Clean Elections

On Wednesday a federal judge said she will leave in place the Clean Elections matching funds for now even though she believes them unconstitutional.  Judge Roslyn Silver is giving the state time to prepare a case to present, but also said she will reserve the right to put a halt to the matching funds later this month.  

Yesterday was the most important day of the year for those candidates who had a primary challenge to reach a general election campaign.  For those who survived yesterday, today is now the most important day before the November election.

Last Friday a Federal Court ruled unconstitutional the matching funds that Clean Election candidates receive when their opponents, who are traditional funding candidates, exceed preset spending limits. A federal judge in Phoenix today will decide if the suspension of matching funds will begin immediately or wait until after the November election.  

Based on the decision late last week where Clean Election candidates are not allowed to receive matching funds from traditional candidates spending, NJ has killed their clean elections program for now.  The Federal Court is expected to make a decision later this week on the status of the matching funds for this year’s Arizona General Elections. 

Five things to watch this week

1)      Will there be Clean Elections matching funds for the general?

2)      Did Thayer Verschoor spend his money to early or did Eddie Farnsworth overestimate his name value

3)      Will Tony Bouie’s endorsements place him in the top 2 or are the negative attacks to much to overcome

4)      AZ-5, Schweikert?  Bitter Smith? Or will Ogsbury walk his way into an upset?

5)      AZ-1 Sandra Livingstone came on strong with what seemed like an endorsement a day over the final few weeks, but was it to late to overtake Sydney Hay who was campaigning for months before anyone ever heard of Livingstone.

A federal judge has ruled unconstitutional the matching funds a Clean Elections candidate receives when a traditional candidate outspends them.

A group of legislative candidates had asked the federal court to rule unconstitutional the provision which gives matching funds to candidates who agree to participate in the Clean Election system when their opponent self funds and exceeds allowed amounts.  The judge agreed the with the plaintiffs.  The ruling comes to late to affect the primary election and likely will not effect the general election as it is likely to be appealed.