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The four-way Legislative District 30 Republican primary is caught up in a squabble over provisions of the state's Clean Elections rules and campaign contributions.

Candidate Frank Antenori said rival Doug Sposito has accepted contributions from business owners and organizations who want to weaken the state's employer-sanctions law.

And Antenori blasted Clean Elections provisions that positioned candidates Sharon Collins and David Gowan to receive $70,000 in Clean Elections public matching funds.

Gowan and Collins are Clean Elections candidates and received an initial $19,000. Antenori and Sposito are running traditional campaigns financed by private funds.

When Sposito's spending went over $19,000, it triggered the release of additional public matching funds to Collins and Gowan.

Antenori and Sposito joined a lawsuit challenging the Clean Elections matching-funds provision. The Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, a conservative policy group, filed the suit on Friday.

While Antenori and Sposito agree on their opposition to Clean Elections financing, Antenori criticized Sposito on the sanction law, which levies fines and punishment for hiring illegal workers.

Antenori said he supports the current law but changes should be made by the Legislature and not through a proposed voter-approved referendum.

Sposito said he supports the law, but it needs "tweaking" because the provisions should not be "punitive" to small-business owners.

But that spat is more of a side issue. Antenori reserved his strongest criticism for Clean Elections funding, which he said rewarded Collins and Gowan, "who did nothing to earn the money."

Gowan received a total of $38,000 in public matching funds, and Collins received more than $32,000, according to the candidates' campaign financial reports.

Collins collected less than $2,000 from private contributors. Gowan reported private contributions of $1,400.

Antenori said it's "hypocritical" of Republican candidates to take public funding when Republicans advocate reduced government spending.

Antenori, a program manager at Raytheon Missile Systems, ran unsuccessfully in the 2006 Republican congressional primary to replace Rep. Jim Kolbe, who was retiring.

Collins defended her use of Clean Elections funds as a way to "level the playing field."

By not accepting large amounts from political action committees and individuals, "You don't have to take money from special interests," said Collins, a Sahuarita resident who is associate superintendent for the State Department of Education.

She previously ran for mayor of Tucson and secretary of state.

Antenori reported $10,364 in individual contributions, including $390 from Jim Click Jr., with at least $2,500 coming from outside the district, according to his Aug. 17 finance report.

Sposito, who is self-employed and lives in Sonoita, reported $34,509 in contributions, including $5,000 from political action committees based in Maricopa County and $15,300 from individual contributors.

Some of the political action committees that contributed to Sposito's campaign are Fennemore Craig Citizens for Prudent Government, $350; Arizona Credit Union League PAC, $390; Salt River Project Political Involvement Committee, $500; Texas-based BNSF Railpac, $390; Cox Arizona Political Action Committee for Effective Leadership, $390; Ophthalmologists' PAC, $390; and the Arizona Medical Association, $300.

Sposito's largest expenditure was $18,711 to Bieber Communications of California for mailings.

Gowan, a Sierra Vista sales representative, previously ran for the state house in 2004 and 2006.

The district stretches from Tucson's East Side to Sahuarita and Green Valley, to Sierra Vista. The house seats were vacated by Republicans Jonathan Paton, who is running for the state Senate in the legislative district, and Marian McClure, who is running for the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Andrea Dalessandro, the sole Democrat, will face the top two Republicans in the Nov. 4 general election.