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Republican candidates for the Arizona Corporation Commission are facing a second complaint that they have broken finance rules, this time dealing with how they reported paying for signatures.

The Republicans, Tom Forese and Doug Little, face Democrats Sandra Kennedy and Jim Holway in a race for two seats on the five-member Arizona Corporation Commission in the Nov. 4 election. The commission regulates utilities such as Arizona Public Service Co.

All four candidates are campaigning with public funds from the Citizens Clean Election Commission, which the Democrats are petitioning for an investigation.

The new complaint made Friday by the Arizona Democratic Party suggests that Forese and Little paid someone to collect signatures to qualify for the ballot, but didn't report such an expense in their campaign finance reports, or in the case of Little, reported too little to have actually covered the price of his signatures.

It also questions whether the signatures were gathered before they were paid for.

RELATED: Republican Corp. Comm. candidates accused of improperly funding campaign signs

RELATED: Little-Forese team wins Corp. Commission Republican primary

Little and Forese said Tuesday in a meeting with The Arizona Republic that they did pay for their signatures but did not break any rules. At the time the Democrats had not yet filed their complaint, but questions were being raised about the signatures.

Forese said that he paid a campaign organization that keeps signature collectors on retainer, properly reported it, and that the complaints are meritless.

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Republican Corp. Comm. candidates face second campaign finance complaint