The Citizens Clean Elections Commission said Rep. David Burnell Smith overspent in his 2004 primary election campaign, which was financed with public money, by at least $6,000 and failed to file accurate campaign finance reports.

"I have not yet begun to fight. I think that the commission was wrong," Smith said. "I will do what I must do in a legal setting."

The five-member commission also ordered the 63-year-old Scottsdale Republican to pay a $10,000 civil penalty and repay $34,625 in public money used for his campaign.

The penalty "seems pretty Draconian, but that's what the voters passed and it is the public's money," Commissioner Tracey Bardof said.

Smith would be the first public official removed from office because of a violation of the Clean Elections campaign system approved by Arizona voters in 1998.

Since then, candidates have run successfully with public funding for every state elected office. Maine has a similar funding system.

Forty-two of 90 current legislators and 10 of 11 statewide elected officials ran with public funding.

The commission's decision strengthened the Clean Elections system by putting future candidates who cheat on notice they could face several penalties, said Barbara Lubin, executive director of the Clean Elections Institute, a public campaign funding advocacy group.

Smith said he did not overspend and that errors he made in his reports don't warrant removal.