Anti-tax activists are mobilizing in Arizona school elections. Are they breaking the law?

The fight this fall over school elections in Arizona has been fierce.

School districts are seeking voter OK to issue millions of dollars in bonds, or to continue a higher spending limit. Opponents are mobilizing with an anti-tax message.

The opposition is apparent in the proliferation of signs urging “no” votes on the school measures, which will be decided in the Nov. 7 election. But that message, displayed on dozens of campaign signs along major thoroughfares, has triggered another fight.

This one centers on the signs’ legality.

From Gilbert to central Phoenix and numerous school districts in between, school supporters note the signs and their messages have a striking similarity, suggesting coordination.

They also report – in some cases in formal complaints to Maricopa County election officials – that the signs lack disclosure on who is sponsoring the message. Others note the signs mislead as to who is the actual sponsor.

Evidence points to group efforts, potentially breaking law

Proper disclosure is important, said Parents for PV President Trevor Nelson. He runs a political action committee that supports the Paradise Valley Unified School District in the northeast Valley and filed a complaint about the opposition signs. Nelson stressed disclosure not only because the law requires it, but because it informs the public about who is behind a political message.

“It’s about trying to understand who is trying to get your attention as a voter," he said. He likens the signs to another form of "dark money," where the source of funding is hard to trace. The term generally refers to spending by so-called "social welfare" nonprofits, which have no legal obligation to disclose donors under the Internal Revenue Service code.

Most of the sponsors of the opposing signs either declined comment or could not be located.

In some cases, that's for a good reason. State law exempts any individual, acting on their own, from having to put a "paid for by" line on their campaign messages. Individuals also don't have to file a campaign spending report with election officials.

But in other instances, evidence shows the signs are group efforts. In still other cases, sponsoring organizations have not filed as political action committees with county election officials.

In the southeast Valley, Kevin Gallagher readily admits the signs urging "no" votes on the Gilbert Unified School District's bond and budget override questions are a group effort.

“Some friends of mine have gotten together and funded the signs," said Gallagher. "We’re tired of having these bonds keep adding to our property tax.”

Asked why the friends didn't file as a political action committee and report their expenditures, Gallagher said he was unaware of the need to do so.

“It’s a bunch of us who got together and pooled our money together to buy a bunch of signs," he said.

After all, he said, they used similar efforts to defeat bond elections in the nearby Higley Unified District — not once, but twice. No one made a fuss about naming names and listing expenses.

But state law says the exemption from disclosure only applies to individuals, not to groups of friends.

There's another twist: If the combined fundraising and spending of a PAC fall below the current $1,400 trigger for filing a finance report, all of the contributing individuals must list their names on the signs' disclosure line. That's according to Eric Spencer, a former state election director who drafted portions of the current disclosure law.

A few miles to the west, blue and yellow signs identical to those in Gilbert stand at major intersections in south Tempe, western Chandler and Ahwatukee. The only difference: they target the bond and override election in the Kyrene Elementary School District.

Unlike the Gilbert signs listing Gallagher's name and phone number in the disclosure line, these signs list a website that belongs to Chandler resident Cindy Barnes.

Barnes briefly spoke to The Republic but asked for more specifics on the signs, which she said she would address in a follow-up phone call.

But she didn't call, or respond to calls and emails seeking comment on why she made what appears to be a sizeable investment in an issue that doesn't directly affect her. She lives outside the boundaries of the Kyrene district, so her property taxes would not be affected by the financial issues on the Nov. 7 ballot.

A complaint filed Oct. 6 with the county elections office alleges the signs violate state law because they lack proper disclosure, and because Barnes did not file as a political committee.

"It is highly unlikely that she is acting alone," the complaint states. Barnes hasn't been involved in district matters, doesn't live in the district nor own property within Kyrene boundaries, according to the complaint. It was filed on behalf of Stephanie Ingersoll, who chairs the "yes" committee and is the marketing and communications director for the Chandler Unified School District.

