By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
Democrat lawmakers accused their Republican colleagues Thursday of hiding relevant information from voters about upcoming ballot measures.
The Democrats complained that there are key provisions in two measures that will be on the November ballot that are not included in the explanations that will be provided to voters in official ballot pamphlets. And those provisions, they said, are needed to give voters full information to help them decide whether to approve either proposal.
One would expand the current voucher program, making virtually all of the 1.1 million students in public schools eligible to use public funds to attend private or parochial schools. The other seeks to put some new restrictions on the ability of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission to enact campaign finance rules.
But the Republican-controlled Legislative Council, tasked with coming up with the explanations, rejected most of the changes suggested by the Democrats. And Rep. Vince Leach, R-Tucson, said if voters want to know more about either measure they should go and review the history of how each of the GOP-backed proposals were approved, including reviewing the various versions of the bills as they went through the process.
