After Gov. Doug Ducey recently signed two bills into law protecting "dark money" contributions from seeing daylight, transparency advocates are mounting a response.
Former Arizona Attorneys General Terry Goddard and Tom Horne spoke alongside Phoenix Councilwoman Kate Gallego Tuesday to announce initiatives to keep dark money out of elections.
"Dark money" refers to political campaign contributions from nonprofits that obscure the original source of the donation.
Last week, Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill outlawing elections officials from requiring tax-exempt groups to report the names of monetary contributors or register as PACs. Another bill he signed last month loosens state control over "dark money" campaign donations.
Earlier in the year, the City of Tempe voted by more than 90 percent to require transparency on any contribution above $1,000.
"Right now as citizens, we have to file a disclosure if we give more than $50," Goddard said, "but if some multi-billionaire wants to come in and spend millions of dollars on a campaign using one of these phony corporate identities, they don't have to disclose at all under Arizona law."
Gallego is pushing an ordinance with the City of Phoenix to change that, similar to the popular Tempe proposal.
"City Council has already approved this to move forward to be on the ballot in 2018," Gallego said of her initiative.
Gallego assured voters that simply being a member of an organization won't put citizens at risk of being exposed. She said the focus of her legislation is specifically on contributors.
The trio at Tuesday's press conference aren't concerned that the new laws signed by Ducey will rule out the potential Phoenix ordinance.
"We did check with our legal team here and nothing would prohibit us from moving forward and referring this to the ballot," Gallego said. "We believe that local elections are the purview of the city."
Horne said he has argued transparency cases in the past on the behalf of dark money contributors, but he's since changed his tune. The Republican who's paired up with two Democrats said he also has been bitten by dark money during a campaign by a "misnamed group," the Arizona Public Integrity Alliance.
"I never thought I was important enough for someone to spend $700,000 against me," Horne said, adding that he still doesn't know who campaigned against him.
Goddard is championing a statewide campaign to create an amendment to the Arizona State Constitution that would up the requirement on transparency in campaign contributions.
Gallego, Horne and Goddard need 300,000 signatures from Arizona voters by June 5 to move the amendment forward. For more information on the campaign, visit the Outlaw Dirty Money website, where you can read the language of the amendment proposal.
