Arizona candidates and elected officials appear to be violating Arizona’s campaign finance laws to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars in potential fines and penalties. A recent report from state 48 news details how freshman Democrat State Representative Anna Lynn Abeytia is facing substantial penalties due to her refusal to comply with Arizona laws regarding reporting, and the audits that are conducted for candidates who use Arizona’s public financing system.
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A review of the Arizona Secretary of State’s website reveals that this is not a problem for Democrats alone, as former Republican State Representative Austin Smith, who withdrew from his 2024 primary race after allegations he had forged his nomination petition signatures, has also failed to file numerous reports, filed another handful of reports late, and faces a daunting total of more than $43,000 in fines. In both of these cases, it appears the amounts continue to grow with each passing day. According to State 48 News “Abeytia has approximately $29,460 in fines, and the total continues to grow.” Meanwhile, one of Smith’s committees owes $16,910 in fines, adding an additional amount each day due to missing reports, while the other committee now has its reports filed, but owes another $28,435, for a total of $43,345 and counting.
“It isn’t unusual to file a report late and pay a small penalty, but that is usually a few days at ten bucks a day, so you pay $40 and that’s the end of it.” said one political campaign expert to ADI. “These amounts are huge, relatively speaking, so they are very unusual and would indicate some sort of unusual circumstances around those campaigns.”
Arizona passed a law to prevent scofflaws from running up the tab on fines and then reapplying for public financing for their next campaign. The law dated back to the time of State Representative Doug Quelland, who was found guilty of numerous violations and faced substantial fines, yet who continued to try to get reelected to office in spite of them.
“It is a legitimate question whether or not candidates like Anna Lynn Abeytia and Austin Smith could run for office without first paying the financial penalties they owe,” said one campaign finance expert who reviewed the Secretary of State’s website. It was also unclear if they could settle the amounts owed for a lesser amount.
The State 48 News story also details additional questions surrounding Abeytia paying tens of thousands in campaign funds to a company affiliated with someone with whom she shares both a home and is listed as being in a civil union with.
We should add crooked politicians to the famous Five C’s of Arizona!