PHOENIX β The publicity and attention Commissioner Bob Burns is getting in his high-profile fight with Arizona Public Service is apparently paying off politically.
A new statewide poll suggests the one-term Republican leads the five-way race to fill three seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates the rates that investor-owned electric, gas, telephone, water and sewer companies can charge their customers. More than 23 percent of voters questioned in the poll said they intend to vote for Burns in November.
Republican incumbent Andy Tobin, appointed to the commission earlier this year by Gov. Doug Ducey, polled at No. 2, being listed by 22.2 percent.
But despite Republicans having a huge edge in voter registration, the third slot for the moment belongs to Democrat Tom Chabin, according to the poll. Chabin, a former state legislator from Flagstaff who now lives in Tucson, was named by 20 percent of the people who responded.
Still, it could be anyoneβs race.
Consultant and lobbyist Paul Walker said the survey he commissioned showed that more than half of the 600 people questioned in live phone interviews said they were not sure for whom they will vote. Early ballots for the Nov. 8 general election go out this coming Wednesday.
Burns is in the middle of a legal battle with APS and its parent company, Pinnacle West Capital Corp., to get access to the books of both entities. He specifically wants to find out whether either was the source of some or all of the $3.2 million put into the 2014 commission race on behalf of Republicans Tom Forese and Doug Little.
The two groups that made the expenditure, Save Our State Now and the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, have refused to divulge where they got their money, contending their status as βsocial welfareβ organizations exempts them from such disclosure. And an APS spokesman has refused to deny that his company was the source of the dollars.
APS and Pinnacle West have sued to quash the subpoena that Burns has issued.
Outside funding has been the hot-button issue of the campaign.
Chabin and fellow Democrat Bill Mundell have vowed to back Burns in his legal fight. Yet, in Walkerβs poll, Mundell polled last among the five contenders for the three seats.
Republican candidate Boyd Dunn, a former Chandler mayor, polled fourth in the survey.
Walker said what may be working against Mundell is his party history: He was a Republican when he served as a state legislator and later as a commissioner.
As to Tobin, Walker said he has fairly high name identification from his unsuccessful race two years ago for Congress in Congressional District 1.
The real unknown, said Walker, is what happens to the approximately 55 percent of people who said they have yet to make a decision.
Walker said the survey was conducted on Wednesday and has a 4 percent potential margin of error. He said it included only people who voted in three of the last four elections.
Walkerβs interest in the race stems from the fact that he represents private water companies with issues before the commission.
A former state gaming director, he also has done past work for APS.
