Election complaint filed against Scottsdale chamber

Seven Scottsdale mayor and council candidates filed a complaint with the county attorney’s office Monday alleging the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce illegally used corporate funds to advocate the election of the four other candidates in the mayor and council races.

The complaint addressed to Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas requests a criminal investigation of the chamber’s campaign activity, which includes distributing a four-page color glossy mailer and running a television commercial highlighting the four candidates it’s supporting in the Sept. 2 election. It alleges a potential felony violation.

A chamber executive defended the ad campaign Tuesday, saying it is legal.

The letter that united otherwise competing candidates states that the chamber is making a mockery of the Arizona campaign finance laws and their action is an “unequivocal violation of the ban on corporate involvement in Arizona political campaigns.” The position is that the chamber needed to register as a political committee for this media campaign, and thus disclose its funding.

“I think there’s an issue with it and potentially a serious one,” said Councilman and mayoral candidate Jim Lane, whose campaign last week filed a complaint with the city against the chamber’s media campaign. “This is an attempt by a not-for-profit corporation to manipulate the election.”

Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce president Rick Kidder said he has not seen a copy of the letter filed with the county attorney’s office, but said allegations that the chamber has violated finance laws are false.

“That’s a lack of knowledge about the law,” Kidder said.

Kidder said the piece does not expressly advocate for a candidate or use terms such as “vote for” or “elect,” and thus the chamber did not need to form a political committee. The campaign that started nearly two weeks ago also makes no mention of the Sept. 2. election.

Barnett Lotstein, special assistant county attorney, said the complaint was referred to the Scottsdale Police Department to investigate. The police department has the ability to bring in city election officials as part of its investigation, he said.

The letter was signed by the candidate or the campaign heads for Lane, and council candidates Lisa Borowsky, Joel Bramoweth, Oren Davis, Tom Giller and Nan Nesvig. Also signing were write-in mayoral candidate Bill Crawford and former write-in mayoral candidate John Washington.

In the four-page mailer cited in the letter, the chamber identifies Mayor Mary Manross, Council members Betty Drake and Ron McCullagh and Council candidate Suzanne Klapp as “candidates who support Scottsdale’s quality of life” because they support the chamber’s economic policies, which include among a number of positions allowing taller buildings downtown. The mailer states that the chamber is “supporting candidates who share our vision of economic prosperity.”

These four candidates, whose color photos appear twice in the mailer, include the three incumbents in the race. All were endorsed by chamber in June.