The measure Arizona voters approved in November by a 3-to-1 margin is designed to outlaw 'dark money' by requiring the public disclosure of big donors to political campaigns.
Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services PHOENIX — The group that convinced voters last year to expose “dark money” contributions to political campaigns in Arizona wants a federal judge to toss a bid by a conservative advocacy group to kill the new law.
“The right to free speech was designed to enable self-government, ensure responsive officeholders, and prevent the corruption of the democratic process,” Kolker said. “Properly understood, disclosure laws like the Voters’ Right to Know Act enhance, rather than constrain, the free speech necessary to sustain our democracy.”
Kolker points Silver to 2014 when Pinnacle West Capital Corp., the parent company of Arizona Public Service, quietly funneled $10.7 million into successful campaigns to secure the election of Tom Forese and Doug Little to the Arizona Corporation Commission. Kolker also said it appears that the concern of Americans for Prosperity and its separate foundation is that such disclosure might discourage some donors from contributing to various advocacy and other nonprofit organizations.
“Instead, plaintiffs focus on their donors’ purported preference for anonymity and plaintiffs’ past organizational pledges to maintain donor confidentiality,” Kolker said. “But a disclosure law is not unconstitutional simply because an organization has operated with greater secrecy in the past and wishes to continue to do so.”
“Groups who have won this exemption in the past have often had members who suffered governmental harassment and surveillance,” he said. “Plaintiffs do not allege that their organizations have suffered the kind of violence, threats, harassment, or reprisals that warranted exemptions for the SWP and the NAACP.”
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