Sec. of State Brewer Appoints Carl Kunasek for Clean Elections Seat

Expects New Commissioner to be Evenhanded in Implementing Clean Elections Law

PHOENIX -- Secretary of State Jan Brewer today appointed Mesa Republican Carl Kunasek to serve on the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. The appointment officially fills the vacancy for the seat left open by the resignation of Commissioner Tracey Bardorf, and is scheduled to expire on January 31st, 2009.

Carl Kunasek has been an Arizona resident since 1961. He was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 1972 where he served for 10 years before being elected to the Arizona State Senate in 1983. He served as Senate President from 1987 to 1989. He was appointed by President George Bush to be Commissioner of the Navajo and Hopi Relocation Commission from 1990 to 1994. Mr. Kunasek went on to be elected to the Arizona Corporation Commission in 1994 and served through January of 2001.

“Carl will bring a great deal of fairness, consistency, and knowledge to the Clean Election process,” stated Secretary Brewer, “I am very impressed with his understanding of government and the election process and I feel his impressive experience will serve the citizens of Arizona extremely well. I have complete confidence that Carl will do an outstanding job in serving on the Clean Election Commission.”

No more than two members of the Clean Election Commission may be residents of the same county and no more than two may be members of the same political party. All candidates for this Commissioner seat had to meet the following criteria per Arizona Revised Statute:

• Shall not be a member of the Democratic Party;
• Shall have been registered to vote continuously recorded for at least five years immediately preceding appointment with the same political party or as an independent;
• Shall be committed to enforcing the Act in an honest, independent and impartial fashion and to seek to uphold public confidence in the integrity of the electoral system;
• Shall be a qualified elector who has not, in the previous five years in the state, been appointed to, been elected to, or run for any public office, including precinct committeeman, or served as an officer of a political party;
• No commissioner, during his or her tenure or for three years thereafter, shall seek or hold any other public office, serve as an officer or a political party;
• No commissioner, during his or her tenure or for three years thereafter, shall seek or hold any other public office, serve as an officer of any political committee, or employ or be employed as a lobbyist.

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