PHOENIX — Ken Bennett said Tuesday that he finally got the 4,000 donations he needed to qualify for $839,704 in public funds for his campaign for governor.
Only thing is, it comes too late for him to spend it in a way to actually have influenced his bid to defeat incumbent Gov. Doug Ducey in Tuesday’s Republican primary.
And that even assumes he actually gets any money.
First, county recorders will have to review a random sample of the donations to ensure they come from registered voters. And even if Bennett survives that, the Citizens Clean Elections Commission has to resolve two complaints against him before any money can be disbursed.
On Tuesday, Bennett delivered to the Secretary of State’s Office what he said were about 4,130 donations of $5 each. That came after Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Connie Contes on Monday gave him four more hours to collect online donations after the website for contributions was shut down at 5 p.m. — before the midnight deadline — on Aug. 21.
That additional time, said Bennett, was enough for him to find “about 200” new donors — and enough to get to that 4,000 minimum plus a small cushion should some ultimately be disqualified.
The system of public financing requires candidates to use the money they get for the campaign they’re facing. And the primary ended Tuesday night.
So what’s the point?
“The point is that we have spent money that I’ve loaned the campaign,” Bennett said, about $43,000. “We can be reimbursed out of the Clean Elections funds for those funds we expended in the campaign already.”
