By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
Gubernatorial hopeful Ken Bennett came up short of the number of $5 donations he needs to qualify for public funding, and he’s blaming Secretary of State Michele Reagan.
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Bennett spokeswoman Christine Bauserman said the website run by Reagan’s office for online contributions for Clean Elections funding went dark at 5 p.m. Tuesday. But Bennett had until midnight that night to reach the 4,000 $5 donations he needed to free up $839,704 for his Republican primary race.
Officials in Reagan’s office are not disputing what happened. They say the site was restored — apparently several hours later — after they were informed of the problem.
Office spokesman Matt Roberts said the problem originates with how the site was first programmed years ago, when people were first allowed to make their $5 donations online. He said it was designed to stop taking donations at 5 p.m. on deadline day.
