The 2nd largest voting bloc in Arizona via independent voters supported Prop 121 – Top Two or Arizona Open Primary; but the Koch Brothers helped
TEA PARTY funders via Koch Brothers funnel over half a million to kill Prop 121 because they fear Independent Voters rising. Don’t worry, independents will rise anyway.
defeat it by injecting over half a million into the race fighting it even though Prop 121 was 12 points ahead 2 weeks ago.
The Koch Bros manages to get both Party leaders scared enough to lose their partisanship power and we witnessed simple minded politicians utilize their fear tactics when in reality they feared losing Party power.
Nonetheless, we were glad to see Prop 121 be supported by the approximate 1/3 independent voters, anyway, while Republicans and Democratic voters voted against it. There were probably more Republicans who voted against the Prop 121 than Democrats since we saw Prop 204 (via tax increase) fail, too, in our state.
More from IVN:
Koch Brothers Defeat Prop 121 “Top-Two” Open Primary in AZ
(Arizona) – The Koch brothers acted decisively, and secretly to defeat non-partisan Open Primary reformers in Arizona. The Koch brothers funneled more than half a million dollars to fund the partisan attack on Proposition 121. The money powered an aggressive “No” campaign, led in a bipartisan manner by the leaders of the Republican, Democrat, and even third parties in Arizona.
The Koch brothers also funneled millions of dollars into California to oppose Proposition 30 and in support of Proposition 32. In a press release issued by the FPPC:
Americans for Responsible Leadership, the Arizona non-profit corporation that made an anonymous $11 million donation to a California campaign committee, today sent a letter declaring itself to be the intermediary and not the true source of the contribution. It identified the true source of the contribution as Americans for Job Security, through a second intermediary, The Center to Protect Patient Rights. Under California law, the failure to disclose this initially was campaign money laundering. At $11 million, this is the largest contribution ever disclosed as campaign money laundering in California history.
Former Phoenix Mayor, Paul Johnson, lead the “Yes” effort, but was outgunned and out campaigned by the state’s Republican and Democratic establishment.
The Koch brothers cash was distributed by Americans for Responsible Leadership Chairman Robert Graham. Graham is also campaigning for the chairmanship of the Arizona Republican Party. So, Graham’s interest in preserving a system that concentrates both money and power in the hands of the state’s majority party is not surprising.
No comment yet about how the Democratic leaders explain their secret alliance with the same financial interests that they have publicly lambasted for bankrolling the country’s most far right wing causes and candidates.