Arizona Secretary of State

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:

While 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 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:

Democrat 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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We established yesterday that Michele Reagan is having a really bad week. it continues today with another report in the Arizona Republic, Elections changes roil key state race:

The Legislature reworked election laws last year before, in the face of a citizen referendum, backing down amid charges its work had amounted to voter suppression.

This year, the candidates for secretary of state are reopening the bruising debate.

State Sen. Michele Reagan, the Republican nominee for secretary of state, said she will, if elected, champion parts of the controversial law, such as changes that would allow elections officials to remove voters from the permanent early-voting list and to ban mass ballot collection.

Those were two pieces of House Bill 2305, which the Legislature passed in the waning hours of its 2013 session, as supporters said it was needed to keep elections running smoothly.

Her opponent, Democrat Terry Goddard, said Reagan can’t have it both ways by saying she supports some parts of the legislation but dislikes others. The bill required an up-or-down vote, and Reagan voted “yes” with the majority Republicans, he said.

“You can’t separate your portions from the bill you said you voted to support,” Goddard said last week during a meeting with The Arizona Republic’s editorial board.

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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.

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