Our Brilliant (Bought-and-Paid-For and Secret-Keeping) State Legislature

Posted by Michael Bryan

As if totally deaf to the historically low regard in which Americans hold their Congress, and the Arizona State Legislature, two Arizona legislators have decided that there is not enough special interest money in our politics, and too much transparency of legislator's communications. [hat tip to Alia Rau at Political Insider.]

Representatives Terry Proud (R-LD26) and David Gowan (R-LD30) (both Southern Arizonans, to my chagrin…) introduced bills that would explode the political contribution limits, and exempt from public records requests all communications between a member and constituent that is "intended to be private" by either party. 

Proud's bills are HB2213 and HB2214. BH2213 increases the maximum contribution to a state legislative race by 500%, from $488 to $5000. The bill also increases the maximum contribution for a state-wide office by 1000%, from just over $1,000 to $10,000.

As if that weren't unreasonable enough, Proud's HB2214 removes any limit to the amount of campaign contributions a individual can give to state and local races, and campaign committees. Formerly the limit was about $5,600. This means if a billionaire wanted to sink a few million into buying up state and local candidates, there would be nothing stopping that fat cat.

You think politics are already corrupted by the dependency corruption fostered by special interest money in our campaigns? Just wait until Rep. Proud gets done. You've never seen toadying to big dollar donors like you will if Proud gets her bill passed.

Gowan's bill is HB2441. Gowan would exempt from public record requests (i.e. make secret) any communications between a legislator and a constituent that is intended to be private.

Now, this might have a legitimate function. There may be times when a constituent's communications contain legitimately private and sensitive information that should not be disclosed. Such information can be redacted under the current public records laws, however.

There is no need for such a blanket exception… Other than to hide information that either the legislator or the constituent might find politically embarrassing.

This is a blanket exception that political conspirators against the public interest could hide a pile of sins under. The details of what one of Proud's super-contributors expects in return for his massive and unlimited political investments, for example, could be kept secret with no other justification than those communications were 'intended to be confidential'. 

Secrecy of this sort has no place in public affairs. It merely seeks to hide how the public interest is sold out to the highest bidder.

Gowan and Proud seek to make our legislature and state government officials wholly dependent secret servants of big money donors, and to keep that knowledge from you, the voters of Arizona.