Under Arizona law, the penalty for a candidate participating in the government-financing system who overshoots the spending limits by more than 10 percent is removal from office. That’s exactly what happened to David Burnell Smith in 2005. Smith overspent the limit by $6,000 during his campaign and was subsequently expelled from office by a 5-0 vote of the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission.
Yesterday, we told you about the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission underreporting their own annual spending by $2 million – about a 15 percent error. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander…
