Arizona Campaign Finance

Martin v. Brewer
Institute for Justice Arizona Chapter Challenges Arizona’s “Clean Elections Act”

In this challenge to Arizona’s so-called “Clean Elections Act,” the Institute for Justice Arizona Chapter (IJ-AZ) seeks to protect the rights of individuals and groups to speak freely during political campaigns. Arizona’s scheme of publicly financing elections threatens to drown out the voices of individuals and groups who wish to support privately financed candidates who run against taxpayer-funded candidates. If a group makes an independent expenditure in favor a privately funded candidate, the unelected bureaucrats at the Clean Elections Commission dole out dollar-for-dollar “matching funds” to the publicly funded candidate. That means that for every dollar an individual or group spends to support the candidate of their choice, the government pays an equal amount of money to the political competition.

IJ-AZ also seeks to preserve the right of individuals to run for public office without having to accept taxpayer funds. Arizona’s public financing scheme punishes candidates who reject the political welfare of public funding by burying them in red tape, giving extra money to their publicly funded opponents and setting stricter limits on how much they may raise. "Clean Elections" doesn't level the playing field, it levels the players on the field.