The Yellow Sheet Report says an administrative law judge has dismissed the campaign finance case against Attorney General Tom Horne on the grounds the Secretary of State’s office didn’t follow state law when it referred the matter to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office instead of the AG’s office.
Timothy La Sota, an attorney for Kathleen Winn and Business Leaders for Arizona, had argued in a filing last month that state law requires the secretary of state to forward probably campaign finance violations to the AG’s office. In this case, because Horne would have had a conflict, he would have then sent the matter to an independent investigator, likely a county attorney, La Sota argued.
“Because the secretary of state did not have the statutory authority to refer the matter to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for civil enforcement, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office did not have legal authority to issue the Order Requiring Compliance,” ALJ Tammy Eigenheer ruled.
Montgomery’s office has the statutory authority to accept, reject or modify her decision. If the decision is accepted, the case against Horne and Winn is likely not over, as the matter would ultimately still be referred to an outside investigator, whose investigation has ostensibly already been done by Montgomery’s office, the Yellow Sheet reported.
