Measure Would Lift the Veil of Secrecy Protecting Dark Money Group Spending in Arizona State and Local Elections
May 16, 2018—Today, the Voters’ Right to Know Project, a nonpartisan effort to advance effective state-level policy surrounding the transparency of political spending, endorsed Arizona’s Outlaw Dirty Money constitutional amendment.
The proposed amendment would give the people of Arizona a right to know the true source of funding for and against state and local candidates and ballot measures. If passed, the ballot measure would require all groups spending more than $10,000 to reveal the identity of contributors who gave $2,500 or more. The campaign finance transparency measure, currently in the signature collection stage, would appear on the ballot in November 2018 giving voters the chance to decide whether a “right to know” should be added to their state constitution.
Jay Costa, Executive Director of the Voters’ Right to Know Project said, “At a time when even foreign governments are able to secretly spend money to influence our elections, it is undeniable that our country is in urgent need of a new standard of transparency of political spending. The Outlaw Dirty Money measure is a common sense reform that would stand up to dark money special interests and give Arizonans the right to know the original sources of money behind the campaigns seeking to influence their vote.”
According to a report titled ‘Secret Spending in the States’ by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, “Arizona saw by far the biggest surge in dark money, with the amount in 2014 rising to 295 times — nearly three hundred times — the level in 2006.”
Source: National Institute of Money in Politics / Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law
According to Chris Herstam, former Republican majority whip in the Arizona House of Representatives and now lobbyist, “In my 33 years in Arizona politics and government, dark money is the most corrupting influence I have seen.”
“This endorsement of Voters’ Right to Know is an important affirmation of our efforts to insure that Arizona voters know who is trying to influence their votes,” according to Terry Goddard, former Attorney General of Arizona and Co-Chair of Outlaw Dirty Money constitutional amendment petition drive. “It underscores that full disclosure is not a partisan issue, but an effort by people across the political spectrum to make sure that voters can fully evaluate the campaign messages they receive.”
“Special interests use dark money to buy election results and policies that favor them, often at great cost to ordinary Arizonans,” said Jim Heerwagen, Chair of Voters’ Right to Know. “This new constitutional right is the foundation of a regime of effective disclosure laws and enforcement that will expose secret money. It is designed to keep the people of Arizona in control of their government.”
Voters’ Right to Know Project is a nonpartisan effort to promote the transparency and accountability of American politics by advancing effective state level policy surrounding the disclosure of political spending across all media platforms. We advocate for states to adopt a comprehensive set of solutions that together comprise a standard of transparency policy, beginning with the establishment of a groundbreaking state level constitutional right. For more about VRTK visit: http://vrtk.org.
Media Contact
Pamela Behrsin
pamela@votersrighttoknow.org
Mobile: 415-299-0898
