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Recent Articles from Evan Wyloge, Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
Three-quarters of ‘outside’ election spending in AZ comes with scant disclosure
Of the $1.9 million spent this cycle by “outside groups” to affect Arizona elections, $565,000 – or about 30 percent – comes with no disclosure of the source of the money.
Nearly $500K in ‘dark money’ spent on Arizona 2016 legislative primary
With just one week until Arizona’s primary election, political spending to affect legislative races paid for by outside groups that don’t disclose the source of the money amounts to almost half a million dollars.
Less is more: Dems run fewer Corp Comm candidates for better odds
This fall, Arizona voters will choose three utility regulators, and while one might expect that each of the main parties would run a full slate of candidates, Democrats are only running two.
Signature effort aims to derail solar ballot measure
Summit Consulting Group, a political consulting firm with ties to Arizona Public Service, is paying Sign Here Petitions to collect survey signatures, but only on the condition that signature gatherers sign a non-compete clause, promising not to work on SolarCity’s initiative.
2014 dark money spending on lawmakers topped $900K
Arizona lawmakers considering a bill that would reduce regulation on groups that spend money in elections without disclosing the source benefitted by more than $900,000 during the 2014 election cycle, in what’s dubbed “dark money” spending.
Familiar names top campaign contributions from 2015
Of the roughly $7.4 million in individual contributions made to Arizona politics in 2015, about ten percent came from 10 individuals or households.
Marijuana initiative tops campaign fundraising in 2015
About $9.7 million poured into state-level political campaigns in 2015, but a ballot measure aimed at legalizing marijuana use for adults accounted for almost $1.1 million of that figure, outraising every other campaign committee during the non-election year.
Arizona gets D on government accountability and transparency
The Grand Canyon State received an overall score of 64 – a D grade – in a new State Integrity Investigation, a data-driven assessment of government accountability and transparency in all 50 states by the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity. Despite the low grade, Arizona ranked 22nd among all the states.
Clean Elections looking into Corp Comm texts
Arizona election regulators have taken note of records showing that Corporation Commissioner Bob Stump was in regular contact with the campaigns of candidates he supported and a “dark money” group that helped get them elected, and they want to see and inspect those records themselves.
Phone logs connect Corporation Commissioner to campaigns, ‘dark money’ and utility
Arizona Corporation Commissioner Bob Stump repeatedly communicated with the executive director of a “dark money” group that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help elect the candidates he backed, while also keeping regular contact with those candidates, their campaign manager, and a senior executive of the state’s largest utility, Arizona Public Service, according to recently released[...]
Pinnacle West board to shareholders: Reject increased disclosure proposal
When Pinnacle West Capital Corporation shareholders open their mail this spring, they’ll be asked whether the state's largest utility should provide more information about money it spends to influence policies and elections in Arizona.
Bizarre voting trends emerge again in Colorado City
Hundreds of voters in Colorado City made nearly identical choices when casting ballots in the November 2014 election, continuing a bizarre trend where a block of voters didn't choose any candidate in some races, but voted almost 100 percent for an individual candidate in others.
