Fernandez v. State Personnel Board

OPINION

DRUKE, Presiding Judge.

In this appeal we must decide the constitutionality of that portion of A.R.S. § 41-772 which prohibits all but certain state employees from being elected “to any paid public office” or holding “any paid, elective public office.” This constitutional dispute arises from the following factual and procedural setting.

Appellee Ruben O. Fernandez was hired by the Arizona Department of Corrections (DOC) as a Correctional Service Officer in September 1986. Although he worked in Florence, Arizona, Fernandez lived in Superior, Arizona, along with 100 other DOC employees.…