Public Campaign - Arizona

Profile of Arizona Sen. Meg Burton Cahill

Jiefei Yuan — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:09:04 -0500

A ceramic artist by training, Arizona Senator Meg Burton Cahill (D-AZ) has extended her crafting skills far beyond a college art studio to the hotbed of public-policy making in the Arizona state legislature. Her passion for community politics matured after she completed a Masters in Public Administration, and with the advent of the Clean Elections system in Arizona, she decided the time had finally come for her to run for office.

Rep. David Lujan, Profile in Clean Elections

Adam Smith — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:10:52 -0500

Rep. David Lujan (D-AZ) was always fascinated by the legislative process and worked behind the scenes for years. In 2002 he was elected to the Phoenix Union School Board which began his career as a public servant. In 2004, Lujan decided to run for the state legislature - and he decided to use the state's Clean Elections system to run.

Writing Some Wrongs

Katie Schlieper — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:50:22 -0500

In this guest piece for the Hawaii Reporter, Todd Lange of the Arizona Citizens Clean Election Commission takes on disinformation about Clean Elections presented in a recent editorial by the Center for Responsive Politics. The result is a nice summary of the successes of Arizona's public financing program, and a good argument for the Hawaii legislature to continue to pursue a pilot program of full public financing for county council races -- a proposal that's recently hit a few roadblocks.

Fame, Fortune to Follow

Katie Schlieper — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:42:26 -0500

Are you an Arizona resident? Have you given a $5 qualifying contribution to a candidate who ran with Clean Elections public financing? If so, I'd like to talk with you. Public Campaign is completing a study on Arizona's Clean Elections system and as part of the study we'd like to interview $5 donors about their experience with the system. If you're interested, you can contact me at kschlieper (at) publicampaign (dot) org, or leave a comment on this post with the best way to reach you. The interview will be quick and painless.

Arguments For

Katie Schlieper — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:08:58 -0500

Eric Ehst, the Executive Director of Arizona's Clean Elections Institute has this letter in SitNews refuting arguments against a potential Alaska Clean Elections law. He parses a lot of the statistics that get thrown around in the debate over Clean Elections, which is useful information for public financing supporters, especially Alaskans who will be campaigning for this through August.

Arizona Example

Katie Schlieper — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:37:18 -0500

Arizona was one of the first states in the country to pass a Clean Elections law so University of Arizona student Matt Styer knows what of he speaks in this opinion piece in the Arizona Daily Wildcat advocating a move towards public financing of elections at the federal level.

Countering Ctr for Competitive Politics' Fact Distortion

Nancy Watzman — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:52:17 -0500

Our pleasure in reading USA Today’s editors’ piece on “Five Reasons for Public Financing,” quickly turned to alarm reading the accuracy-challenged “opposing view” by the Center for Competitive Politics' Bradley A. Smith.

We’ve sent our official letter to the editor, but that limited us to 250 words, which was not satisfying in the least. So herewith are our corrections of Smith’s exercise in fact distortion and twisted context.

In Memoriam: Louis Rhodes

Katie Schlieper — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:28:06 -0500

Supporters of publicly financed elections lost a good friend and historical figure earlier this week in Arizona. Louis Rhodes, former longtime head of the Arizona ACLU, died Sunday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.

Arizona Gets Another Court Challenge

Katie Schlieper — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:29:48 -0500

Arizona state treasurer Dean Martin is still trying to get rid of Arizona's Clean Elections system despite voters' clear support for it and he's won a chance to challenge in court a portion of the law dealing with contributions from special interests. Yeah, good luck with that -- the case is apparently going to the same judge who ruled in favor of the law last time around, according to this article in The Arizona Republic.

Arizona Law Survives Challenge

Katie Schlieper — Thu, 10 May 2007 16:01:59 -0500

The Arizona Clean Elections law survived yet another unsuccessful court challenge today, when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled moot the arguments of the parties who filed suit against the law (two candidates and a PAC) on first and fourteenth amendment grounds. The Arizona law has been challenged a number of times in court, but come out the winner in each one -- great news!