More Goverment Overreach from the AZGOP
The ADLCC has been down at the Capitol tracking the hundreds of legislative bills introduced. Most of these bills have made no progress, especially groundbreaking and progressive legislation introduced by Democrats. We have shared with you before the bills and progressive issues Democrats are championing this session, but now it is time to take a look at a glaring theme from the AZGOP.
This is a midterm year, therefore many in the political sphere are focused on the multiple elections coming up in November of this year. However, some have their eyes set on the 2020 elections and are looking to gain the upper hand.
The AZGOP seems to be quite concerned with elections this session whether its deciding their own districts via SCR1034, or HCR2022 that would have allowed the legislature to decide federal Senate candidates or the passage of HCR2007 which would make it harder for clean election candidates to run for office.
Representative Coleman claims that HCR2007 will protect public dollars from being used for political parties. However, HCR2007 would hand over control to the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council (GRRC) which is comprised of mostly of political operatives and partisan officials.
"[Additionally] The measure would nearly double the amount of money individuals can donate to clean candidates, while essentially capping the value of no-strings-attached money candidates can receive through the clean funding program. The bill’s supporters accomplish this by radically altering the formula for setting the spending and contribution limits applicable to clean candidates, changing the statutory formula from routine inflation adjustments to a flat $100 increase each election cycle." - Joel Edman, AZ Capitol Times
Further, the funds have already been safeguarded from such acts, and the Clean Elections Commission has investigated these claims and found no wrongdoing. HCR2007 is simply another attack on a voter-backed initiative.
Arizonans support everyday people stepping up to run for office because they deeply believe in their principles, not special interest groups; which is why the Clean Elections Commision was voted into law by Arizonans. Clean Elections candidates work diligently to collect $5 contributions and must track every dollar to receive clean elections funding. To accuse them of contributing to political parties so that political parties can use the funds in other districts is laughable.
Instead of wasting tax dollars that pay for legislators salaries on this type of legislation, we need to address the truly critical issues happening in Arizona. Such as Education, Infrastructure, and Quality Jobs. Those are the issues impacting Arizonans every day.