint from one of his rivals prompted the executive director of the
commission to recommend Greene be disqualified for missing the filing
deadlines. Greene reached a settlement, paid a $10,000 fine and remains a
candidate. He will automatically be disqualified if he misses another
reporting deadline, under the settlement.

On Thursday, the executive director of the Clean Elections Commission
recommended Salmon's disclosure statements be investigated because she
questioned his accounting method. The commission plans to hear that case
Wednesday.

. Independent expenditures: In the race for superintendent of public
instruction, special-interest groups have begun running ads for incumbent
Republican Jaime Molera independent of his campaign. Challenger Tom Horne,
who is not taking public funds, has raised more than $429,000, most of it in
loans he made to his own campaign. With the state's matching funds in the
race capped at $129,450 - three times the $43,150 original limit - Molera
and
fellow Republican Keith Bee remain at a financial disadvantage.
Radio ads touting Molera featuring the likes of U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl and Rep.
John Shadegg, both R-Ariz., have begun airing on Valley radio stations.

Those ads are part of a $25,000 campaign paid for by Arizonans for
Education,
a group financed almost exclusively by the Realtors of Arizona Political
Action Committee, the state firefighters union and the Home Builders
Association of Central Arizona.

Since the ads are not coordinated with the Molera campaign, the spending is
outside the caps of the Clean Elections Law.

May said the Clean Elections Law gives the fivemember commission too much
power and has created new ways for special interests to help candidates
without being caught. Under the old system of raising money from private
donors, all contributions had to be reported.

But under Clean Elections, the special interests remain hidden, May said,
citing the help Napolitano received from the unions.

"Clean Elections has actually increased the dependence on special interests
and made that involvement secret," said May, whose legal challenge on the
funding mechanism has been appealed and is pending at the state Supreme
Court.

While the law gives the commission the power to bump candidates off the
ballot, and even remove them from office after they've been elected, for
failing to file disclosure statements, the commission has not sought to
exclude any candidate. Greene has come the closest so far.


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