Rich folks want you to believe #ArizonaNOT4Sale
#ArizonaNOT4Sale is a catchy hashtag. It speaks to human decency, to making political decisions without the interference of wealthy donors who want to buy your vote.
Arizonans should wholeheartedly embrace that slogan — if only it were true.
The reality is that groups on both sides of the political aisle are sparing no expenses to influence votes on renewable energy, public education and who controls Congress:
APS and its parent company, Pinnacle West, have spent about $6 million so far to fight the November ballot initiative called Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona that would require utilities to get 50 percent of their power from renewable sources like solar and wind by 2030.
APS is paying for lawyers to challenge petition signatures and consultants who are busy sprinkling social media with the hashtags #ArizonaNOT4Sale and #StayOutSteyer.
What an irony. Arizona’s largest and most powerful utility company is sparing
no expense to tell Steyer that Arizona is not for sale. The California billionaire is underwriting the initiative with about $4.4 million so far, and he’s sure to keep pouring his money into the fight.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce, the state’s most powerful business group, is using every available legal and marketing tool to keep the #InvestInEd initiative from reaching voters in November.
It accuses proponents of misleading voters when they said the initiative would only tax the wealthiest Arizonans. Under the measure, Arizona’s marginal incometax rates would go up to 8 percent (from the current 4.54 percent) on individual income higher than $250,000 and couples’ income above $500,000. The rate would go up to 9 percent for individual income higher than $500,000 and couples’ income above $1 million.
The chamber says that’s a lie and that the measure would tax everyone. Supporters are disputing that claim in court.
We don’t know how much the chamber is spending on its legal and marketing campaign against #InvestInEd. Proponents of the initiative have said they’d spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But we can safely say a lot of money is being spent on this measure designed to raise about $690 million annually for Arizona’s K-12 public education system, which educates 1.1 million students.
Democrats and Republicans are betting big money on who will replace outgoing Sen. Republican Jeff Flake. Democrats have a solid candidate, Kyrsten Sinema, who’s likely to win the nomination. Republicans are fighting a three-way primary.
DefendArizona, a group of wealthy Arizona donors who resisted President Donald Trump early in his 2016 campaign, reported that it was spending $958,000 to oppose former state Sen. Kelli Ward, reports The Republic’s Ron Hansen.
A group affiliated with liberal George Soros reported it was spending $425,000 to oppose the GOP front-runner Martha McSally. Red and Gold, a group with ties to Democrats, also is spending $854,000 to hammer McSally. Other groups have invested more than $1 million to help Ward or single out former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
But who says #ArizonaNOT4Sale? Don’t buy that line from folks with deep pockets. It’s up to us – the voters – to do our homework and make our own decisions regardless of nice slogans and campaign ads.