Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Terry Goddard has an op-ed at Talking Points Memo about the massive amount of dark money in Arizona politics, much of it at the direction of Arizona’s Dark Money Man: How Sean Noble Moved the Kochs Cash into Politics and Made Millions. GOP operative Sean Noble is the central figure in California’s Biggest “Campaign Money Laundering” Scheme, and the current wave of dark money in Arizona politics.
Terry Goddard writes, Arizona Is Becoming The Cayman Islands For Dark Money:
Dark money groups have already poured more than $5 million into Arizona’s elections this cycle. These organizations, carefully constructed to protect the identities of their contributors, play a heavy hand in influencing election outcomes.
This is because Arizona places no restrictions on the dark money groups, and there is no legal obligation to reveal contributors. As a result, Arizona is quickly becoming the Cayman Islands for moving dark money.
I’ve investigated this kind of activity before. As Arizona’s attorney general, I spent eight years going after drug cartels by following the money. Our team dug through cartel money transfers and seized millions of dollars. Dark money groups are just money launderers by another name. They are moving money, often vast sums of it, while carefully concealing its original source.