On August 6, Arizona Representative Doug Quelland filed a lawsuit in state court to retain his seat in the legislature. The Clean Elections Commission had voted 4-1 to remove him from office, back on May 15, 2009. Arizona’s public funding body is so powerful, it has the power to remove state legislators who violate the campaign finance laws. The Commission had determined that Quelland spent $15,000 to hire a campaign consultant, but didn’t acknowledge this expenditure on his campaign reports. See this story. Quelland was only the second legislator removed by the Clean Elections Commission in the ten years the Commission has existed. Quelland was elected to the legislature in 2002 and 2004, defeated in 2006, and elected in 2008. He is a Republican who has always supported Arizona’s public funding law.
I had some sympathy for this guy til the last line:
“He is a Republican who has always supported Arizona’s public funding law.”
Well then let him feel the effects of the law he supported!
#1 is on to something…Quelland might be stuck
with what he “wished for”.
But the Bigger question that lays before us is the
“un-constitutionallity” of the so-call “Clean Election
Law”. This law is really a taxpayer funding of
cadidates for public office, which unconstitutionally
limits free speach and free association…etc.
Yhanks and Good Luck
Arizona public funding money doesn’t come from taxpayers. It comes from surcharges on traffic fines and other fines. So a Canadian tourist getting a speeding ticket may be contributing, but a law-abiding Arizona taxpayer isn’t.