KJZZ

The State Senate’s Minority Leader has made her pick to fill an open seat on the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. Steven Titla will be the first Native American to serve in that role.

Two commissioners stepped down around the first of this year. Gov. Jan Brewer filled one of the posts with attorney and businessman Mitchell Laird.

By law, the next choice went to the highest elected Democrat in the state — Sen. Leah Landrum Taylor. Monday, she chose Marine veteran and attorney Titla for the other vacant seat.

He’s a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, which his law firm represents. And he previously worked as a lawyer for the Navajo Nation Department of Justice.

The Clean Elections Commission helps fund some candidates who agree to forgo campaign money from private groups. Titla’s term ends in January 2018.