The short-lived political career of Candace Begody-Begay

Editor's note: The name of the judge has been corrected. Judge Susan Brnovich presided over the proceedings.

Legislative hopeful Candace Begody-Begay will not be on the Aug. 30 GOP primary ballot, after she fell far short of the signatures needed to qualify.

Not only were 59 percent of her signatures invalid, she failed to appear at a Friday court hearing despite assurances to state officials that she would be there.

Judge Susan Brnovich was not pleased, taking the unusual step of awarding attorney fees to the Democrats who challenged Begody-Begay,

"To insist on a hearing and failing to appear is a complete waste of time," Brnovich said. She had returned from a judicial conference in Tucson specifically to preside over the petition challenge.

Begody-Begay is also barred from running as a write-in candidate under the terms of the state's "sore loser" law.

Wife of state senator to run for husband's seat

Begody-Begay launched a last-minute bid for the Legislature in late May, hoping to succeed her husband, state Sen. Carlyle Begay, as the only Republican Native American at the statehouse. She had strong support from the Arizona Republican Party, which saw an opportunity to make inroads in a traditionally Democratic area. But she had only 121 valid signatures, nearly 60 percent short of the required 294, the judge found.

Most of the invalid signatures came from voters who live outside the boundaries of Legislative District 7, were not registered voters, or were not registered as either a Republican or an independent, the only voters qualified to sign her nomination petition.

Arizona Navajo Republican Carlyle Begay will run for Congress

Attorney Roopali Desai, who represented Democratic voter Eric Kramer, sought the attorney fees, citing the time and effort that went into mounting the challenge and trying to determine if the candidate would actually appear at the hearing.

"It's a big inconvenience and a disrespect for the process," Desai said. The petition-challenge process is intended for close calls, giving challenged candidates a chance to demonstrate that certain signatures indeed were valid. But in this case, she said, the high number of challenged signatures made the candidate's task impossible, but she still pushed for a hearing.

In addition to losing her bid to get on the ballot, Begody-Begay's foray into politics cost her her job as editor of the Navajo Times newspaper. The paper's publisher asked for her resignation after reading about her legislative bid in The Arizona Republic.

Navajo Times editor forced to resign over her bid for Arizona Senate

With Begody-Begay's disqualification, there is no Republican candidate for the seat, which encompasses the Navajo and Hopi reservations, as well as parts of the White Mountains. Democrats Jamescita Peshlakai and Steven Begay are running in the Democratic primary.

Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com and follow her on Twitter, @maryjpitzl.