By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services/Arizona Daily Star
The state’s chief election officer wants tighter financial reporting laws so voters know who is really funding campaigns.
Secretary of State Ken Bennett’s call for beefed-up regulations comes on the heels of the disclosure that an Arizona-based group gave $11 million to influence two California ballot measures.
The concern isn’t just the size of the contributions; it’s that Americans for Responsible Leadership, after being forced to comply with California campaign disclosure laws, revealed it was only passing through money from another Arizona organization that originally got it from a Virginia group.
And the concern isn’t just about the California race. Americans for Responsible Leadership also put about $1.5 million into Arizona campaigns to defeat the permanent sales tax hike in Proposition 204 and the open-primary proposal in Proposition 121.
