Doug Ducey: the candidate from the Kochtopus

It is bad enough that Doug Ducey is the stooge of Cathi Herrod and the Center for Arizona Policy. But he is also the stooge of GOP political operative Sean Noble, the bag man for the dark money campaign money laundering operations of the “Kochtopus.”

h/t DonkeyHotey

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports, ‘Dark money’ group attacks Smith for Kyoto Protocol support:

A Virginia-based conservative group is airing ads in Phoenix and Tucson attacking Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Smith for supporting an international agreement to combat global warming.

The ad, funded by the 60 Plus Association [a “Kochtopus” organization], likens the former Mesa Mayor to President Obama and former Vice President Al Gore for his support of the Kyoto Protocol – a United Nations framework, adopted in Japan in December 1997 and put into action in February 2005, that set binding targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases by developed countries.

Because the 60 Plus Association is classified by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501c(4) social welfare non-profit organization, its donors remain anonymous, even though it is allowed to spend unlimited money in political campaigns.

The group spent nearly $170,000 in 2012 to attack Democratic U.S. Reps. Kyrsten Sinema and  Ann Kirkpatrick, and spent more than $1,700 supporting former Arizona House Speaker Kirk Adams in his congressional campaign the same year. It also spent millions of dollars supporting Mitt Romney and attacking President Barack Obama during the 2012 presidential campaign.

60 Plus Association has strong ties to Phoenix political consultant Sean Noble, an ally of Republican state Treasurer Doug Ducey, who is also running for governor. One non-profit group Noble founded sent the Virginia-based 60 Plus Association nearly $11 million in the run up to the 2010 elections.

In 2013, 60 Plus Association ran television ads in Arizona supporting new fees for residential rooftop solar panel users. The arguments it made mirrored those made by the state’s largest utility, Arizona Public Service, which had hired Noble as a consultant.

Noble has also been tied to the Legacy Foundation Action Fund, an Iowa-based 501c(4) that has attacked Smith. His firm, DC London, produced a television ad for that group that called Smith “Obama’s favorite mayor.” That ad is at the center of an election complaint that Smith’s campaign filed against Ducey today.

Other independent groups that have spent money in the gubernatorial primary are also tied to Noble. He is the political consultant for Conservative Leadership for Arizona, which has aired television ads supporting Ducey and attacking Republican candidate Christine Jones. Noble’s company also produced another anti-Jones ad for Veterans for a Strong America, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit based in South Dakota.

Some of this dark money is being funnelled to Sean Noble by Tucson car dealer and GOP bundler Jim Click. Car dealer Click gives big to Ducey campaign:

Jim Click, who owns a string of Southern Arizona dealerships, gave $100,000 to the Conservative Leadership for Arizona campaign committee. That committee has spent $172,350 on commercials and other help for Ducey, and another $34,298 in media attacking Jones.

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Separately, a group called Veterans for a Strong America has been running TV ads attacking Jones and linking her to the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that left the U.S. ambassador and three others dead.

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[T]he commercial was produced by DC London, an organization run by political consultant Sean Noble — the same group that has been paid by Conservative Leadership for Arizona. But Arends said there is no connection between the groups.

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In a complaint filed Tuesday with state election officials, an attorney representing Smith contends yet another organization, the Legacy Foundation Action Fund, is spending money to attack his client.

About that Clean Elections complaint. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Smith alleges illegal Ducey coordination:

Attorneys for Scott Smith filed a complaint with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office and the Citizens Clean Elections Commission today alleging illegal coordination between Doug Ducey’s campaign for governor and an outside group that funded an ad blasting Smith.

The complaint claims that Ducey’s campaign coordinated with corporations like the Legacy Foundation Action Fund and Direct Response Group in an effort to research and produce an ad linking Smith to President Obama by virtue of his leadership role on the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

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Langhofer claims that Gregg Pekau, who was recently hired by the Ducey campaign as director of research, was previously hired by an unnamed nonprofit or private company to conduct research that directly benefited the creation of the ad.

The research was either conducted by Pekau or Copper State Research and Strategy, which Pekau is associated with, the complaint says.

Ducey’s hiring of Pekau effectively internalized the benefit of that research, Langhofer wrote.

And the group that produced the ad, the Legacy Foundation Action Fund, has close ties to the Ducey campaign, Langhofer claims. Ducey’s media consultant, Larry McCarthy, also worked as a contractor for the group.

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Another organization, Direct Response Group, was hired by the Legacy Action Fund to work on printing and mailing ads, and the complaint also alleges the group has done work for the Ducey campaign.

“There is substantial evidence showing that both McCarthy and Pekau are or very recently have been agents of both the Ducey campaign and organizations making independent expenditures benefitting the Ducey campaign,” Langhofer wrote.

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Langhofer specifically requested the case be referred to a third party other than the Maricopa County Elections Office, which he argued routinely takes legal advice from Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, who has endorsed Ducey.

Laurie Roberts at the Arizona Republic, who has tried to make dark money campaign spending her issue, should be beating the snot out of Doug Ducey and his dicey pals in daily columns. Ducey and his dicey pals and their dirty money . . . more political corruption is not what Arizona needs.