PHOENIX — A Maricopa County sheriff’s captain has been hit with a $315,000 fine for making illegal donations to the Arizona Republican Party.
Capt. Joel Fox is the only person publicly linked to an independent group known as SCA, which stands for Sheriff’s Command Association.
A special counsel brought in after the Maricopa County Attorney declared a conflict in the case levied the fine, which is triple the amount SCA donated to the Republican Party.
Special counsel Jeffrey Messing’s eight-page compliance order relates to a pair of donations totaling $105,000 that SCA made in August and September.
SCA never filed required paperwork with the state and Maricopa County, which would have included registering as a political committee and disclosing its donors, and the state GOP ultimately refunded the donation.
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Fox served as the SCA treasurer. He declined comment Tuesday, telling The Arizona Republic in an e-mail that “It is not in my best interest to discuss this case publicly until after it has been fully adjudicated.”
Fox has 20 days to contest Messing’s order and its penalties.
Democratic officials had filed a complaint alleging that the state GOP accepted the SCA donations with the understanding that they would be directed against two Democrats running for county sheriff and county attorney, an illegal practice known as earmarking. Both candidates lost.
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