leach v rep
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</div><div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/03/29/alec-legislator-fast-tracks-bill-block-local-campaign-finance-ordinances-arizona/">https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/03/29/alec-legislator-fast-tracks-bill-block-local-campaign-finance-ordinances-arizona/</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A state bill that would ban cities and counties from requiring dark money groups to disclose their donors is moving rapidly through the Arizona state legislature. <a href="https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/53leg/2r/bills/hb2153p.htm" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; color: rgb(0, 156, 244); text-decoration-line: none;">HB 2153</a> would make it illegal for localities to require tax exempt organizations to disclose donors and register as political action committees. The bill introduced by Rep. Vince Leach (R-11) was approved by the House and is waiting a final roll-call vote in the Senate.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This state interference in local democracy initiatives is a response to a Tempe ballot measure that passed earlier this month by a 9-to-1 margin which creates an <a href="http://www.tempe.gov/home/showdocument?id=57371" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; color: rgb(0, 156, 244); text-decoration-line: none;">ordinance</a> that requires groups that make more than $1,000 in independent expenditures in municipal elections to disclose its financial supporters and details of the organization. The city of Phoenix is <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2018/03/08/phoenix-may-get-vote-dark-money-donations-city-council/395921002/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; color: rgb(0, 156, 244); text-decoration-line: none;">considering</a> revising its charter to curb dark money in a similar fashion.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">HB 2153 is based on an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/resolution-in-support-of-nonprofit-donor-privacy/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; color: rgb(0, 156, 244); text-decoration-line: none;">resolution</a> that was adopted last year which spins campaign finance disclosure as an attack on “donor privacy.” ALEC is a corporate-funded organization that brings lobbyists and state politicians together behind closed doors to rewrite state laws.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rep. Leach is a GOP legislative member of ALEC, and 22 other Arizona representatives and 8 senators have ties to the group.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ALEC and its sister organization, the State Policy Network (SPN), have made fighting campaign finance disclosure a central goal. ALEC founded the misnamed “Center to Protect Free Speech,” which produced a <a href="https://www.alec.org/app/uploads/2017/09/ALEC-Donor-Disclosure-Legislative-Toolkit-1.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; color: rgb(0, 156, 244); text-decoration-line: none;">Donor Disclosure Toolkit</a> for legislatures that details how lawmakers should respond to donor disclosure laws.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ALEC’s toolkit lifts whole sections from an SPN <a href="http://unitedforprivacy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Nonprofit-Donor-Privacy-Issue-Guide.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; color: rgb(0, 156, 244); text-decoration-line: none;">Donor Privacy Toolkit</a> published on its United for Privacy campaign website. Both toolkits are partially written by Jon Riches, Director of National Litigation and General Counsel for the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Goldwater_Institute" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; color: rgb(0, 156, 244); text-decoration-line: none;">Goldwater Institute</a>, Arizona’s SPN affiliate. Goldwater is lobbying for the passage of HB 2153 and sent its vice president for litigation to testify in support of the bill in front of a House committee.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">If the preemption bill passes by roll-call vote in the Senate, it will head to Gov. Doug Ducey’s desk. Ducey has <a href="https://www.alec.org/app/uploads/2015/10/RSPS_8th_Edition-Final.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; color: rgb(0, 156, 244); text-decoration-line: none;">written for ALEC</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYAaWBqe1U" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; color: rgb(0, 156, 244); text-decoration-line: none;">spoken</a> at ALEC meetings, so the measure trampling local democracy is likely to get his signature.</p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div>