Lawyers for Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a lawsuit against a clean energy group, alleging the organization's ads against Brnovich aim to "falsely and maliciously undermine his re-election campaign."
The suit filed Wednesday names Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona and Tom Steyer, a San Francisco Democrat and billionaire funding the group, as defendants, The Arizona Republic reported .
"Brnovich's lawsuit will fail," Clean Energy spokesman DJ Quinlan said Wednesday.
The filing came two days after Phoenix attorney Dennis Wilenchik sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding that the group "immediately remove offending . statements from any print or other medium."
Brnovich's campaign is paying Wilenchek's retainer fee, a spokesman said, supplementing a contingency-fee arrangement that would give Wilenchek a portion of any monetary damages Brnovich receives.
Clean Energy promotes Proposition 127, which would require electric companies to get half their power from renewable sources by 2030. The group began challenging Brnovich after his office changed ballot-measure language written by the secretary of state's office.
The change says utilities would need to meet the clean-energy requirements "irrespective of cost" if the proposition passes. It also mentions that power from nuclear plants would not count toward the 2030 requirements.
Eric Spencer, state director of election services, called the wording "eyebrow-raising." Soon after the addition was made, campaign ads opposing the measure used the same phrasing as a central part of their pitch to voters.
Steyer's group and other Proposition 127 advocates argue Brnovich added the language to spur opposition to the measure. They contend the Republican incumbent is doing the bidding of Arizona Public Service Co., the utility whose parent company has spent more than $20 million to fight the measure.
That company, Pinnacle West Capital Corp., has donated to the Republican Attorneys General Association, which is working to get Brnovich re-elected.
"We're still calling for an independent investigation regarding how this language was added and why he didn't recuse himself (from the ballot-language review)," Quinlan sad.
Clean Energy released a new ad Wednesday continuing to imply Brnovich is beholden to donors, saying he puts "corporate greed ahead of Arizona families."
Clean Energy's ads have "the natural and probable effect of bringing Brnovich into disrepute, contempt and ridicule, and impeach Brnovich's honesty, integrity, virtue, and reputation in the mind of the average reader or hearer," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit requests "punitive damages to deter such horrendous conduct in the future" but does not specify an amount.