Opponents of initiative restrictions size up GOP

A different approach ... Critics of the measures limiting initiatives have decided to target their opposition efforts on lawmakers, rather than kill the measures at the ballot box.

Instead of filing a referendum to ask voters to undo the bill that bans the practice of paying per signature, they will target the people who made House Bill 2404 a reality: Republican legislators.

“Until we replace the people at the Legislature, this won’t stop,” said Sarah Michelson, executive director of Arizona Wins!, a coalition of labor, education and progressive groups.

When Gov. Doug Ducey signed HB 2404 into law, many expected the same groups that testified against it to round up enough signatures on petitions to refer it back to the voters in the 2018 election. But Michelson said that would play into the hands of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and its legislative allies.

Lawmakers could simply repeal the law before the November 2018 election, she said, and then run it again after the election cycle.

“The chamber wants us to waste our money,” she said, citing what she said she heard from GOP lawmakers whom she wouldn’t name.

The money would be better spent on getting a different crop of lawmakers, although she declined to say which seats her group would target.

Although a ballot referral is off the table, Michelson did not rule out a “legal strategy” on two other bills intended to rein in initiatives. Senate Bill 1236 and House Bill 2244 are still pending in the Legislature.

Meanwhile, Mike Shipley, a Libertarian from central Phoenix, said he is pressing ahead with his referendum on the pay-per-signature ban. He filed paperwork earlier this week with the secretary of state, hoping to gather the 75,321 signatures needed to get it on the 2018 ballot. He won’t be getting any help from Arizona Wins!, but he said he is hitting the pavement this weekend with a booth at the Phoenix PRIDE festival.

» Making waves ... Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes has delivered on his campaign promise to shake up the elections office. But his three months in office have left some rattled.

For one, the county IT department had to tell the new recorder to zip it.

When Fontes announced he would hire experts to hack the county election system to test for vulnerabilities, a major spike in cyberattacks from unfriendly sources flooded the county’s computers.

“I was advised by IT to talk less about the security systems,” Fontes said, a bit sheepishly. Fortunately “there have been no successful attempts to hack into our system.”

In addition, Fontes has ruffled feathers at the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. The latest tiff is over a lawsuit he and Secretary of State Michele Reagan raced to resolve.

Fontes declared victory first, announcing a settlement with Project Vote, a Washington, D.C.-based voteradvocacy group, to turn over millions of voter-registration records for a small fee. Reagan succeeded a few days later in pushing a bill through the Legislature to solve the problem statewide. Ducey signed the bill Friday.

But in his rush, Fontes failed to include measures to protect domestic-violence victims who are part of the state’s address-confidentiality program, state Elections Director Eric Spencer said.

“Appearing on a county voter-registration list could be enough for the most committed stalkers to track down and find their victims,” said Spencer, with whom Fontes has publicly feuded. “If there had been a little more cooperation and collegiality, we would have nipped this in the bud before it got inked.”

Fontes denied making a mistake, noting the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office would review all data provided to Project Vote.

“It’s just very sad (Reagan’s office) had to politicize this on the backs of domestic-violence victims,” Fontes said.

He changed his tune a day later, altering the settlement to include protections Reagan’s office asked for.

» Quote/tweet of the week “It’s a great day for babies in Arizona.” — Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy, after Ducey on Friday signed a bill regulating how doctors must care for a baby born alive during an abortion.

Compiled by Republic reporters Mary Jo Pitzl, Alia Beard Rau and Rebekah L. Sanders. Get the latest at politics.azcentral.com.