by admin | Sep 10, 2018 | Elections, Prop 306
Currently, politicians can receive taxpayer funding for their political campaigns through a program operated at the Clean Elections Commission.
Last election cycle it was discovered that politicians financing their campaigns with public funding quietly channeling those funds to political parties instead of spending the money on their campaigns. In 2016, over $100,000 was funneled to the state Democrat Party by candidates throughout the state!
Instead of fixing the problem, the Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) passed a rule codifying the abuse! Even worse, they expanded the rule to allow publicly financed candidates to give their money away to political special interest groups like labor unions, the NRA or the Sierra Club.
If Prop 306 is approved, it would:
- Prohibit candidates that finance their campaign with taxpayer money from giving any of those funds to political parties
- Prohibit taxpayer money going to political special interest groups that attempt to influence elections
- Increase transparency and accountability by requiring the Clean Elections Commission to follow the same rulemaking process as every other state agency
Since the CCEC has embraced the idea of public funding for political parties and special interest groups, we urge voters to vote YES on Prop 306
See Also:
What is Prop 306?
by admin | Aug 2, 2018 | Elections
Among the candidates running to become a member of the state legislature, Joanne Osborne may be the most dangerous one for taxpayers. Prior to being a candidate for the House in Legislative District 13, Osborne spent several years on the Goodyear City Council, consistently voting for higher taxes, fees and increased water rates even though the city was running a surplus.
In 2009, Joanne Osborne led the charge to permanently increase Goodyear’s sales tax rate from 2.0 to 2.5 percent (a 25% increase), giving the city one of the highest sales tax rates in the West Valley.* This was despite the fact that the city had a budget surplus at the time and money in their rainy-day fund. Osborne didn’t listen to taxpayers or affected businesses owners, but rather to government staff and City Manager Fischbach, who claimed that the tax increase was needed to “stay ahead of the game.”
Raising property taxes and license fees was also on Joanne Osborne’s radar. On three separate occasions (2010, 2011 and 2015), Osborne voted to increase property taxes.** She supported all of these tax increases knowing that the city had a budget surplus and didn’t need the money. She also backed a new $75 annual license fee for all businesses (Goodyear didn’t charge a license fee prior to 2009), an unnecessary charge that served no other purpose than to generate more cash for City Hall.
Osborne didn’t stop with higher sales and property tax rates. A few years later she was back pushing for more revenue for the City through higher water and wastewater rates. In 2015, Joanne Osborne voted to DOUBLE Goodyear’s water rates, from an average of $21.63 per month to $42.36.*** Wastewater rates went up by 12% as well to $56.33. These rapid increases were neither justified or warranted, especially after Osborne ushered in the extravagant sales and property tax increases a few years earlier.
Now Joanne Osborne wants to take her liberal tax and spend policies to the State Legislature. The voters of LD 13 would be wise to not let that happen.
*Surplus Has Leaders Questioning Tax Hike. https://www.newspapers.com/image/116979862/ Arizona Republic Jan 17, 2010
**Goodyear Council Records 2010,2011 and 2015
***Goodyear Rates to Double Over Five Years. https://www.rgj.com/story/news/local/southwest-valley/2015/11/02/goodyear-water-rates-double-over-5-years/74764030/ Arizona Republic Nov 2nd, 2015
Paid for the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. Not Authorized by any Candidate or Candidate Committee.
by admin | Jul 31, 2018 | Elections, News and Updates
Today the Arizona Free Enterprise Club announced its final slate of candidate endorsements for the 2018 primary election cycle.
The endorsed candidates represent individuals who align with the organization’s principles and key policy goals. Club President Scot Mussi stated, “It is critical Arizona has leaders and policy makers who are able to articulate and stand up for free market principles and pro-growth policies. This slate of candidates has proven they can and will.”
