That didn't take long: R candidate "decertified" by Clean Elections

A Republican candidate for the Arizona Legislature from LD7 has run afoul of Clean Elections and his name is *not* David Burnell Smith.

From the Arizona Capitol Times (subscription and login required) -

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission decertified a Senate candidate after finding that dozens of his $5 contribution forms had been allegedly forged. The commission voted at its May 20 meeting to decertify Robert Green and fine him $20,000.

The agenda for that meeting is here.

Now, this decertification doesn't kick Green off of the ballot, it just affects his campaign financing.

Of course, given that Green submitted his nominating petitions on March 8th, weeks before anyone else, my guess is that a few of the other candidates in the R primary are busy at work, checking to see if Green cut a few corners there, too. They'll verify if Green submitted enough valid sigs to be on the primary ballot (submitted: 570; required: 482; difference: 88).

I understand that the typical AZ Republican despises even the mere idea of Clean Elections, but if a candidate (D, R, or whatever) wants to take CE funding, he or she has to follow the rules associated with running a Clean campaign. Period.