Jeff Weninger speaking to the PebbleCreek Republican Club./Twitter
By Ryan Randazzo | Arizona Republic
Now that Kimberly Yee has decided she wants another four years in the Arizona Treasurer’s Office, she’s doing everything she can to keep Republican challenger and state Rep. Jeff Weninger out of it — literally.
Weninger, R-Chandler, is frustrated because Yee and her staff refuse to give him a tour of the place. He said he asked the office for one last fall when Yee was still running for governor, and was told it would happen. That changed after she altered her plans.
“It was all lined up at some point that I was going to get a tour until she entered the treasurer’s race,” Weninger said.
Yee announced she would drop out of the governor’s race and seek reelection to her current post Jan. 15. Afterward, her office declined Weninger’s tour request, stating that such a tour could violate state laws that prohibit using a public office to help political campaigns.
Deputy Treasurer Mark Swenson sent Weninger a letter, penned by outside counsel at Snell and Wilmer on Jan. 28, explaining that state law prohibits using public resources for campaigning and thus prevents anyone at the Treasurer’s Office from giving him a tour.
It cites a law that bars state agencies from using public resources to “influence an election, including the use or expenditure of monies, accounts, credit, materials, equipment, buildings, facilities, vehicles.”
