The state House late Tuesday gave final approval to a major rewrite of campaign finance laws.
Changes include the following:
- Individuals may spend unlimited amounts of cash hosting lavish fundraisers for candidates they support. Neither the amount nor the benefactor would be made public, though the candidate would know.
- Groups that register with the IRS as social welfare organizations would also escape reporting requirements.
- Politicians with large campaign war chests could transfer money to other candidates.
In regard to dark money, the measure allows groups to spend unlimited amounts, including corporate dollars, in their efforts to change state law while leaving voters in the dark about who is behind the campaign.
State Rep. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, said while transparency in campaign spending is nice, there are reasons to keep the names of donors secret. One is the possibility of government harassment-- "And the Supreme Court has ruled that we have a right to associate. We have a right to speech, of which our money is speech. We have a right to privacy in those associations. And I think that should be respected."
But Rep. Randall Friese, D- Tucson, did not agree. "The majority of my constituents would think that they would want to know who is contributing to organizations that wish to propose or influence laws in the state of Arizona," he argued. "I want to know who's behind that effort."
And Rep. Ken Clark, D-Phoenix, pointed out that even late, conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in opening the door to corporate dollars, wrote in his opinion, "requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed."
The measure now goes to the governor.