(Image source from: capjournal.com)

Pheonix:
The author of Arizona's Citizens Clean Elections Act wants a judge to block a citizens' vote on a plan by Republican senators to take away some of the authorities of the commission which, administers the program of public financing of candidates.

In a new lawsuit, Louis Hoffman be given the referendum to put on the November ballot by GOP lawmakers asks voters to make two changes to the law on public financing of political campaigns

Attorney Danny Adelman, who represents Hoffman, said the Legislature illegally combined two proposed changes into a single take-it-or-leave-it measure for voters. And that, he said, violates a provision of the Arizona Constitution that says all laws "shall embrace but one subject.''

What the lawmakers are trying to do, Adelman said, is convince voters to accept the whole package - including sharp new restrictions on the Citizens Clean Election Commission - just because they may like the other half of the package that deals with how candidates can spend the public money they get.

So he requested Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Teresa Anderson to block the measure from appearing on the November ballot.

According to Rep. Doug Coleman, R-Apache Junction, who is the sponsor of the measure, denied the two issues are unrelated and said he believes they should be offered to voters as a single proposal.

The Clean Elections Act, which was approved by voters in 1998, does not require candidates for statewide and legislative office to get public dollars for their movements, if they do not take private funds. There are some requirements, including gathering a certain number of $5 donations to show a base level of support, as well as restrictions on how candidates can spend their public dollars.

This protest has started amid of different concerns that candidates could buy services from political parties. That led to charges by Republicans that public dollars, were being used to subsidize the Democratic Party. The measure, if approved by voters, would ban any sort of payment to not just a political party but also to any nonprofit that can influence elections.

By Lokesh