Me: I’m here to open a campaign committee bank account.

Sr Banker: Ok. Let me just look you up on the Corporation Commission website. 

Me: Candidates don’t file with the Corporation Commission. We’re not a business. I’m running for a County race so I file with the County Recorder’s office. I have the filed document right here.

Sr Banker: Ok. We can look you up on the Secretary of State website. 

Me: Local candidates don’t file with the Secretary of State. We file with the County Recorder’s office. I have the filed document right here.

Sr Banker: We have to be able to look you up on a government website. 

Me: You can look me up on the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office website. I’m listed as a candidate there for County Board of Supervisors. 

Sr Banker: You have to be on the Secretary of State’s website. Or the FEC.

Me: I’m running for a local county office. By law, I file with the County Recorder and my campaign finance reports are filed with the County Recorder. No local candidates are listed on the Secretary of State’s website. And only Federal candidates are listed with the FEC. How about we look at the Secretary of State’s website.

[Banker pulls SOS up on his computer.]

Me: See right here? It says those running for county offices file with the County Recorder’s office, not the Secretary of State.

Sr Banker: The County Recorder isn’t on my list of approved government agencies. Let me call the document approval office to find out what to do.

[We go through the same scenario, again.]

Sr Banker: So if you’re not listed on the Secretary of State or FEC websites, you have to have one of these eight documents in order to open an account. 

Me: Those are business documents. I need a campaign committee account. I’m not a business.

Sr Banker: So we can open up an account, can’t you just file one of these?

Me: I will never have ByLaws. I’m not a business. I will never have Articles of Association with the Corporation Commission. I’m not a business. What I have is a Statement of Interest and a Statement of Organization stamped by the County Recorder’s office. And here’s the IRS EIN letter for the campaign.

Sr Banker: What about this one? [Points at SOS Fictitious Name document.] Can’t you just file one of those with the Secretary of State? Then we can open an account. 

Me: I’m not a company “doing business as” or operating under a fake name. I’m a candidate for political office.

Sr Banker: But can’t you just file that way to get the document we need?

Me: No, the Secretary of State won’t issue me a fake legal document, even if it has fictitious in the name. 

I left and went to another bank who understood what a campaign committee is and even recognized the Maricopa County Recorder’s office as a government agency.