Campaign Finance & Election
Campaigns should be open and free, not prone to manipulation through government financing schemes. And now the U.S. Supreme Court agrees.
PHOENIX - At an emergency meeting Wednesday, the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission declared that taxpayer-funded candidates who have accepted campaign subsidies cannot withdraw from the Clean Elections system and run with private fundrais
The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Arizona’s Clean Elections system from distributing matching funds, throwing a number of high profile campaigns into disarray just weeks before candidates were to start receiving money.
The court on June 8 granted a request by the Goldwater Institute to halt a recent ruling of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that declared matching funds constitutional. The justices ordered that the distribution of matching funds be put on hold until it can hear a full appeal of the matching funds system.
- Read more about U.S. Supreme Court Clean Elections "Matching Funds" Block: What It Means for Arizona
As attorneys at the Goldwater Institute stressed in a conference call with reporters this morning, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to block matching funds -- effectively stopping their dispersal for the 2010 election cycle -- is hardly shocking.
Astute observers had anticipated the possibility of such action for more than a year, and savvy political consultants surely factored it into their planning.
One day after the U.S. Supreme Court halted the matching funds portion of the Clean Elections law, Goldwater Institute attorney Nick Dranias appeared on the Jim Sharpe Show on KFYI to explain what it means.
Goldwater Institute attorney Nick Dranias appeared on KTVK's Politics Unplugged to discuss the pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether or not to halt the matching funds portion of the Clean Elections law.
PHOENIX - In a major victory for free speech, the U.S. Supreme Court this morning blocked the use of taxpayer money as campaign "matching funds." The Court will decide whether to review a ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Goldwater Institute's Nick Dranias appeared on KAET's Horizon to discuss the latest on the Clean Elections case and what the next steps are.
As campaign-finance law goes, the courtroom drama swirling around Arizona's Clean Election law is reaching the cliffhanger stage.
On one side is the U.S. Supreme Court, which has responded to the motions of opponents of Arizona's system of publicly financed elections with a sense of urgency unmatched since its Bush vs. Gore decisions following the virtual tie in Florida's presidential election in 2000.
PHOENIX— Today the Goldwater Institute filed a new request asking the U.S. Supreme Court to immediately block the release of “matching funds” by the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission.