By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
Arizonans can’t be blocked from voting on a renewable energy proposal solely because organizers may have violated some state election laws, a judge ruled Tuesday.
But it remains to be seen whether the state’s largest electric company can prove some other way that the Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona initiative should be kept off the November ballot.
In an order late Tuesday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Kiley said it is possible that initiative organizers did not comply with state laws that require all ballot measures to list a “sponsor” before gathering signatures.
And attorneys for Arizona Public Service contend that even after a sponsor finally was named, it was not the legally correct one. They contend petition signers should have been told up front virtually all the money was coming from NextGen Climate Action, the political action committee formed by California billionaire Tom Steyer.
But Kiley said none of that matters.
