Incumbent Mark Brnovich won what should have been a race about who would be the best lawyer for the state which ultimately devolved into a mudfest of charges of corruption.
It started with Brnovich exercising his right to make changes in how various measures are described to voters on the ballot.
In the case of Proposition 127, Brnovich ratified and defended decisions by subordinates to add language that approval of the ballot measure to mandate half of energy be generated from renewable sources by 2030 would occur "irrespective of cost'' to consumers.
Prop 127 organizers said that wording was designed to convince people to oppose the measure.
They charged it was done to benefit ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Public Service, the state's largest electric utility, which has been the key foe of the initiative. And it didn't help that the "irrespective of cost'' verbiage showed up within days on commercials financed by APS.
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That led to more than $4.2 million in commercials financed by Prop 127 organizers. While some praised Democrat January Contreras, others said Brnovich was "corrupt" and had essentially been bought off by APS which had given $450,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association which supported his 2014 campaign and has been buying its own commercials this year attacking Democrat January Contreras.
Those RAGA-funded commercials, in turn, accuse Contreras of being in the pocket of California billionaire Tom Steyer who is the prime financier behind Proposition 127.
It wasn't just RAGA piling on with its $1.2 million to help Brnovich this year, with the state Republican Party financing its own commercials charging that Contreras, while health policy adviser to then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, ignored problems of patient neglect at the state veterans' home.
