PHOENIX — The Clean Elections Commission has rejected Arizona Corporation Commission candidate Ralph Heap’s request to leave the state’s public-funding program.

Heap, a Republican state representative who is running to be an Arizona utility regulator, signed up to receive public funding for his campaign and was approved for the program right before the primary.

But now, he wants out.

“We’d like to have this in our rearview mirror,” his attorney, Tim La Sota, told the commission before the vote. “We’d like to have the commission in our rearview mirror, frankly, at every level.”

The Clean Elections Commission voted unanimously in an online hearing Wednesday to deny Heap’s request, saying it was just too late. Candidates cannot withdraw once the commission notifies them they are approved for funding, according to Arizona’s Administrative Code.

As a Clean Elections candidate, Heap is barred from raising outside campaign funds and must follow the program’s rules.

Clean Elections staff notified Heap the day before the primary that he had qualified for public funding. The commission voted to disburse the money in mid-August after Heap signed a required statement that his campaign-finance reports were complete and accurate.

His campaign returned unspent funds to the commission last week.

Spending on campaign signs under investigation

The Clean Elections Commission is also investigating a complaint questioning Heap’s spending on campaign signs.

Lisa Everett filed the complaint in June, questioning whether the cost of the production, distribution and installation of Heap’s campaign signs had been properly reported.

The signs, which have been spotted statewide, said Heap’s campaign paid for them. His campaign-finance reports listed a mere $644 on signs for the statewide race, a fraction of the $2,924 he spent when he ran for his House seat in Legislative District 10.

According to La Sota, the signs do not appear on Heap’s reports because they were bought on a line of credit from the sign shop and won’t appear as an expenditure until payment is made.

The Clean Elections Commission has said it has determined it has reason to believe Heap violated the Clean Elections rules.

“I understand the enforcement actions will go forward,” La Sota told the commission Wednesday. “I don’t think they have any merit, but that’s not what you’re here for today.”

Heap also faces a separate complaint about his signature-gathering effort to qualify for the ballot. La Sota has denied any wrongdoing.

Everett, the voter who filed the complaint about the signs, said Heap shouldn’t be allowed to back out of the Clean Elections program.

“It’s wrong for him to be able to just walk away after violating the rules,” she said. “It’s simply not acceptable. We should hold people accountable.”

La Sota argued the program, which was created when voters passed the Citizens Clean Elections Act in 1998, is supposed to be voluntary.

“When someone hasn’t taken any money and you still say they have to participate, that’s not voluntary,” he said. “It has to be voluntary. There’s no way it would pass constitutional muster if it weren’t.”

Clean Elections Executive Director Tom Collins said “the voluntary nature of it is the contract that you sign at the outset.”

La Sota told the commissioners they have strayed from the “spirit and intent of the entire Clean Elections Act.”

“I think we’re seeing a clear example of the commission really trying to put its thumb on the scale in an election here,” he said.

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