"Additionally, similarly printed signs are sprouting up in several other school districts around Maricopa County; this points to an unregistered political committee(s), hiding behind different individual members," the complaint concludes.

'We wouldn't have to worry about the reporting'

There has been at least one campaign finance filing related to the "no" signs: The Republican committee in Legislative District 12, which includes the Kyrene area, in late September reported it paid $985.52 to the Mesa Sign Shop on behalf of "KSD Concerned Citizens."

But when asked where the signs are displayed, Gary Johnson, the committee's treasurer, said he didn't know. He also said he was unaware of who the concerned citizens were or if "KSD" stood for Kyrene School District. He directed The Republic to contact Barnes.

A text message making the rounds in Mesa, which also has a bond and override question on the ballot, suggests supporters of the "no" campaign there make contributions directly to the sign shop.

"That would take us completely out of the loop and we wouldn't have to worry about reporting," states the message from Mesa resident Kathleen Liles.

When contacted by The Republic, Liles hung up as soon as a reporter identified herself.

Jim Torgeson runs the Mesa Sign Shop, which prints signs for numerous campaigns, both pro and con.

He was unaware of Liles' suggestion, he said, and has not seen evidence of anyone following through on it.

"I am not a clearinghouse for a PAC," he said. He added he wouldn't be part of any tomfoolery, even if he had seen any evidence of unethical behavior.

The blue and yellow opposition signs for the Gilbert and Kyrene elections are "very similar," he conceded. But he uses the designs that customers bring in.

Another Kyrene lookalike sign in central Phoenix opposes the Osborn Elementary School District's bond and override election.

It has the same red and white color scheme and the same wording as one of Cindy Barnes' signs but does not list her website. It misspells the district's name, incorrectly adding an "e" at the end of "Osborn."

'It’s part of this systemic demonization of our school system'

Nelson is one of those people who will get out of their car and squat down to read the small type at the bottom of a campaign sign.

When he saw a sign from "ParentsforPV.com" urging a "no" vote on the school district's upcoming bond and override election, he filed a complaint with county officials. The group is an unregistered political action committee, he charged. He also complained it was confusing that the group's name was so close to his Parent for PV PAC.

On Wednesday, he sent a cease-and-desist letter to Eddy Jackson, owner of the ParentsforPV.com website. Nelson demanded Jackson take down the signs.

Jackson would not comment when asked why his organization has not filed as a political action committee. He charged Nelson created the Parents for PV PAC only in early October to "silence" him and his organization, which formed in early 2022 and has taken a critical stance toward many of the district's policies.

Jackson, a former candidate for the Paradise Valley school board, deflected the conversation to his complaint about lack of news coverage of his group's video purported evidence of a "sign thief." The video showed Jackson retrieving one of his campaign signs from a storage locker, charging the man involved had stolen it.

Elsewhere in the Paradise Valley area, anti-bond and override signs are sponsored by No New Taxes AZ. There is no record of the group filing with the county.

A group called ArizonaWomenofActionPAC.com is arguing for a defeat of the Scottsdale Unified School District's budget override measure. Although it is registered as a political action committee with the state, The Republic could not find a similar filing with Maricopa County. The county has enforcement jurisdiction over the school elections.

Paul Bentz, a pollster and political consultant who is working to promote several of the bond and override measures, said this season is unprecedented.

He has never seen so many opposition campaigns that he believes are coordinated, pointing to the mirror-image signs.

“It’s part of this systemic demonization of our school system," Bentz said, a continuation of attacks on public schools and a willful effort to ignore the important role of public schools in making America great.

He suggested the outcry would be great if the tactics he's seen this year were used by the school supporters.

“If these parent groups who support bonds and overrides were doing this, people would be screaming.”

Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-228-7566 and follow her on Threads as well as on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @maryjpitzl.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Near-duplicate anti-tax signs raise campaign finance concerns