Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Nevada GOP contributes to campaign against Arizona ballot measure

PHOENIX - Why does the Nevada Republican Party care enough about an Arizona ballot measure on political redistricting to give $60,000 to opponents?

It turns out the Nevada party doesn't particularly care about Arizona's Proposition 106, but it does care about Nevada's U.S. Senate race.

The Nevada GOP's spending on federal elections in that state will be boosted by $40,000 it is getting in a money-swapping arrangement with the Arizona GOP.

Officials of the two state parties said the exchange involved money from differing types of contributions and is routine for political parties and entirely legal.

Ian Stirton, spokesman for the Federal Election Commission, said the arrangement is legal and routine as long as the money going into a federal campaign was originally raised under the standards for those campaigns.

Nevada GOP Chairman Bob Seale said Nevada Republicans suggested the swap to their Arizona counterparts.

The Nevada GOP is giving away money raised from corporate contributions that cannot be spent on federal elections, such as the U.S. Senate race between Republican John Ensign and Democrat Ed Bernstein for the seat being vacated by Democrat Richard Bryan.

Arizona Republicans will spend the Nevada money to campaign against the Proposition 106, an initiative to take redistricting out of the control of the Legislature and to put in the hands of a new appointed commission.

Republicans now control the Arizona Legislature as well as the governor's office.

For its part, the Nevada GOP got $40,000 of money raised by the Arizona GOP from individuals. That money can be spent on federal races.

"The kind of money that we want is harder to find," Seale said, explaining why Nevada is getting only $40,000 for $60,000. "We're willing to pay a premium."

"There's a supply and demand issue," agreed Nathan Sproul, Arizona Republican Party executive director.

Sproul said Arizona party officials went for the deal to get more money to fight Proposition 106. "We're scraping together every penny."

Supporters of Proposition 106 said Wednesday they did not know why Nevada Republicans contributed to the opposition.

Nevada Republicans "should have no interest in how we elect people in Arizona," said former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods.

Woods, a Republican, and current state Attorney General Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, held a news conference Wednesday to announce their support for the initiative.

Woods said supporters have complained to the state's election director that opponents failed to comply with an Arizona law requiring that major fund-raising sources be disclosed on campaign literature for or against ballot measures.

A mailer sent by opponents listed only the opposition group, not its fund-raising sources.

That deprives Arizona voters of important information, Woods said.

Sproul called the omission an "unintentional mistake" but noted that Proposition 106 supporters earlier failed to notify the state of big contributions by a developer bankrolling their campaign.

"It's just unabashed hypocrisy on their parts," Sproul said.

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