Passing for justice in Arizona
Nearly a year to the day after a Republican county attorney told us that Republican Tom Horne basically cheated his way into the Attorney General’s Office, a second Republican county attorney weighed in this week …
… Telling us that Tom Horne basically cheated his way into the Attorney General’s Office.
Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, like Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery before her, found on Thursday that Horne violated campaign-finance laws during the 2010 election. This, by illegally working with an indepen-
dent campaign that launched a last-minute, $500,000 ad blitz attacking Democrat Felecia Rotellini.
Horne and Kathleen Winn, who ran the supposedly independent anti-Rotellini campaign, plan to contest Polk’s finding, contending it’s based on speculation and conjecture.
Not to mention common sense. But more on that in a minute.
Polk’s finding that the state’s top law-enforcement official thumbed his nose at the state’s laws should be a fatal blow to his 2014 re-election bid — especially when combined with one fairly disturbing mental image of the AG, incognito in a baseball cap while on a lunchtime rendezvous with a certain female attorney on his staff.
Look for Horne to blame Barack Obama, or at least the liberal henchmen he’ll say are out to get him because he’s tough on illegal immigration.
Like, say, that well-known liberal Bill Montgomery, whose finding a year ago that Horne broke the law was tossed out on a technicality.
So, now comes Polk with a 20-page compliance order laying out how Horne “intentionally and blatantly” broke the law — the one that says candidates, who have certain limits on how much money they can raise, cannot coordinate with independent campaigns, which have no such limits.
Late in the 2010 campaign, Horne was out of cash in a close race and there was only one way to raise big money quickly.
Winn left Horne’s campaign on Oct. 17, 2010, and within 10 days, her independent Business Leaders of Arizona campaign raised $513,000.
Phone records show that Winn was working on an antiRotellini TV ad for much of the day on Oct. 20, exchanging e-mails about the script with BLA’s campaign consultant, Brian Murray, often while talking to or having just gotten off the phone with Horne.
Between 10:21 a.m. and 12:42 p.m., for example, Winn and Horne talked five times, just as there were five e-mails between Winn and Murray.
Horne and Winn also talked from 2:19 p.m. until 2:27 p.m., and as they were speaking, Murray e-mailed Winn the script.
Two minutes after hanging up with Horne, Winn replied to Murray: “We do not like that her name (Rotellini’s) is mentioned 4 times and no mention for Horne. We are doing a rewrite currently and will get back to you.”
Winn and Horne talked again from 2:37 p.m. until 2:48 p.m. At 2:50 p.m., Winn emailed Murray: “OK, it will be similar message just some changes.”
Winn and Horne talked again from 3:21 p.m. to 3:25 p.m. As they finished the conversation, Winn e-mailed Murray with new language for the script.
Polk called it “convincing proof” that Horne and Winn broke the law by working together on the ad.
“The records show that in the course of this work whenever a decision was made to modify or approve the ‘voiceover’ script, Winn was almost always either on the phone with Horne or spoke with Horne prior to conveying final instructions to Murray,” Polk wrote.
Horne and Winn have said they were talking about a complex real-estate deal. Riiight. Polk also pointed to an Oct. 27, 2010, incident in which Horne forwarded to Winn polling data showing he was losing support in some quarters and strategic advice on how to combat it, along with a suggestion that she seek an additional $100,000 from a certain PAC.
Horne won the election with nearly 52 percent of the vote. Winn won a job with the Attorney General’s Office, one with a six-figure salary.
Now, Polk has ordered Horne to return nearly $400,000 to BLA or face a fine. There is, apparently, nothing in the law that says a guy who cheated his way into office should have to forfeit the office or even face so much as a misdemeanor.
That must seem odd to attorney/lobbyist Gary Husk, who was arraigned this week in criminal court. He’s being prosecuted by Horne on eight felonies alleging that he violated campaign-finance laws by reimbursing his employees for $4,320 worth of contributions made over a 12-year period.
Meanwhile, Horne — one of the state’s highest-ranking officials, a guy who stands accused of violating campaignfinance laws to the tune of $400,000 — has been ordered to return the money or face a civil fine.
In Arizona, we call this justice.