U.S. Congress
Steve Smith CD 1
Andy Biggs CD 5
Debbie Lesko CD 8
Stephen Ferrara CD 9
State Legislative Races
Nancy Barto, LD 15 House
Sine Kerr, LD 13 Senate
John Allen, LD 15 House
David Livingston LD 22 Senate
Marlene Hinton, LD 25 House
Becky Nutt, LD 14 House
Farhana Shifa LD 18 House
Tony Rivero LD 21 House
by admin | Jul 5, 2018 | Elections, News and Updates
Today the Arizona Free Enterprise Club announced three new endorsements for candidates running for the Arizona Legislature.
The endorsed candidates represent individuals who align with the organization’s principles and key policy goals. Club President Scot Mussi stated, “It is critical Arizona has leaders and policy makers who are able to articulate and stand up for free market principles and pro-growth policies. These candidates have proven they can and will.”
State Legislative Races
J.D. Mesnard, LD 17 Senate
Rick Gray, LD 21 Senate
Gail Griffin, LD 14 House
by admin | Jun 27, 2018 | Elections, News and Updates
Whether you’re a Republican, Democrat or Independent, it is safe to say most people would be aghast at the idea of their tax dollars being used to fund political parties.
Yet that is exactly what the Clean Elections Commission has been permitting for years.
In 1998 Arizona created a new program called Clean Elections, which allows politicians to receive taxpayer money in order to run for office. Candidates who decide to participate in the Clean Elections system must collect a certain number of $5 individual contributions to qualify for taxpayer funding.
Therefore, it was shocking to see several taxpayer-funded candidates writing large checks from their campaign accounts to political parties. Many of these candidates were running in uncompetitive districts, and some ran “ghost” campaigns where there was little evidence that they were even trying to win. When it was all said and done, over $100,000 in taxpayer money was paid to political parties in 2016.
It is pretty obvious that the taxpayer money being funneled to political parties was payback for helping candidates qualify for clean election dollars. It is wrong and must be stopped.
There was an effort in 2017 to end the practice, but after defeating legislation at the capitol, the Clean Elections Commission promised to address the issue through rulemaking.
Instead, Clean Elections passed a rule CODIFYING the practice, sending a direct signal to candidates that it’s OK to send their funding to political machines. Even more astonishing was that their expanded commission rule now allows for taxpayer money to go to special interest non-profit organizations as well, such as the NRA, Sierra Club and labor unions.
Luckily, voters will get the opportunity to put a stop to this nonsense. A measure is now on the ballot this November that will ask voters if they want to continue to fork over their hard-earned money to political parties and special interest non-profits.
We are hopeful the answer will be a resounding YES to Stop Taxpayer Money going to Political Parties.
by admin | Jun 12, 2018 | Elections, News and Updates
Today the Arizona Free Enterprise Club filed an elections complaint with the Attorney General’s office against the ‘Outlaw Dirty Money’ political committee for potential criminal misconduct. Evidence from multiple independent sources indicate that the committee is paying circulators on a per-signature bases, in direct violation of Arizona law.
The Outlaw Dirty Money committee is sponsoring C-03-2018, a proposed ballot measure that would eliminate donor privacy by requiring the full disclosure of contributors to non-profit organizations that engage in ballot measure or candidate campaigns.
The prohibition against paying circulators per-signature is to protect the integrity of the ballot initiative process and reduce petition fraud. “It is ironic that the same group claiming to want to reduce corruption in politics has decided to employ circulator firms and paid circulators that break the law,” said Scot Mussi, President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. “They can’t be that concerned about electoral integrity if they are unwilling to follow the laws governing ballot measures.”
The formal complaint identifies two instances of the Outlaw Dirty Money committee ignoring the prohibition on per-signature payments. Both violations involve registered paid circulators employed by the circulator firm Advanced Micro Targeting, Inc. The penalty for violating the per-signature ban is a class 1 misdemeanor and a disqualification of all affected petition signatures.
The full complaint can be viewed at https://www.azfree.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Complaint-dmi.pdf
The exhibits can be viewed at https://www.azfree.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Exhibit-A1-1.pdf
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club is dedicated to promoting economic freedom and a strong and vibrant Arizona economy. For more information visit www.azfree.org
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