1. Chair Lemon called the meeting to order at approximately 9:30 am.
    
   
2. Approval of Minutes of August 19, 2003 Meeting

   Commissioner Detrick moved to approve the August 19, 2003 minutes. Commissioner McKay seconded. Motion carried.

3. Executive Director's Report
   • Executive Director Connor, Assistant Attorney General Diana Varela, and Commissioner Marcia Busching, will be attending the COGEL meeting in Austin, Texas during the week of September 21-24, 2003.
   • The Fund balance at the end of August was $13,029,794.
   • A political committee called "No Taxpayer Money for Politicians" filed a statement of organization to begin gathering signatures for an initiative petition to amend the State Constitution to prohibit any public funding from being used for political campaigns. CCEC funding, therefore would be transferred to the General Fund.
   • The U.S. Supreme Court heard four hours of oral argument on September 8, 2003 regarding the challenges to BCRA. Executive Director Connor will be attending an FEC conference October 28 and 29, 2003 to learn more about BCRA.
   • Lobby and building improvements coordinated with the ADOA and the State Land Department have been completed.
   • As part of a State review conducted by the Auditor General's Office, CCEC was selected for a review of its financial systems.
   • Executive Director Connor and Chairman Lemon have started contacting legislative sponsors who sponsored legislation last session, including Sen. Waring and Rep. Tully, to determine if they are interested in sponsoring a bill for the clean elections amendments.
   • OAH hearings for the three Libertarian candidates from District 17 who were ordered to repay their Clean Elections funding have been continued until October.
   • The RFP for the auditing contract has been submitted to SPO. The contract should be put out for bid by November.
   • Executive Director Connor, Assistant General Attorney Diana Varela, and Rebecca Hecksel, Finance Analyst, continue to work on changes to Article 1 and Article 2 rules. The proposed enforcement rule changes consider at the last meeting have been sent to the various attorneys who represented candidates last year, to the major political parties, and the Clean Elections Institute for comments or suggestions.
   • Bill Mayhall from Barclay Communications, will update the Commission on the voter education activities.
   • The application process for soliciting debate sponsors is also in full swing. Staff sent applications to 1,000 plus organizations asking if they would be interested in sponsoring the debates in 2004.
   • Staff continues to work on the 2004 candidate statement pamphlet.
   • Executive Director Connor met with Kevin Tyne, Deputy Secretary of State, and Mary Jo Kief, State Elections Director, regarding including HAVA (Help Americans Vote Act) information in the 2004 candidate statement pamphlet. In addition, they discussed final changes to the campaign finance software, and to secure shared database between Clean Elections and the Secretary of State's Office.
   • Matt Shaffer filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the CCEC. Jay Zweig, Gallagher & Kennedy, has authorized to accept service on behalf of the Commission.

4. Discussion of Proposed Constitutional Amendment Initiated by the Organization, "No Taxpayer Money for Politicians"

   Executive Director Connor explained that this item was placed on the agenda in case the Commissioners had any questions about the initiative process . If the measure qualified for the 2004 ballot, the initiative would amend the State Constitution prohibiting taxpayer money from being used in political campaigns. The initiative would not eliminate the Act itself, but all funding would revert to the General Fund.

   Jessica Funkhouser, from the Attorney General's Office indicated that is would be premature to render any legal advice on what the Commissions' duties and obligations would be, prior to the initiative qualifying for the ballot, and Legislative Council's analysis. The Committee needs to collect 184,000 signatures to place the initiative on the ballot.

5. Discussion of Voter Education and Public Relations Campaign Activities.

   Bill Mayhall, Barclay Communications, presented the voter education goals and objectives chart, which included: speaking engagements, media relations, news releases, civic events, and promotions. With regard to media relations, Barclay secured a morning news segment on Channel 12 for Voter Education Manager, Autumn Southard, to discuss the need for debate sponsors for the 2004 elections. In addition, Commissioner Jolley will be featured in Latino Future Magazine. Barclay Communications has secured 32 speaking engagements for Ms. Southard and will represent the CCEC at the Arizona State Fair, for government days on October 24, and 25, 2003.

