Dispute Over AZ Ballot Measure Escalates

Court battles over ballot initiative survival and language disputes are nothing new this election season, but Secretary of State Jan Brewer has taken the unusual step of filing a lawsuit against Attorney General Terry Goddard over proposed language to describe a referendum banning gay marriage in Arizona.

The debate centers around whether the description of Prop. 102 on the 2008 ballot should explain state law already prevents same-sex couples from getting married. Goddard said the analysis of the proposal, which seeks to amend the state Constitution to define marriage as an act between a man and woman, should include that current law forbids such unions.

But Brewer has said she doesn’t have to add the additional language, which she argued would make the proposal less clear - and she has accused Goddard of injecting political spin into the debate and overstepping his ballot language authority by writing text himself.

“The attorney general is confined in his duties to simply approve or disapprove the secretary of state’s language, yet instead he continues to draft and propose his own language, which is not among his duties under the law,” said Brewer, who filed an Aug. 23 lawsuit with the Maricopa County Superior Court.

Read more at azcapitoltimes.com.