3 Arizona candidates face allegations they defrauded Clean Elections Commission

Three longshot Arizona candidates are facing allegations they falsified records in order to obtain millions of dollars in public funding for their campaigns.

The Arizona Clean Elections Commission provides public dollars to candidates for office who agree to abide by rules passed by voters in 1998, including foregoing large private donations and contributions from PACS and corporations.

To obtain funding, candidates must first collect a specific amount of $5 “qualifying contributions.”

Green Party candidates Risa Lombardo and Duwayne Collier and Republican Scott Neely submitted those contributions this year and received that funding.

That unlocked a total of $2.8 million in funding for Lombardo, who is running for governor, and nearly $740,000 for Collier, who is running for secretary of state. Neely, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP gubernatorial nomination, received $1.1 million in funding for the primary election.

But according to letters to the campaigns, Clean Elections Executive Director Thomas Collins uncovered a series of red flags related to the qualifying donations submitted by the campaigns.

Collins wrote that “a substantial number” of qualifying donations reported by the all three candidates came from the same exact people — individuals who have never made political contributions in the past.

“Based on my experience as Executive Director, this represents a suspicious pattern of donations,” Collins wrote in the Aug. 25 letters.

The same day Collins wrote those letters, the Arizona Mirror reported that six of those supposed repeat donors said they never contributed to any of the candidates and accused the Lombardo, Collier and Neely campaigns of falsely using their names to qualify for funding.

Those six voters also told the Mirror they had signed unrelated political petitions within the past year, raising questions about whether their signatures were obtained under false pretenses and later fraudulently used to help the candidates qualify for Clean Elections funding.

“The Arizona Mirror made blistering assertions that, frankly, corroborate my investigation thus far,” Collins wrote.

In letters to the candidates, Collins said there is other evidence the candidates did not actually collect enough qualifying signatures.

For instance, Lombardo, Collier and Neely each deposited the alleged donations in a single, lump-sum deposit shortly before applying for Clean Elections funding and raised, according to bank statements obtained by the Clean Elections Commission.

That raises red flags, because candidates should report those contributions as candidates collect them over the course of several months before the Clean Elections deadline.

“Those forms were signed over the course of months, but the cash never reached your account,” Collins wrote to Collier. “This gives rise to an inference that the source of the money was the deposit on May 29, 2026, not the individual donors.”

Beyond the campaign finance allegations, Lombardo and Collier are facing open opposition from the Arizona Green Party, which claims they are “sham” candidates.

An attorney for the Lombardo and Collier campaigns denied the allegations.

"Risa and Duwayne and myself, everyone I've talked to, this is the first they've ever heard of this allegation was when the story came out yesterday," attorney Timothy La Sota said. "So the campaign, the candidates did nothing wrong. We're not giving the money back."

He claimed there is nothing strange about candidates waiting to deposit their $5 qualifying donations and dismissed the concerns about the six alleged donors who spoke to the Mirror.

"We're talking thousands of contributions and, you know, a handful of people who say they they didn't give but the signature matches, so, you know, the campaigns have done nothing wrong," La Sota said.

Neely told the Mirror he had no knowledge of the false donations.

Neely claimed the people who recruited him to run for office collected his $5 qualifying contributions, and the Arizona Mirror reported that the same four people are listed as collecting the majority of contributions for both Neely and Collier.

Collins told Lombardo, Collier and Neely he will ask the Clean Elections Commission to issue an order requiring the candidates to repay the funding they received.

According to state law, the candidates could be required to repay that money from remaining campaign funds or their own personal money.

The Clean Elections Commission will discuss the allegations at a public meeting on Thursday.