By Howard Fischer
Mail | X: @azcapmedia

PHOENIX — The Republican head of the Senate Government Committee is making what appears to be a last-ditch effort to get the Citizens Clean Elections Commission to include the Green Party candidate in next week’s televised debate.

In a new letter, Sen. Jake Hoffman derided arguments by Tom Collins, the commission’s executive director, about the decision to exclude Eduardo Quintana from the debate set for Oct. 9 as “filled with fluff.” The Queen Creek lawmaker contends the action by the commission, in consultation with the Arizona Media Association that has agreed to air the debates, was taken without legal authority.

It is unclear what Hoffman, who first launched an investigation of the exclusion a month ago, intends to do about all of this.

There is nothing in his letter that hints at some sort of legal action to force the commission to include Quintana in what otherwise will be a face-off between Republican Kari Lake and Democrat Ruben Gallego.

Instead, Hoffman contends excluding Quintana violates state laws that require the commission to actually propose a change in rules and go through a public hearing process. The commission did not do that, with Collins contending this was an administrative decision exempt from such laws.

But there is no threat of litigation from Hoffman, and no sign either the commission or the Arizona Media Association intends to change course.
Until this general election, the nominees of any party were invited to participate in commission-sponsored debates. They had been broadcast on the Phoenix PBS affiliate but were available to other outlets.

This year the commission cut a deal with the Arizona Media Association to have one-hour debates simulcast over participating TV and radio stations.

Chris Kline, the association’s director, said his members wanted it limited to candidates whose primary tallies showed they had a reasonable chance of winning. That was designed to keep viewer and listener interest over the 56 available minutes with the major candidates given plenty of time to answer questions.

Kline said stations balked at extending to 90 minutes simply to add a minor party candidate, saying they already were giving up revenue from not running commercials during the event.

So the commission adopted a threshold that required Senate candidates to have tallied at least 1,239 votes in their party’s primary. Quintana, running as a write-in in the Green Party primary, which is closed to non-party members, got just 282.

Hoffman contends that violates a commission rule about who gets to participate. More to the point, he said Arizona law requires state agencies — which includes the commission — to go through a public process before altering or adopting new rules.

Collins said it’s not a formal rule, calling it a “discretionary decision about who to invite to the 2024 debates.”

In a prepared statement, a spokesman for the commission said the agency is reviewing Hoffman’s letter “and will continue to engage with Sen. Hoffman regarding this issue.”

While Hoffman may not be talking about a next step if the commission won’t back down, that’s not the case with Quintana.

He told Capitol Media Services Wednesday he is looking for an attorney to take the case — but one willing to do it for the limited funds he says he has.
Quintana said he also filed a formal complaint with the Attorney General’s Office. But a spokesman said the complaint will be referred to a county attorney — he did not know which one — because Attorney General Kris Mayes has endorsed Gallego in the race and because the office also represents the commission.

The issue has taken on political overtones.

Lake has said she wants Quintana included; Gallego said that wasn’t part of the deal. And the general line of thinking is that Green Party candidates take votes from Democrats, as a Libertarian candidate — there is not one in the Senate race — would siphon votes from Republicans.