Yesterday’s New York Times piece lifted the national veil on Arizona’s dark secret: our state is ground zero for efforts to expand the use of Dark Money – undisclosed political contributions – to influence state and local races.
This past session, Secretary of State Michele Reagan and her Elections Director Eric Spencer authored legislation, Senate Bill 1516, which completely deregulates our campaign finance system in Arizona. Senate Bill 1516 makes it perfectly clear that Arizona is counting on the federal government, specifically the Internal Revenue Service, to regulate these organizations – organizations that are spending unlimited amounts of funds to anonymously influence the outcome of Arizona elections.
During the 2014 election cycle, more than $15 million in anonymous campaign contributions were spent in Arizona to ensure that specific candidates were defeated and others elected. SB 1516 would make it even easier for these anonymous donors to buy elections.
But you can do something to stop this corruption: log onto www.stopcorruptionnowaz.com and sign up to sign the petition to put Senate Bill 1516 on this November’s ballot.
The Stop Corruption Now committee needs approximately 100,000 signatures by August 7th to force the supporters of Dark Money to defend their position on the ballot! Please log on and sign up today.
We must protect our democracy from corruption. Arizonans must assert their right to know who is spending money to influence our elections. As the New York Times reports, the people are demanding it in other places:
“Americans of all stripes want more of this. A New York Times/CBS News poll last year showed three-quarters of self-identified Republicans and an equal percentage of Democrats supported more disclosure by outside spenders. Recent transparency measures passed in Delaware, Maine and Montana show that voters can turn the tables on special interests by demanding tougher laws and supporting the candidates who will push for them. Without such laws, dark money will continue to skew the outcome of races that hit close to home.”
Please log on to www.stopcorruptionnowaz.com and sign up today.