Arizona lawmakers are calling for an investigation into a new rule blocking certain qualified Arizona candidates from participating in general election debates for statewide and federal offices. The lawmakers say the new Clean Elections Commission rule appears to have been illegally enacted.
In response, the Senate Government Committee will investigate and request a formal response to the matter from the Clean Elections Commission.
The Senate Government Committee has purview over application of agency rulemaking and its compliance with statute. Accordingly, Committee Chairman Jake Hoffman sent a letter last week to the Clean Elections Commission laying out the potential violation when the Commission adopted a rule this year requiring candidates to receive at least 1% of total ballots cast in all primaries for their office to qualify for general election debates.
Hoffman alleges that the rule “at face value, creates an outright ban against some political parties’ candidates from ever being eligible to participate in general election debates.”
After a thorough review, research revealed the rule was not submitted for approval to the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council (GRRC) for approval under the Arizona Administrative Procedures Act. This maneuver violates the 2018 voter-approved Proposition 306.
“At best, the Clean Elections Commission seems to be creatively, yet intentionally, blocking some candidates from participating in the debate, not to mention subverting the will of the voters to require proper transparency in agency actions through the Administrative Procedures Act,” said Chairman Hoffman. “At worst, the taxpayer- funded Commission has knowingly broken the law. Either action offends the non-partisan intent of the Clean Elections Act. Voters deserve an explanation from the Commission as to why the intent, or the actual text, of the voter-approved Prop 306 was ignored by the Commission.”