   For the outreach program, Barclay's has began targeting community colleges and universities along with high schools, specifically focusing on juniors and seniors.

   Furthermore, Barclay has secured a partnership with the library system that includes 13 branches in the Valley and surrounding areas. In an effort to expand the outreach program to include all libraries throughout the State by the month's end. Bookmarks with information on clean elections have been distributed to each of the libraries. There are four different versions of the bookmarks: education, funding, enforcement, and eligibility. Each version will be distributed for a three-week duration.

   Carlton Hawkins, L3 Creative, announced that the public relations contract is under budget by $54,000. To date, L3 has spent $108,000 and the budget was $163,000.

6. Consideration of Contents of Candidate Statement Pamphlets for 2004 Primary and General Elections.

   Executive Director Connor informed the Commission that it is possible to include candidate photographs in the 2004 candidate statement pamphlets, and to allow the candidates to have two separate statements for the primary and general pamphlets. Staff is currently working on submitting a RFP for a graphic designer. Commissioner Busching moved to authorize staff to pursue the inclusion of photographs and separate statements for the primary and general pamphlets. Commissioner McKay seconded. Motion carried.

7. Consideration and Approval of 2003-2004 Candidate Training Materials.

   Executive Director Connor presented the nine one-page candidates training handouts. The handouts will be distributed at the candidate training seminars. The 2004 Candidate Handbook will be available on CD.

   Public Comment: Richard Harris, Richard J. Harris Law Offices P.C, asked "why does the CCEC deem it necessary to provide further explanation about reporting expenditures at this time?" Chair Lemon explained that due to past experience with candidate compliance in that area the Commission felt that more education may eliminate future enforcement matters.

   Commissioner McKay moved to approve the letters. Commissioner Jolley seconded. Motion carried.

8. Legal Report from Assistant Attorney General Diana Varela

   Assistant Attorney General, Diana Varela, updated the Commission with regard to the enforcement cases against the three libertarian candidates. If the settlement is not approved, then the Paul DeDonati hearing will be October 3, 2004. In the Trevor Clevenger matter, Ms. Varela received a settlement offer from Mr. Clevenger's attorney, but there is no settlement agreement at this time. Mr. Clevenger's hearing dates are to be held October 7 and 9, 2003 With respect to the Yuri Downing matter, there has been no discussion of settlement and Mr. Downing's hearings will be held October 2 and 10, 2003.

   The CCEC rule adjusting the minimum number of $5 qualifying contributions has been pre-cleared by the Department of Justice. The minimum number is now 210 for legislative office candidates.

9. Call for Public Comment

   Richard Harris, attorney for Matt Shaffer, challenged Executive Director Colleen Connor's testimony in the Matt Salmon hearing. Executive Director Connor replied to Mr. Harris' remarks.

10. Executive Session (First)

    Commissioner McKay moved to go into Executive Session to obtain legal advice on the proposed settlement MUR No.: 02-0060, Paul DeDonati. Commissioner Jolley seconded. Motion carried.

    At the return from executive session, the Commission approved the Paul DeDonati's consent agreement settlement of $15,000, the return of listed equipment, and Mr. DeDonati's admission to the violations. Commissioner Detrick moved to accept the agreement in the matter of MUR NO.: 02-0060, Paul DeDonati. Commissioner Jolley seconded. Motion carried.

11. Executive Session (Second)

    Commissioner McKay moved to go into Executive Session to receive legal advice on MUR No.: 02-0058, Trevor Clevenger and the Matt Shaffer litigation. Commissioner Detrick seconded. Motion carried.

12. Agenda Items for the Next Meeting: Tuesday, October 21, 2003
     
    
13. Adjournment

    Commissioner McKay moved to adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Busching seconded. Motion carried.

    Next Meeting: October 21, 2003 at 9:30 a.m., Citizens Clean Elections
    Commission, 1616 W. Adams, Suite 110, Phoenix AZ 85007.

Dated this 17^th day of September, 2003

Citizens Clean Elections Commission