Arizona Rep. Burnell Smith, under an ethics storm cloud since he was found to have violated Clean Elections law by overspending his public funding grant, may be forced to leave office this week.
The removal would follow a decision issued by a three-judge Arizona Court of Appeals panel on January 19 denying Smith’s appeal of his case. The 66-page decision rules against Smith on every count in his appeal.
Smith has said that he will appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court, but there is no guarantee that the high court will take the case, since the appeals court, a Maricopa County Superior Court, an administrative law court, and the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission all agreed that Smith violated the law, and as a result, that he must vacate his office. 
"You can’t just flagrantly violate public funding rules and be able to hold office," said Barbara Lubin, executive director of the Clean Elections Institute in Arizona.