Looking to exploit the momentum created by the recent school strike, a small coalition of liberal organizations and labor unions have launched a ballot initiative that would permanently damage Arizona’s economy.

Name a prominent Arizona congressman, and Steve Voeller’s probably worked for him. After his most high-profile client, U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, announced he won’t seek re-election in 2018, Voeller reflected on his time with Flake and his own experiences from working in the nation’s capital.

A wide-ranging measure to reform the state’s civil asset forfeiture laws would scrap the current standard that requires prosecutors to prove only by a “preponderance of the evidence” that the property is linked to a crime. That standard essentially means it is more likely than not, akin to a 51-49 percent balance.

State utility regulators have a legal right to question company executives about whether they secretly funneled money into political campaigns, Attorney General Mark Brnovich said today.

Tax filings by the conservative nonprofit organization American Encore confirm that Doug Ducey’s longtime ally Sean Noble was at the center of the multimillion-dollar dark money campaign that helped get him elected.

A troubling and dangerous narrative has developed with regard to organizations like the Arizona Free Enterprise Club that engage in the full contact sport of politics and political advocacy. That narrative is that we should either shut up or be singled out.

Critics of dark money hoping to shine the light on whether APS was the driving source behind the Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s abnormally high level of campaign spending last year had their hopes dashed yesterday (Aug. 13), when the AG’s office informed our reporter that a complaint against the group had been dismissed.

If you only listened to supporters of Proposition 104, it would be difficult to know what the $30 billion transit tax initiative is really about. Even the ballot language written by the city tries to hide the fact that Prop 104 nearly doubles the transit sales tax over the next 35 years, a multibillion dollar tax hike to fund light rail expansion that Phoenix residents can ill afford.

Lesko has been leading work groups with Arizona Free Enterprise Club, law enforcement and firefighters’ unions, cities, Ducey’s office and others to discuss PSPRS reforms. Last week, she had a meeting with the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank that advocates for public pension reform.

Every election, it seems, politicians give lip service to the need for fiscal responsibility and a balanced budget. But once they are in office, they lack the courage and resolve to actually achieve one. It’s always politically more convenient to spend more than we take in, hide growing debt and liabilities through clever accounting tricks, and leave the consequences for someone else to clean up down the road.