Thursday, April 30th, 2009...12:23 pm
Quelland In Hot Water?
This from the Arizona Capitol Times:
The Citizens Clean Elections Commission this morning could decide to take the monumental step of beginning a process to remove north Phoenix Rep. Doug Quelland from office.
Quelland could become the second Arizona lawmaker kicked out of office for campaign finance violations if the five-person commission is persuaded that he unlawfully hired and paid a campaign consultant to operate throughout his 2008 campaign for office.
It was back in January of 2006 when David Burnell Smith was ousted. The near-comedic events associated with that um…era were well chronicled on this blog. Aside with providing me with plenty of snark, that case established the precedent that the Clean Elections Commission did, in fact, have the power to oust a legislator. The allegations against Quelland (which involve $15,000 in payments to a consultant that were not reported and may have been contracted before he was a candidate plus the use of money from his business for campaigning) seem more serious than those against Smith, so it may be that we’ll see the ouster of another legislator.
$15,000 to a consultant for a legislative race? Some politicos would allege that the real crime is that he paid way too much.
NB: Dear readers, should we be impressed with the ’stache (which might rival Raúl’s) or should it be added to the list of charges?
2 Comments
April 30th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
On a frustrating note:
Quelland kept using signs to promote his “coffee business” during the election… it was very frustrating to drive through his district and see all these “Q” signs that were “suppose to promote his business” during the election cycle that he was running for office. The whole thing seemed cheesy then, but nothing was done (not even matching funds if I remember correctly)
April 30th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Never trust a man with a handlebar mustache….