By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Capitol Times
Arizona candidates will be able to accept contributions of up to $4,000 starting on Friday after a Maricopa County judge denied a request to block the new contribution limits from going into effect.
Superior Court Judge Mark Brain on Thursday issued a ruling denying an injunction against HB2593 that was sought by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission and several other plaintiffs. The ruling does not decide the overall case against the new limits, but will allow them to go into effect while the lawsuit proceeds.
Brain wrote that HB2593 likely does not violate the Voter Protection Act, as the commission alleged. In fact, he suggested that the Citizens Clean Elections Act, which voters approved in the same year, might not actually be voter-protected because many of the voters who approved one measure may have voted against the other.
The judge said he saw no likelihood that anyone would suffer irreparable harm if candidates were allowed to start collecting contributions under the new limits, as the commission’s attorneys argued.
