(Photo courtesy of Arizona State Legislature)

Andy Tobin.

An Arizona regulator is not resigning or ruling out the possibility of voting on issues that some argue are conflicts of interest.

Former House Speaker Andy Tobin was appointed early this year to replace Susan Bitter Smith, who resigned after allegations she violated the commission’s strict conflict of interest rules.

Upon being appointed, Tobin quickly disclosed that his son-in-law works for SolarCity, a major rooftop solar company with a lot at stake in the upcoming rate cases involving power companies like Arizona Public Service.

Now it has come out that Tobin has another possible conflict. His brother does "commercial timing" for the television side of Cox. While the commission does not regulate cable TV, it does regulate and set rates on telecom issues, including for Cox.

Tobin said he regrets that he neglected to also mention his brother's job to Gov. Doug Ducey when he was first appointed, but he does not believe that relationship should prevent him from voting.

"If I was taking money from one of these folks either as a consultant or employee, I should recuse myself and there would be a conflict," Tobin said. "But I'm not."

Tobin said his counsel at the commission has informed him that his son-in-law's SolarCity job is a conflict, but Tobin said other lawyers disagree.

The commissioner pointed out that neither of his relatives have "managerial or budgetary" roles.

“This is about remote folks in your family — in this case the working-class people, who will never be able to get a shot, nor will their relatives, to serve Arizona on the corporation commission if this is the kind of way they’re going to interpret this.”

Tobin's counsel is currently exploring whether his brother's work at Cox is also a conflict.

Tobin has not yet decided whether he will recuse himself from cases involving solar or telecom, because of these two relationships, some critics are now calling for Tobin to resign.

Attorney Tom Ryan, who filed the complaint against Tobin’s predecessor for her involvement with Cox, said Tobin should resign immediately.

“He has multiple conflicts of interest dealing with very important entities that he’s ruling on and regulating," Ryan said. "He’s effectively precluded from ruling on any telecom issues and any electrical utility issues. This is just stunning to me."

The debate over Tobin's conflict could soon change under a piece of proposed legislation.

House Bill 2123 would let Tobin rule on matters involving power companies and rooftop solar, despite his son-in-law's job. The legislation would define such a relationship as "remote."

Tobin said that will "clarify" that these are not real conflicts, but Bill Mundell, who served on the commission previously and is now running for the commission as a democrat, disagreed.

“With this newest information about another conflict-of-interest for Commissioner Tobin, it would be incomprehensible for the Arizona Legislature to move HB 2123 forward at this time,” Mundell said in an email statement. “What else hasn’t Mr.Tobin told us? What else has been hidden from the public? Unfortunately, Mr. Tobin refuses to do the right thing and resign, so those questions must be asked and answered.”

Tobin dismissed such criticisms as politically motivated.

Requests for comment from the Gov. Ducey's office were not immediately returned on Thursday afternoon.