By Robert Anglen || Arizona Republic
It took Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs just hours to update her financial records online after being called out in September for failing to disclose past income.
But attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh is still waiting for his financial records to update six months after filing an amendment on his own failure to disclose income.
And he will have to keep on waiting, according to the Secretary of State’s Office, which is responsible for collecting financial disclosure forms that all elected officials and candidates must fill out.
It is not an issue of favoritism, officials maintain. Candidates who make mistakes aren’t treated the same as elected office holders when it comes to amending financial filings.
If candidates file amendments after the deadline, their information isn’t updated online. That can leave the public in the dark about a candidate’s jobs, assets and income during campaigns and until elections are over.
That’s not the secretary of state’s concern.
“I don’t know that we have a great response to that,” Assistant Secretary of State Allie Bones said. “If they (candidates) are having to make a correction … it is incumbent upon them to notify the electorate.”
