The Daily Agenda: Welcome to PAC mania
Political action committees put $130,000 into local legislative races ... Who are these people? ... Dervish found guilty.
What do realtors, labor unions, and climate advocates have in common?
They all have political action committees that are pumping money into Tucson’s legislative races. And it looks like that money is coming in a lot faster than the last time voters chose their lawmakers, especially for Democrats.
Voters got a fresh batch of finance reports this month from the big-time political action committees. So we plowed through them, along with the campaign finance reports where that money pops up, to see what PACs are doing this time around.
So far this election cycle, PACs gave more than $130,000 to candidates running for the dozen seats in Legislative Districts 17, 18, 20, and 21. (The candidates raised $530,000 from other sources since early 2023)
Those PACs are a motley bunch, that’s for sure. It seems like every industry and ideology has a PAC. Friends of Dentistry, Arizona Dairymen, Freedom Works, on and on it goes. But a few stood head-and-shoulders above the rest.
The deepest pockets belonged to Realtors of Arizona. They gave $19,500 to nine local candidates, including $6,000 to Democratic Rep. Consuelo Hernandez and $3,500 to Republican Sen. Justine Wadsack.
Climate Cabinet was a close second with $18,000, all of which came since December. Three local Democrats got $5,000 a piece: Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton and the challengers in LD17 Kevin Volk and John McLean.
While Realtors of Arizona gets a lot of money from people who work in real estate and make regular donations, Climate Cabinet got most of its money in one swoop.
Climate Cabinet, whose slogan is “where moneyball meets climate policy,” got an infusion of $78,000 from Lukas Walton, the grandson of the founder of Walmart. He also runs a climate-minded investment fund.
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99 was up next, with $8,500 split among four Democratic incumbents: Sen. Priya Sundareshan, Stahl Hamilton, Rep. Betty Villegas, and Sen. Rosanna Gabaldon.
We dug into PAC money today, but there is so much more money circulating through politics. We’d love to be around long enough to dig through it all. Upgrade to a paid subscription so we can do it!
The reports also show PAC money coming in twice as fast as it did in the first months of 2022.
Back then, PACs gave $14,600 to local legislative candidates. Since January, it’s more than $30,000. Most of that increase comes from the $10,000 in late March from Climate Cabinet, along with $2,000 to Volk from Leaders in Education.
And just $1,000 went to Tucson-area Republican candidates.
It may or not be a sign of juiced-up PACs ready to give big to Democrats this year. But it’s in line with local Democratic candidates getting more attention as they eye the chance to win a majority in the Legislature, particularly in LD17 where Democratic strategists think they can flip a seat or two.
There’s always a lot of information in finance reports, and nowhere near enough space to get to it all. So, just like we did with legislators’ financial disclosures in March, we made a spreadsheet you can browse at your leisure.
I mean, c’mon, who doesn’t like spending their free time going through finance reports?
This story was supported by the Local News Initiative of Southern Arizona, a fund of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona.
Ghosted: One of Arizona’s most intact ghost towns is permanently closing to visitors on June 3, the Arizona Daily Star’s Henry Brean writes. The private owners of abandoned mining camp Ruby, located about 75 miles southwest of Tucson, say that after 30 years of welcoming tourists, it’s just become too much work. Pat Frederick, one of the owners, said she was still a high school student when her father recruited four partners to buy the 356-acre townsite in 1961. A few years after Ruby formally opened to visitors in 1991, the ownership group hosted its first of several reunions for people who used to live and work in the town. The inaugural event drew nearly 400 attendees.
Premium problems: Mount Lemmon residents are reporting skyrocketing homeowners insurance bills this year, KOLD’s Bud Foster reports. One resident said that her bill for a 1,500-square-foot cabin increased to $9,000, while others are reporting that their policies have doubled or tripled. Pima County Supervisor Steve Christy, whose district includes Mount Lemmon, said communities all over the country are seeing big bumps in premiums due to catastrophic events in other parts of the country. Christy is seeking approval from the board to ask the state to help stabilize the situation.
Case closed: A Pima County jury found Murad Dervish guilty of six felony charges, including first-degree murder, yesterday in the 2022 shooting death of UA hydrology Professor Thomas Meixner, KOLD’s J.D. Wallace reports. The jury deliberated for less than three hours before convicting Dervish of all charges, which also included burglary, aggravated assault and endangerment. The county attorney’s office issued a statement following the conviction, saying that Pima County Attorney Laura Conover will continue to bring red flag legislation back to the legislature next year and “for as long as it takes to bring home common-sense gun safety reforms.”
Charges filed: A Pima County corrections officer has been charged with 18 misdemeanor counts of theft, after he was accused of shoplifting from the Sahuarita Walmart nearly two dozen times, the Green Valley News’ Kim Smith writes. Jose Monreal Jr.’s case has become a point of contention in the race for Pima County Attorney, with challenger Mike Jette previously saying that Monreal should be charged with a felony because of his position of authority, despite Conover saying that the $480 in items Monreal is accused of shoplifting is far below the felony threshold. During a debate last month, Conover said she believed Monreal was being “held accountable” in Sahuarita Municipal Court, but records show that charges weren’t filed against Monreal until May 13.
Time for a change?: The City of South Tucson held a public meeting yesterday about whether to keep Interim City Manager Veronica Moreno, who has been in the position since 2015, KVOA’s Sarika Sood reports. Moreno has been appointed interim city manager four times and also serves as city clerk and HR director, but some community members are now asking that the city manager position be reassigned.
End of an era: After closing due to a grease fire in 2022, the original Casa Molina on East Speedway Boulevard is set to be demolished, KGUN reports. Gilbert Molina built the location himself in 1947 to showcase his sister’s cooking. The family opened several other locations over the years, including Casa Molina del Norte, which is still operating on North Campbell Avenue. The demolition permit calls for removal of the 8,250-square-foot building in its entirety, “including slabs and footing.”
9: The number of hours it took Curt to dig through the finance reports and build the spreadsheet. If the Secretary of State’s office switched to a system that didn’t rely on PDFs like they do now, today’s Number of the Day likely would be closer to one.
RIP Casa Molina. Restaurant biz is tough enough without grease fires.
Buddy! In "See the Money" (fed by the Beacon system where reports are filed), when you are looking at the Details screen (where the reports are listed in a grid below), there's a button to the right of the committee name called "Transactions" - click on it, and the grid changes to show individual transactions that you can filter & sort. Scroll down, and there's a big red button labelled "Export". Voila! Your wish has been granted!