Arizona Supreme Court hears Horne appeal

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Arguing that Yavapai County Sheila Polk impermissibly acted as judge, jury and executioner in their campaign finance case, lawyers for former Attorney General Tom Horne and his ally Kathleen Winn urged the Arizona Supreme Court to throw out a $400,000 fine for their alleged violation.

Dennis Wilenchik, Horne’s attorney, said Arizona’s administrative review process doesn’t permit Polk to take on the multifaceted role she assumed in the case. Polk, he said, initiated the case against Horne and Winn, participated in the investigation and was the ultimate decision-maker who determined that they should be fined for violating campaign finance laws, rejecting a recommendation from an administrative law judge that the case be dropped.

That prohibition is a “bright line,” Wilenchik said, and Polk stepped over it.

“The law is pretty clear, I think … that you can initiate and adjudicate. You just can’t wear the hat of being an advocate of your cause, and then when you don’t like the decision, reverse it,” Wilenchik told the court during oral arguments in the case on Tuesday.

The case stems from allegations that Horne illegally coordinated during his 2010 campaign for attorney general with Winn, who at the time was running an independent expenditure called Business Leaders for Arizona that ran about a half million dollars’ worth of television ads against Horne’s Democratic opponent, Felecia Rotellini.

In 2014, Administrative Law Judge Tammy Eigenheer recommended that the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office drop the case due to what she deemed insufficient evidence. But the recommendation was nonbinding, and Polk pushed forward with the fine anyway. A Maricopa County judge and the Arizona Court of Appeals both upheld Polk’s decision.

Read more at AZ Capitol Times

Corrie O'Connor