Burns, Tobin, Dunn Elected To Arizona Corporation Commission

By Will Stone
Published: Tuesday, November 8, 2016 - 6:42pm
Updated: Wednesday, November 9, 2016 - 11:02am
(Photo by Howard Fischer - Capitol Media Services)
Commissioner Bob Burns campaigned on his efforts to reveal the source of dark money spending in 2014. Now he has accused another commissioner of possible "misconduct."

It was a victory for the incumbents in this election’s race for the Arizona Corporation Commission. Meanwhile, the third final seat will most likely go to Republican Boyd Dunn.

Outside spending on the race surpassed $6 million with both the solar industry and the state’s largest utility APS backing their preferred candidates. Tobin has been at odds with Burns at times, especially over Burns' efforts to force APS to disclose whether it was behind dark money contributions in the last election. But Tobin says he believes they can work together.

"It’s unfortunate the direction he is going isn’t a Republican stand, it’s not that people don’t want disclose, people want equal disclosure. But Bob and I have often worked together and not been on the same side," Tobin says.

With Burns and Tobin’s victory, the five person regulatory panel remains in Republican control and will have key decisions to make about the future of solar in Arizona.

Politics