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.
My Turn
At its Presidents' Day rally, the Clean Elections Institute celebrated the legislation that it claims has worked like a charm, fulfilling fairy tale dreams about ridding politics of "big money" and special interests.
In reality, clean elections is an upside-down fairy tale, where Robin Hood steals the people's cash to line the princes' pockets.
Even though it seems we just finished the 2000 election, rumblings of the 2002 election have already begun. And next year when the political tidal wave of TV ads, mailers and roadside placards hits us, it will be boosted by $14 million-taken from Arizona residents largely without their consent, and used to subsidize politicians.
Phoenix--Out-of-state activists from a group calling itself "By Any Means Necessary" (BAMN) are interfering with the right of Arizona voters to place an initiative on the November ballot prohibiting racial preferences in government education, employment, and contracting.
Phoenix -- Today the Goldwater Institute called the ruling on the TIME initiatives ballot description unbelievable. In a ruling issued late Friday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Edward Burke said that including the amount of the tax increase and the corresponding percentage increase in the ballot description of the TIME initiative would confuse voters.
In essence, the ruling says that less information and less context provides more clarity, which is a logical absurdity, said Clint Bolick, litigation director at the Goldwater Institute.
PHOENIX-In an unexpected ruling today, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Margaret Downie ruled that the No Taxpayer Money for Politicians Act violates the "single-subject" rule of the Arizona Constitution (Article XXI, Section1), a decision that could stop the initiative from appearing on the November ballot. The defenders of the initiative are rightly filing a special action with the Arizona Supreme Court, requesting review of the lower court decision.
Phoenix, AZ-The Goldwater Institute and News 5 will co-host a gubernatorial candidate forum in Phoenix the evening of Wednesday, October 30, 2002. The event will take place from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at the Ritz-Carlton Phoenix, 2401 East Camelback Road, and will be televised the afternoon of Sunday, November 3, 2002.
Phoenix, AZ -- Goldwater Institute scholar Robert Franciosi applauds the unanimous decision by the Arizona Court of Appeals, which ruled yesterday that coercive public funding of campaigns is unconstitutional. Franciosi, who directs the Institute's work on electoral reform, also congratulates Rep. Steve May (R-Paradise Valley) and the Institute for Justice on an important victory in their two-year fight against coerced funding of political speech.
"In a free state," says Franciosi, "citizens should not be forced to finance politicians' campaigns for office."