Horne Faces Election Law Complaint

By Nick Blumberg
Published: Monday, May 12, 2014 - 3:22pm
Updated: Monday, May 12, 2014 - 3:28pm
(Photo by Steve Shadley - KJZZ)
Tom Horne

A former employee of Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne has filed a complaint alleging his staff is doing campaign work on state time.

Sarah Beattie worked in constituent services for Horne, but claims that most of the work she was assigned to do was for Horne's reelection effort.

And in an affidavit filed with the Secretary of State's Office and the Clean Elections Commission, Beattie said she wasn't alone. Her attorney, Tom Ryan, said Horne's executive staff is doing a lot of work for the AG's campaign on the taxpayer's dime.

"They were doing campaign flyers for fundraisers. They were doing donor-solicitation calls. They were strategizing on the campaign, doing opposition research. It was pretty substantial what they were doing," Ryan said.

In a statement, Tom Horne said all significant campaign work is done outside the AG's office, at lunch, or after work hours. Horne described the complaint as opportunistic and calls attorney Ryan a "political hack."