PHOENIX (AP) — A state administrative law judge says a legislator violated state campaign laws and rules and should be removed from office.
The decision Monday by Judge Thomas Shedden of the Office of Administration Hearings upholds most of a May 15 order by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission concerning Republican Rep. Doug Quelland of Phoenix.
Shedden says the commission correctly ordered Quelland's removal from office because his 2008 primary election spending exceeded the state's limit by padding his publicly funded campaign with private spending.
The commission ordered $45,500 of fines but Shedden's order reduces that to $31,000.
Shedden's decision on Quelland's appeal now returns to the commission, which can stick by its original order or revise it.
