By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Capitol Times
The unique circumstances of a proposed citizen initiative to strengthen the Clean Elections system and the ways it may conflict with a campaign finance law overhaul passed by the Legislature this year could force the courts to unravel a series of complicated issues that would be the legal equivalent of figuring out a Rubik’s cube.
In a legal opinion written for the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, attorney Brett Johnson argues that the Arizona Clean and Accountable Elections Act should be kept off the ballot, even if advocates collect the 150,642 valid signatures needed to put it before voters on Nov. 8, because it seeks to amend laws that will have been repealed by the time of the general election. The initiative, in part, amends statutes that are being repealed by SB1516, which erased and completely rewrote the section of Arizona Revised Statutes governing campaign finance issues.
