Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is facing another investigation into charges he violated state election laws.
The Secretary of State’s Office has notified Horne’s office that it has found probable cause the Attorney General broke the law. Horne is accused of having staffers work on his re-election campaign on state time. He denies the allegations.
The case now goes to Arizona’s Solicitor General, who works for Horne. A spokeswoman said any investigation would be referred to an outside agency.
Word of the Secretary of State’s findings comes nearly three weeks after the Citizens Clean Elections Commission authorized a probe on the same issue.
The investigations were triggered by a complaint from former Horne staffer Sarah Beattie, who claims she was essentially hired to work on Horne’s campaign and other staffers were also working on the campaign while getting paid by the state.