By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Capitol Times
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will challenge a recommendation by an administrative law judge that his campaign finance case against Attorney General Tom Horne and his ally, Kathleen Winn, be dismissed.
Montgomery has the options of accepting, rejecting or modifying ALJ Tammy Eigenheer’s recommendation. But he said accepting the ruling is not an option, because that would require sending the case to Horne himself.
Horne would be required to send the case to another agency due to a conflict of interest. But Montgomery said the Attorney General’s Office should handle the case in any way in order to avoid the appearance of anything improper.
“My concern is simply following the statutes and following the process that’s provided for here, and the need for a fellow law enforcement agency to do things completely above board and avoid even the appearance of impropriety,” Montgomery said.
Eigenheer on Tuesday ruled that Secretary of State Ken Bennett should have followed state law that requires him to refer alleged campaign finance violations by statewide officials to the Attorney General’s Office, which would have been required to send the case to an outside agency due to the conflict of interest. Instead, Bennett sent the case directly to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which conducted a joint investigation into Horne and Winn with the FBI.
