Friday, August 24, 2018

#AZGov BREAKING UPDATE: Ken Bennett Files Suit Vs. His Secretary of State Successor, Alleges Her Office Prevented Him From Qualifying For Clean Elections Funding

(UPDATE, 4:50pm: Bennett has received a Monday morning (8:30) hearing on his Special Action. Arizona's Politics received a copy of the Complaint from the Secretary of State's Office, and it is reproduced below.)

(UPDATE, 5:00pm: Bennett and AZSOS Communications Director Matt Roberts both tweeted their frustration this afternoon.








Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Bennett has filed a last-minute lawsuit against his successor in the Secretary of State's Office, alleging that the department's website shutdown prevented him from qualifying for Clean Elections funding.

The primary election is this coming Tuesday, August 28, and the deadline to turn in the qualifying $5 contributions was the 21st. The Secretary of State's online contribution portal shut down at 5pm that evening, and Bennett is contending that it should have shut down at midnight.

Bennett was unable to find an attorney to take the dispute to court, and he has filed it this afternoon on his own. He did file suit against both Reagan and the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, but failed to separately request an emergency injunction or any immediate action by the court

As Howie Fischer (Capitol Media Services) detailed yesterday, even if Bennett is successful in his action, any Clean Elections money would have to be spent before Tuesday's election. 

Arizona's Politics has requested a copy of the filing and will provide it once available.

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