Arizona Supreme Court agrees to hear Horne appeal

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The Arizona Supreme Court will hear former Attorney General Tom Horne’s appeal of a $400,000 fine stemming from his 2010 campaign.

The Arizona Court of Appeals in February upheld the fine, which Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk levied against Horne and ally Kathleen Winn. Polk imposed the fine after ruling the pair had illegally coordinated during Horne’s 2010 campaign, when he was running for attorney general and Winn was running Business Leaders for Arizona, a pro-Horne independent expenditure group that ran television ads attacking Democratic nominee Felecia Rotellini.

Horne and Winn, who have long denied that they coordinated in the 2010 campaign, appealed the Court of Appeals’ ruling in March.

Because the fine was an administrative decision by Polk’s agency, Horne faces a high burden in attempting to overturn it. State law dictates that the courts must uphold an administration ruling such as Polk’s unless the evidence shows that it was “not supported by substantial evidence, is contrary to law, is arbitrary and capricious or is an abuse of discretion.”

The Supreme Court’s decision comes just days after Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s office disclosed that Horne won’t face criminal charges over allegations that he used the Attorney General’s Office as his de facto campaign headquarters during his 2014 reelection bid. Horne paid a $10,000 fine to the Citizens Clean Elections Commission over the allegations.

Read more at AZ Capitol Times

Corrie O'Connor