What will Phoenix do after legislature blocks Tempe vote?
By Alan Greenblatt | Governing
Voters in Tempe, Ariz., don’t like undisclosed campaign funds sloshing into local politics. Last month, 91 percent of them approved an amendment to the city’s charter that requires independent groups spending more than $1,000 on local elections to disclose their donors.
It won’t matter.
Related: Secret money in Arizona is a monster, says a retiring lobbyist
Last week, the Arizona Legislature passed a bill blocking local governments from imposing such transparency rules on nonprofit groups. Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, who has benefited from millions in so-called dark money expenditures, is expected to sign it.
“Our legislature has done all it can to empower secret spending,” says Joel Edman, executive director of Arizona Advocacy Network, which favors campaign finance regulation. “In Arizona, in particular, we’ve seen a huge flood of money in our elections where we don’t know where it’s coming from.”
These groups are often funded by wealthy individuals or special interest organizations and may hide behind anodyne-sounding names like Tempeans for a Greater Tempe. It’s happening all over the country. Some states, and now cities, have started to do something about it. But, as shown by Arizona’s preemption legislation, there’s often pushback.
