After lapse, AZ's site shedding light on 'dark money' finally shows donor details
Information about the donors behind big-spending campaigns is now available for the public to view.
At least for some campaigns.
It comes after The Arizona Republic on Monday noted the absence of information on the Arizona Secretary of State's "See the Money" website from independent expenditure committees. Until this campaign cycle, these groups could keep their funding sources private. But because voters in 2022 approved Proposition 211, a law that requires disclosure from these so-called “dark money” groups, they now must name names.
The disclosure applies to any donor who gives $5,000 or more to any campaign that has spent at least $50,000 on a legislative or statewide campaign, including ballot measures. For local elections, those amounts are cut in half.
As of Friday, eight committees have reports posted on the secretary’s “See the Money” website.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes last week said heavy turnover of technology staffers, coupled with outdated programs and insufficient funding, hamstrung his office’s ability to post the reports. His office said improvements to the site will be added in the coming weeks.
The public can find the reports on the See the Money website — look in the upper right-hand corner for the Prop. 211/Voter’s Right to Know reports.
Reports are in, but who's giving?
Many of the committee reports lack details about their big-dollar donors. That could be because no one has yet hit the trigger for disclosure.
That appeared to be the case with Chispa AZ, a climate-focused political action committee. The organization listed $150,000 in total donations from two PACs. But those PACs“did not have any subdonations that met the $2,500.00 threshold for reporting,” Chispa stated in its filing.
Responsible Leadership for Arizona, a committee backing both Republicans and Democrats in this month’s legislative primaries, reported $974,683 in contributions. Funding came from the Realtors of Arizona PAC, but there was no detail on whether any donor hit the $5,000 trigger for a legislative race.
Some reports name names
The Open Society Action Fund, financed by billionaire George Soros' Open Society Action Foundations, gave $500,000 to the Arizona for Abortion Access campaign, according to the foundation’s public report on the See The Money website. Soros has funded numerous progressive causes nationally and internationally, and is a major donor to the Democratic Party. The $500,000 donation is credited to the organization’s treasurer and chief financial officer, Maija Arbolino.
Arizona Taxpayers for a Secure Border, a political action committee formed in March, lists $205,000 in contributions. Donors include Tatnall Hillman, a Colorado oil-and-gas heir who gave $10,000 on June 22, according to the filing. John Bailey of Little Rock, Arkansas, gave $70,000 across two donations.
GatorPAC, a political action committee based in Gulfport, Mississippi, donated $50,000 to the secure border committee. But its report does not break out any individual contributor who might have given more than $5,000 to the PAC.
More reports are expected as campaigns ramp up.
Who's not filing?
Still an open question is who is donating to a PAC called Make Liberty Win Arizona, which is funding an independent expenditure committee backing several Republican candidates. It has paid for ads supportive of a trio of Republican incumbents in Tucson's Legislative District 17: Sen. Justine Wadsack and representatives Rachel Jones and Cory McGarr. It's also promoting Rob Hudelson, a Republican running for the Arizona House in Legislative District 16 in northern Pinal County.
The PAC states on its literature that 100% of its funding is from donors who live outside of Arizona.
No reports have been filed under the Voter's Right to Know law. A call to the group's Alexandria, Virginia, headquarters went unanswered.
The Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission is tasked with enforcing Proposition 211's provisions. The agency, which last week had no access to the reports, said it's seeing progress with making the reports available to the commission and the public.
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: Arizona's Secretary of State site shows updated donor info reports
