Arizona Secretary of State

Because the third time is the charm? Arizona does not need a Lieutenant Governor

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ArizonaIn some ways you have to admire the persistence of Tea-Publicans. No matter how many times their bad ideas get rejected by the voters, they just keep coming back year after year to try again, hoping that the next time will be the charm.

I wish many of the Democrats I have worked with over the years had this kind of sticktoitiveness. Too many of them have taken defeat personally, and lose their will to fight the good fight again. They could use the political fortitude of Arizona legend Mo Udall, who reprised a line from California politician Dick Tuck after losing to Jimmy Carter in 1976: “The people have spoken — the bastards!”

What has become a perennial bad idea from Tea-Publicans is their desire for a Lieutenant Governor in Arizona.

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Kochtopia: The GOP culture of corruption in Arizona

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Drac-bats

h/t “Dracula Untold”

The Dark Lord of “dark money” in Arizona, Republican consultant Sean Noble of DC-London, the money laundering bag man at the center of the “Kochtopus” dark money network, has released his minions in the final 10 days of the campaign against Democratic candidates.

The Arizona Republic reports today that “Kochtopus” front group 60 Plus Association, which receives its funding from from organizations with links to the Koch brothers, is dropping another $900,000 into attack ads against Democrat Fred Duval on behalf of the candidate from Koch, Doug Ducey. Newly aggressive DuVal attacks Ducey.

60 Plus has also dropped another $304,000 on attack ads against Clean Elections candidate for Secretary of State, Democrat Terry Goddard, who has promised to clean up dark money in Arizona if elected. $304,000 ‘dark money’ ad attacks Goddard.

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GOP pollster shows Dems leading in all statewide races

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In the past week I have seen ads from some “dark money” group attacking Sandra Kennedy in the Arizona Corporation Commission race on the air here in Tucson, which is odd, given that all the Corp. Comm. candidates are running clean elections, we have been assured by all the politicos at the Arizona Capitol Times and the Arizona Republic that the Corp. Comm. race is in the bag for the GOP, and if one was going to make an ad buy it would be in Maricopa County, not Pima. Wassup?

Good-News-702555Now I know why this “dark money” group suddenly started spending money in a down ballot race that does not garner enough attention from the voters: a GOP pollster that has done work for Governor Jan Brewer and the Republican Governors Association — a biased poll for sure — nevertheless shows Democrats leading in all the statewide races. You can choose to believe this GOP pollster or not, but clearly the RGA believes it and it is coordinating last minute ad buys with its “dark money” network accordingly. Believe it!

The Arizona Capitol Times reports, First poll shows DuVal ahead, while Ducey leads most others:

For the first time, a publicly released poll of the Arizona governor’s race showed Democrat Fred DuVal in the lead.

The live-caller poll, conducted on Oct. 7-8 by Oregon-based Moore Information, a respected GOP pollster, showed DuVal leading Republican nominee Doug Ducey 39-36. Libertarian candidate Barry Hess had 3 percent of the vote, Americans Elect candidate John Lewis Mealer had 1 percent and 21 percent were undecided.

No margin of error was made available in the poll. As a live-caller poll of 400 respondents, the margin of error should be around 4.9 percent. The Moore Information poll was not commissioned by either gubernatorial campaign, according to the source who provided it to the Arizona Capitol Times.

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Arizona Daily Star endorses Terry Goddard for Secretary of State

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The editors of the Arizona Daily Star today endorsed Democrat Terry Goddard for Secretary of State. I am sure this was an easy choice, given that his opponent Michele Reagan is the co-author of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, and voted in favor of SB 1062, the Religious Bigotry bill, both of which the Star editorialized against. Terry Goddard best candidate for Secretary of State:

goddardWhile the job title secretary of state sounds akin to a human filing cabinet, in Arizona it’s a powerful position charged with overseeing elections, campaign-finance reporting, and recording business and public document filings.

And in Arizona it’s the elected official who becomes governor should he or she vacate the position, which has happened at least three times in the past 25 years.

A candidate for Arizona secretary of state needs to have not only clear qualifications and a plan for improving that office but must be able to move into the governor’s office if circumstances require.

On both scores we find Terry Goddard to be the best candidate. His background as state attorney general and mayor of Phoenix and his concrete plans for making campaign contribution reporting more effective against anonymous “dark money” donations would benefit Arizona.

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The Arizona Republic’s understated endorsement of Terry Goddard for Secretary of State

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The editors of The Arizona Republic today endorsed Democratic candidate Terry Goddard for Secretary of State, but the editors (again!) mislead voters by asserting that it’s “a close call.” Secretary of State: Goddard has the edge in close call:

goddardDemocrat Terry Goddard and Republican Michele Reagan are intelligent and competent to do a job that is largely about record keeping and overseeing elections. Goddard has an important edge, though, when it comes to experience and vision.

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Each supports reforms that would disclose who is providing the so-called “dark money” used to influence elections through organizations that do not have to reveal donors. Their strategies may be different, but the goal is the same: transparency.

The editors fail to point out, probably because Laurie Roberts was such a cheerleader for Reagan’s so-called “dark money” bill, that Sen. Michele Reagan’s dark money disclosure bill will accomplish little. It had so little support among her colleagues that the bill never advanced past her own committee (it’s good to be chair). In reality, this bill was just Reagan checking off a box to run for higher office. You don’t get credit for doing that. Goddard’s plan to deal with “dark money” is far more substantive and ambitious. Terry Goddard’s Plan to Get Dark Money out of Arizona.

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