Who's Who in AZ Dark Money Law!

You might recall SB 1516, a bill that was passed by Republicans in this last Arizona legislative session - and signed into law by Republican Governor, Doug Ducey.  It is a corrupt lawmaker's dream come true!  It removes any criminal punishment for people who make illegal campaign contributions!  Yeah, yeah ... and there's more!  It also allows a whole lot more dark money to be used in Arizona election campaigns.  What that means to you and me is that anyone, anywhere, can donate whatever they want to get someone elected - and we, the voters, will never be able to find out  who made those donations.  We'll never know who bought the people who are supposed to represent us.

Guess what ... that bill is now in effect and you can take every dark dollar available, and you can bet that this new Republican law will cover up a lot of corruption in the upcoming election.  And the sad thing is this:  you can't do a darn thing about it.

Wait just a minute ... there is something you can do.  You can nail those lawmakers to the wall and defeat them in the primary election ... or the general election.  You can actually VOTE them out of office - what a concept!

Laurie Roberts, columnist for The Republic, put together the following list of who voted for SB 1516 and who voted against it. You should not be surprised to know that most all Republicans voted yes ... all Democrats who voted, voted no.  Thank you, Ms. Roberts!  Armed with this information, perhaps we can actually go to the polls this year and do something that will matter:  all those who voted yes on this bill should be thrown out of office.  They put themselves, their greed, their need for power, and their downright corruption above YOU and the state they pretend to represent.

Here’s a rundown of the vote so ... how did your two representatives and one senator vote?  And if they voted yes, what are you going to do when they come begging for your vote again in November?

Republican senators voting for the bill: Sylvia Allen of Snowflake; Nancy Barton of Phoenix; Carlyle Begay of Ganado; Andy Biggs of Gilbert; Judy Burges of Sun City West; Jeff Dial of Chandler; Susan Donahue of Lake Havasu City; Adam Driggs of Phoenix; David Farnsworth of Mesa; Gail Griffin of Hereford; John Kavanagh of Fountain Hills; Debbie Lesko of Peoria; Steve Pierce of Prescott; Don Shooter of Yuma; Steve Smith of Maricopa; Bob Worsley of Mesa; Steve Yarbrough of Chandler, and Kimberly Yee of Phoenix.

Not one Republican senator voted against the bill! 

Democratic senators who voted against the bill: David Bradley and Olivia Cajero Bedford, both of Tucson; Lupe Contreras of Cashion; Andrea Dalessandro of Sahuarita; Steve Farley of Tucson; Katie Hobbs of Phoenix; Barbara McGuire of Kearny; Lynne Pancrazi of Yuma; Martin Quezada of Phoenix, and Andrew Sherwood of Tempe.

Senate Democrats Robert Meza and Catherine Miranda, both of Phoenix, didn’t vote.

Republican representatives voting for the bill: John Allen of Scottsdale, Brenda Barton of Payson, Sonny Borrelli of Lake Havasu City; Rusty Bowers of Mesa; Paul Boyer of Phoenix; Heather Carter of Phoenix; Regina Cobb of Kingman; Doug Coleman of Apache Junction; Karen Fann of Prescott; Eddie Farnsworth of Gilbert; Mark Finchem of Oro Valley; David Gowan of Sierra Vista, Rick Gray of Sun City; Anthony Kern of Glendale; Jay Lawrence of Scottsdale; Vince Leach of Tucson; David Livingston and Phil Lovas, both of Peoria; J.D. Mesnard of Chandler; Darin Mitchell and Steve Montenegro, both of Litchfield Park; Jill Norgaard of Phoenix; Justin Olson of Mesa; Warren Petersen of Gilbert; Frank Pratt of Casa Grande; Tony Rivero of Peoria; T.J. Shope of Coolidge; David Stevens of Sierra Vista; Bob Thorpe of Flagstaff; Kelly Townsend of Mesa, and Jeff Weninger of Chandler.

Republicans voting against the bill: Christopher Ackerley of Sahuarita; Kate Brophy McGee of Phoenix; Noel Campbell of Prescott, and Michelle Ugenti-Rita of Scottsdale. Republican Bob Robson of Chandler did not vote.

Democratic representatives voting against the bill: Lela Alston of Phoenix; Richard Andrade of Glendale; Jennifer Benally of Tuba City; Reg Bolding, Mark Cardenas and Ken Clark, all of Phoenix; Diego Espinoza of Tolleson; Carlene Fernandez of Yuma; Randall Friese of Tucson; Rosanna Gabaldon of Green Valley; Albert Hale of St. Michaels; Matt Kopec of Tucson; Jonathan Larkin of Glendale; Stefanie Mach of Tucson; Debbie McCune Davis of Phoenix; Juan Mendez of Tempe; Eric Meyer of Phoenix;  Lisa Otondo of Yuma; Celeste Plumlee of Tempe; Rebecca Rios of Phoenix; Macario Saldate of Tucson; Ceci Velasquez of Litchfield Park, and Bruce Wheeler of Tucson.

Democrat Sally Ann Gonzales of Tucson did not vote.

It just boggles the mind at how blatantly corrupt (yes, my opinion) these Republican lawmakers are - they want that dark money and they don't want you to know who handed over the cash.  The only way they will be stopped is to vote them out of office.