By Marketplace Morning Report
The “Marketplace Morning Report” is running a special series, “Secret Money, Public Influence,” on money, politics and whether campaign donors can be “secret Santas” who spend big but don’t have to disclose it. This election cycle, we traveled to Arizona, where, in a month, voters will decide whether some of the biggest campaign spenders should have to reveal their identities. How this measure got on the ballot, what it hopes to achieve and what opponents say about it provide lessons about the so-called dark money that can sway elections near you.
At the edge of the high-country town of Flagstaff, Buffalo Park would be a hikers paradise if not for the on-and-off drizzle on the first day of autumn. In a gazebo with picnic tables, we met up with volunteers who helped put Arizona’s campaign finance disclosure initiative on the November ballot.
Arizona’s No. 1, tippy-top, most effective volunteer gatherer of signatures, Kelly Gibbs, was present and sporting eye-catching headgear. It kind of looks like a chef’s hat, but there are dollar bills sticking up all around the top. It has the Stop Dark Money logo front and center.
