PAYING THE PRICE FOR FREE SPEECH

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Michael Chihak

In politics, money talks. Just ask the U.S. Supreme Court, which has ruled that people and corporations, which the court says are people, are exercising their right to free speech when they donate money to political campaigns.

So in politics, that’s how money talks. And these days, money is having a lot to say. Or more accurately, those with money are having a lot to say. Even scarier, politicians are listening, more than ever before.

Quarterly reports on campaign financing are coming out this week, and we’re hearing big figures for campaign cash, although we’re still a year away from the next national election.

What we’re hearing, though, is only a small part of the story. The biggest dollars are being raised without being reported and without any transparency. And they’ll be spent pretty much without disclosure of who’s behind them.

The spending, big spending, will manifest itself in your mailbox and on your TV screen. And, by the account of one political analyst, Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, it won’t be pretty.

" ... outside groups are going to come in and buy up all the television time, and the candidates are going to have an increasingly difficult time having their own voices heard directly because they won't be able to buy the prime-time spots," Ornstein said in an interview for Arizona Week.

"So brace yourselves. For the commercial statios, it's going to be a great year ... For the rest of us, it's going to be awful;."

Behind those TV spots will be organizations and individuals lurking in the shadows of politics, hiding their identities but wanting their points of view and influence to prevail.

They come from all along the political spectrum, and they are driven by the desire to keep the status quo. They, and their money, are speaking loudly, and anonymously.

And while according to the Supreme Court, it’s free speech, there’s little prospect of freedom in it.

Caveat civis – let the citizen beware.

More from Norman Ornstein on Arizona Week, 8:30 p.m. MST on PBS-HD-6 or at azweek.com.

WATCH THE MAIL FOR YOUR BALLOT

posted to Political Buzz by Andrea Kelly

The city of Tucson is mailing ballots to all registered voters starting today. (If you need more information about who's running for mayor or the three city council seats up this year, check out our city elections page online.)

Like the primary election in Aug., Tucson's Nov. 8 general election will be conducted entirely by mail. Watch the mail for your ballot in the coming days.

Tucson isn't the only jurisdiction with a question for voters this fall. Several school districts have board elections or budget override requests.

North of the Gila River there's a recall election Nov. 8 for Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce. He faces opponent, and fellow Republican, Jerry Lewis. A third candidate dropped out of that race earlier this month.

PEARCE RECALL LOOMS, WITH NATIONAL ATTENTION

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Lucy Valencia

An election that might otherwise escape much attention is the object of intense national interest and is splitting Arizona along racial and political lines.

The election will decide on the recall of Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, the author of the anti-illegal immigration law known as SB1070. Pearce is opposed by fellow Republican Jerry Lewis, considered a moderate.

A driving force behind immigration reform, Pearce is one of Arizona’s most powerful politicians.

Supporters describe him as a principled lawmaker, trying to protect his state. His critics shun the health and education budget cuts he has passed, but set out to recall him based on his immigration stance.

As the election draws closer, Pearce has doubled-down and isn't apologizing for anything.

On Nov. 8, voters in west Mesa’s Legislative District 18 will decide between Pearce and Lewis, who is a political newcomer.

Pearce is making U.S. history as the first sitting state senate president and the first sitting state lawmaker in Arizona to face a recall.

He was reelected last November with 57 percent of the vote, but activists began asking for a recall three weeks after the legislative session started.

At the start of the recall, Pearce faced two opponents: Lewis and Olivia Cortes.

But soon, Cortes’ candidacy was challenged. People speculated she was a sham, recruited by Pearce’s supporters to snag Latino votes from Lewis.

In court, Cortes said she did not know who paid for her signature gatherers or designed her Website, according to the Arizona Republic. She actually had not done much of her own campaigning.

A judge then agreed Pearce’s supporters had drafted Cortes in hopes of splitting votes, but that since she had done nothing wrong, Cortes could stay on the ballot.

Pearce opponents felt this was all they proof they needed to link Cortes to Pearce’s campaign, and immediately pushed the judge for a second hearing.

But before that, Cortes dropped out of the race due to “constant intimidation and harassment,” the Republic reported.

It is too late to take Cortes' name off the ballot, and some people feel this could still allow her to peel away votes from Lewis, thereby helping Pearce win.

Tune in to Arizona Week next week to hear more about the issue.

AZ SENATE RACE ALREADY GETTING EXPENSIVE

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Michael Chihak

Campaign financing reports for U.S. Senate in Arizona show more than $3.7 million in hand for three candidates. And that's just the beginning, a political and campaign analyst predicts.

The Arizona Capitol Times reports that Republican Jeff Flake, now a member of Congress, had the most in hand as of the end of September, $2.3 million.

The Capitol Times also reports that Republican Wil Cardon had $1.1 million, including $770,000 of his own money, and Democrat Don Bivens had $325,000.

Flake brought in the most in the third quarter, $556,000. Cardon and Bivens also raised significant sums. Cardon brought in $402,000. Bivens raised $325,000 in six weeks following his candidacy announcement.

Norman J. Ornstein, a research scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and an expert on campaign financing, predicts in an interview for Friday's Arizona Week that the campaign will get much more expensive, driven perhaps by groups not directly affiliated with the candidates.

"We're going to see millions poured into advertising," Ornstein says. " ... So brace yourselves. For the commercial television stations, it's going to be a great year, because they're going to get full-priced or even premiums paid for advertising. For the rest of us, it's going to be awful."

Watch the full interview with Ornstein Friday at 8:30 p.m. MST on PBS-HD-6.

MARK KELLY’S MUSTACHE

posted to Political Buzz by Christopher Conover

Mark Kelly, retired astronaut and husband of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, is in the running for the Mustached American of the Year award. The American Mustache Institute is putting Kelly in the running for the top mustache of the year.

Some of the others in the race for the Goulet Award include Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain and former Dallas Cowboy wide receiver Michael Irvin.

According to the American Mustache Institute, the award is not for the best mustache, but instead, “recognizes the person best contributing to the Mustached American lifestyle over the past year.”

The winner of the online vote will be announced October 28th in Chicago.

ROTHSCHILD LEADS DEMS' MAYORAL ELECTION POLL

posted to Political Buzz by Andrea Kelly

Democrat Jonathan Rothschild leads Republican Rick Grinnell in the race for Tucson Mayor, according to a poll the Pima County Democratic Party recently conducted.

The results peg Rothschild at 49 percent of the voters surveyed, to Grinnell's 32 percent. Green Mary DeCamp got 4 percent of the votes in the poll.

The party hired Global Strategy Group to do the poll, which has done work for a number of Democrats and Democrat committees, including U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva.

The firm surveyed 400 city residents who are likely to vote in the election. The results were taken Oct. 10 through Oct. 12, and the margin of error is 4.9 percent. The wording of the questions was not included in a news release from the Pima County Democratic Party.

The results showing Rothschild ahead are indicative of the city's voter registration trends. Recent city voter registration numbers show 44 percent of registered voters in Tucson are Democrats, and 25 percent of registered voters in the city are Republicans. The Green Party has less than one percent of the registered voters in Tucson.