One of the questions in the Sept. 1 push poll involving Munsil asked whether it would matter to a voter that Munsil had an "illegitimate child."

Word of the push poll led Munsil and his wife to distribute a statement saying they conceived their oldest son while they were engaged but before they married.

Munsil formerly headed a group that advocated for abstinence from premarital sex, and Munsil campaign attorney Douglas Drury said the push poll and media coverage about it could undermine Munsil's support among a core constituency: social conservatives.

Commission Executive Director Todd Lane agreed that Munsil was targeted by the push poll but said that it was difficult to determine how much the poll cost and therefore how much matching funds to award to Munsil.

Munsil deserves some money but his request was too high, especially because there was no indication that the push poll was conducted outside Maricopa County, Lang said, explaining how he settled on his $80,000 recommendation.

However, representatives of other gubernatorial candidates told the commission that it didn't have enough information to take steps that could affect the outcome of the election.

"What you're in essence doing is guessing, and that guess can be wrong," said attorney Douglas Wymore, representing Republican candidate Don Goldwater. "We're talking about a governorship."

Awarding matching funds under such circumstances could prompt future campaigns to secretly commission push polls so they can benefit by getting matching funds, attorney Andrew Gordon said. "This raises the real possibility of political dirty tricks."

Goldwater said the commission should not award any extra money without first determining the circumstances of the push poll but that he should get extra money also if matching funds are awarded. The commission did not award Goldwater any additional funding.

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