The Arizona Technology Council took its $6,000 donation back from Gov. Jan Brewer’s political action committee after she used its cash to try to defeat a legislative candidate it supports. Arizona Public Radio’s Howard Fischer explains.
Arizona’s Legacy, Brewer’s PAC, spent more than $7,900 earlier this month sending out mailers to Southeast Arizona Republicans urging them to vote for Susan Syfert for the state House. However, some of that money came from the Technology Council. And, it backs incumbent David Stevens. Steven Zylstra, the council’s president, acknowledge he knew Brewer was collecting money to back what she called pragmatic Republicans. And that’s not Stevens.
“While he has a more conservative bent, he’s been a strong supporter of our agenda. Part of that, I think, is due to the fact that he’s actually a technology guy. He gets it,” Zylstra said.
But, Brewer told Arizona Public Radio that Zylstra should not have made any assumptions about how she would use the council’s $6,000.
“Why would he be surprised? It went into a PAC. I get to make the decision,” Gov. Brewer said.
Zylstra said he was worried that this would not be a one-time problem, so he asked for a refund before Technology Council funds went into opposing other candidates the council likes. And Brewer, who has collected more than $600,000, said it was a simple problem to resolve.
“We were happy to give him back his money,” Gov. Brewer said.
