Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is suing the state’s campaign finance commission in an effort to block its investigation into charges his employees used state time to work on Horne’s re-election.

The suit claims the Clean Elections Commission lacks the authority to investigate candidates who are not participating in Arizona’s public campaign funding system.

The panel voted last month to investigate charges by former Horne staffer Sara Beattie to see if the campaign received in-kind contributions from the office staff.

Tom Collins, who heads the Clean Elections Commission, said the panel does have the authority to investigate. 

Horne has denied the charges, but acknowledged in a formal response that some staff may have done a small amount of work on state time.

A judge has scheduled a hearing in the case for Friday.