Petition signatures not covered by dark money disclosure law
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Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Arizona's landmark dark money disclosure law shines a light on previously secret spending, but it hasn't applied to an important and costly aspect of some campaigns — signature gathering.
Why it matters: For initiative, referendum and recall campaigns, the cost of hiring petitioners to gather signatures is a major expenditure, and the identities of contributors can be very informative for voters.
The big picture: The Voters' Right to Know Act — approved in 2022 — requires campaigns to disclose the funding source behind public communications related to candidate or ballot measure elections. That includes activities that aid those communications, such as research and polling.
- It was meant to combat campaign spending known as dark money, in which the original source is concealed by using nonprofits, LLCs or other organizations as pass-throughs.
The latest: A recall campaign against Tolleson Union High School District board members Leezah Sun and Steven Chapman has hired over two dozen paid petitioners, and campaign chair Adan Morado tells Axios they're "pretty much there" on signatures.
- A nonprofit called Citizens for Schools Accountability gave $55,000 to the recall committee Protecting Their Future through mid-October.
The intrigue: Kino Flores, who chairs the nonprofit, told Axios it's a pass-through for donors who don't want to be publicly identified.
State of play: The Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC), tasked with enforcing the dark money disclosure act, concluded in 2023 that signature-gathering for citizen initiatives doesn't qualify as campaign media spending requiring disclosure, and such activities "do not become campaign media spending solely because they are campaign related."
- The decision came after an attorney for a California-based health care workers union asked for clarity ahead of a ballot measure signature drive.
Between the lines: CCEC executive director Tom Collins told Axios the opinion was specific to ballot measure petition signatures, and said no one has requested a similar opinion for recall campaigns.
- Yes, but: The provision on recall campaigns is similar to the initiative and referendum section, requiring disclosure of campaign media spending that promotes or opposes a public officer's recall.
- An attorney for the conservative Turning Point PAC cited the 2023 opinion in her response to a complaint regarding the organization's activities supporting the recall campaign against Mesa City Councilmember Julie Spilsbury.
What they're saying: Former Attorney General Terry Goddard, who helped lead the campaign for the act, told Axios it was aimed at "where the major money was being spent," which was campaign media, and the crafters of the initiative didn't consider applying it to petition signatures.