Terry Goddard, former Attorney General, will speak on Nov. 2 on the Voters’ Right to Know Act.
Alisa Moore
The PebbleCreek Dem Club has hosted almost all the Democratic candidates running for office in Arizona and Maricopa County over the past year, and so, at the Nov. 2 meeting, Terry Goddard, former Mayor of Phoenix and Arizona Attorney General, will discuss the Voters’ Right to Know Act, Prop 211, on the November ballot.
If it passes, Proposition 211 will require any group spending over $50,000 on statewide elections or $25,000 on local elections to disclose the source of all contributions over $5,000. The Citizens Clean Elections Commission will investigate complaints of noncompliance, force disclosure, and fine violators.
Also known as Stop Dark Money, the proposition reflects the belief that Arizona voters should know who is actually behind political ads. Voters’ Right to Know/Stop Dark Money is a non-partisan group that contends that democracy works best when election funding is transparent and that Arizona voters should have the right to know the source of funds spent to influence their votes.
Proposition 211 will give Arizona voters and residents that right. Current Arizona law allows unlimited money to be spent on anonymous political ads. Currently, the names and motivations of those actually paying for these ads remain hidden. Yet, when an Arizona citizen contributes $50 or more to a candidate, they must disclose their name, the amount contributed, home address, and employer. This information becomes publicly available and searchable on the internet. But people spending millions on political ads to influence our vote do not have to disclose anything.
Mr. Goddard is also in a unique position to share his views of the current state of Arizona politics, given his professional and familial history. He served as the Mayor of Phoenix from 1984 to 1990, on the Central Arizona Water Conservation District from 2001 to 2003, and as the 24th Attorney General of Arizona from 2003 to 2011, among other pivotal roles. Born in Tucson, he earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard, his law degree from ASU, and served as a U.S. Marine in between completing his degrees.
His father, Samuel Pearson Goddard, Jr., served as the 12th Governor of Arizona, during which time he negotiated the compromise amongst the regional governors supporting the Colorado River Basin Project, including the Central Arizona Project, and signed a bill into law banning discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, religion, and ethnicity. He served in local, statewide, and national Democratic politics for many years.
The meeting also honors Veterans Day. All club members who have served in any capacity are encouraged to wear their service hats. The social hour starts at 6 p.m. and the meeting at 7 p.m. in the Eagle’s Nest Ballroom. For more information, please visit pcdemclub.org. Our meetings are open to all.