Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that John Huppenthal will remain on the primary election ballot as a Republican candidate for state school superintendent. Ariz. high court allows Huppenthal to remain on ballot:
The ruling also pertains to Bob Thomas, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the state Senate seat in central Phoenix's District 15.
Justice Michael Ryan issued the finding in a one-sentence order, saying a fuller explanation would follow later.
[The court affirmed the] decision by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge that Huppenthal and Thomas could remain on the ballot, even though they had broken the law in gathering signatures on their nomination papers before forming formal campaign committees.
[T]he lower court ruled that while their actions violated the law, the remedy the Democrats sought – removal from the ballot – was not permitted. Instead, the proper response was a fine.
IOKIYAR. Laws are meant for everyone else to follow.
In other news, the complaint filed by a Republican blogger with the Citizens Clean Elections Commission alleging that Dean Martin, a Republican candidate for governor, had submitted duplicative forms for $5 qualifying contributions from voters has been dismissed. Martin gets public money for Ariz. governor's race:
Commission spokesman Michael Becker says checks of a random sample showed that Martin submitted enough valid forms. Becker also says there didn't appear to be any violations.
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A Citizens Clean Elections Commission spokesman says the campaign finance agency provided Martin with his primary campaign allotment of $707,000 of public funding on Monday.