Arizona’s attorney general says some of the text messages sent by a state regulator could be public record. That goes against a previous decision in the ongoing case against Arizona Corporation Commissioner Bob Stump.
This was the second review of the hundreds of text messages exchanged between Commissioner Stump and more than a dozen other individuals, including commission candidates, the head of a "dark money" group and a utility executive. At issue is whether these are public records.
The initial review determined none of them were. After that was challenged, the judge in the case ordered the attorney general review them. Out of that came a conflicting opinion that some of Stump’s messages were indeed public record. But none of those fit the initial public records request by Checks and Balances, the clean energy-funded watchdog group after Stump’s messages.
None of the texts in question were actually revealed in the filings. Whether that happens will be up to the judge.
