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The Arizona Republic’s politics team talks about unfinished business, potholes and an avalanche of unwanted shoes. Hannah Gaber/azcentral.com
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The Arizona Republic’s politics team looks back wistfully, maybe even sentimentally, “on the session that was,” and looks forward hopefully to sine die. Hannah Gaber/azcentral.com
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The Arizona Republic’s politics team discusses teachers’ “boat parade,” a protest for pay raises; the upcoming state budget; and what’s up with Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton.
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The Republic’s political team on April 25, 2017, talks about the latest political news affecting Arizona, including the protests surrounding the future of school vouchers and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema’s donation controversy.
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The Republic’s political team on April 18, 2017, talks about the latest political news affecting Arizona, including 2018 candidates, Sen. Jeff Flake’s town hall and how a bill to require child-welfare officials to get warrants fell apart.
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The Republic’s political team on April 11, 2017, talks about “zombie” health care reform in Congress, and the expansion of the school voucher program headed by Gov. Doug Ducey.
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The Republic’s political team on April 4, 2017, talks about the state of the filibuster and the latest on Secretary of State Michele Reagan’s “Show Me the Money” campaign.
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The Republic’s political team on March 28, 2017, talks about funding for teacher raises in the state budget, what comes next after the non-vote on the ‘Obamacare’ repeal bill in Congress and proposed restrictions on citizen initiatives in Arizona.
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The Republic’s political team on March 21, 2017, talks about the possible impact on the president’s blueprint for a budget, and the lack of female representation in Arizona’s legislative leadership.
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The Republic’s political team on March 14, 2017, talks about how much of Arizona’s delegation has been quiet about the “Obamacare” replacement, but even Republicans don’t seem to like it.
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The Republic’s political team on March 8, 2017, talks about the latest political news affecting Arizona, including a failed tax-cut bill, a congressman’s tweets and how a former state senator isn’t working at the White House after all.
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The Republic’s political team on March 1, 2017, talks about the latest political news affecting Arizona, including the state of Senate Bill 1142 and the rowdy crowds at U.S. Rep. Martha McSally’s Town Hall.
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The Republic’s political team on Feb. 21, 2017, talks about recent political news, including Trump’s Arizona announcement about Intel, McCain and Obamacare, and House Bill 2404 targeting voter initiatives.
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The Republic’s political team on Feb. 6, 2017, talks about the latest political news affecting Arizona, including how much debt is too much for the state and which lawmaker wants to be shot.
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The Gaggle: Unfinished business and hallway laments
The Gaggle: Legislative session recap, May 2017
The Gaggle: Teachers protesting, a budget afoot and what’s up with Stanton?
The Gaggle: Voucher vote, Arizona university funding
The Gaggle: DCS warrants and Flake gets scorched
The Gaggle: Health care in Congress and school voucher expansion
The Gaggle: Is the filibuster busted and will Michele Reagan show us the money?
The Gaggle: Teacher raises, ACA repeal and ballot initiatives
The Gaggle: Federal budget and few women in the Legislature
The Gaggle: Obamacare replacement, George W. in town and TANF benefits
The Gaggle: Tax that did not get cut, tweets from Gosar and a non-job
The Gaggle: SB 1142 is dead and town halls get rowdy
The Gaggle: Bigfooted, McCain and HB 2404
The Gaggle: How much debt is too much?
State Rep. Jesus Rubalcava, D-Gila Bend, is on the hot seat over his use of public campaign-finance money, and it could cost him his chair in the House of Representatives.
A random audit from the Citizens Clean Elections Commission found problems with the freshman lawmaker’s accounting, and a follow-up audit identified $9,200 in expenditures that can’t be clearly determined to be related to his campaign.
Last week, the commission accepted the audit and Rubalcava — who has constituents in Buckeye and Goodyear and throughout southwest Arizona — agreed.
“I am not disputing the outcome of the audit and I do acknowledge and am taking responsibility there was poor accounting during this campaign cycle,” Rubalcava told the commissioners May 18.
The audit found that the public dollars were commingled with Rubalcava’s personal bank account. It detailed expenditures, such as a Washington, D.C., hotel stay, airfares and Uber fares, with indeterminate campaign purposes due to lack of documentation.
He said he was new to running for office, and figuring out campaign-finance reporting was a steep learning curve. The paperwork for his bank accounts, which he kept in his classroom in Buckeye, got lost when his classroom was shifted twice over the Christmas holiday, he added, so he can’t provide the needed documentation.
The next step is a recommendation from the commission’s executive director, Tom Collins.
The stakes are high: Failure to fully account that public dollars were spent on his campaign could lead to fines of up to 10 times the disputed amount and possible removal from office.
Only two sitting lawmakers have had to give up their seats in the 18-year history of Clean Elections: Rep. David Burnell Smith and Rep. Doug Quelland.
Reach the reporter at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @maryjpitzl.
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