I couldn’t help but comment on the post by Ray Stern on “Valley Fever” at the Phoenix New Times. Stern believes that Sonoran Alliance “doesn’t have a word to say about Steve Ellman, Dave Hendershott and the SCA.”

Speaking for myself, I have not had a chance to read up the connections between the aforementioned. It was not until today’s Googe alert that I was prompted to read Stern’s take on why conservative blogs like Sonoran Alliance are silent. So I might as well break any perception of silence.

At the heart of the controversy is an ad that was created during the 2008 election cycle in the race for Sheriff between Joe Arpaio and Dan Saban. The ad was a very personal attack on Dan Saban over misconduct and included a video clip of a deposition and questions regarding sexual activities.

Prior to the 2008 General Election a group called The Sheriff’s Command Association raised over $100,000. SCA then donated that money to the Republican Party which in turn, handed it over to another group which sponsored the attack ads against Dan Saban. (Does anyone know the name of this group?)

SCA’s involvement was questioned and challenged. The County Election Department interpreted SCA’s activities as those of a poltical action committee. That means that SCA should have filed a Statement of Organization and campaign finance reports with the County. My understanding is that that never occurred. According to an article written by Yvonne Wingett in the Arizona Republic on Wednesday, SCA’s Treasurer (was that title self-assigned or given by the Republic?) Joel Fox, never acknowledged his group as a political action committee. He therefore argued against any disclosure of the names of donors to SCA.

This last Monday, Fox reached a settlement with the County Elections Department which included the release of the donors’ names. On that list of donors was Sheriff Joe’s second in command, David Hendershott, Vice-Chairman of Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold, Inc, B.M Rankin, Phoenix real-estate developer, Steve Ellman and several others. (read Phoenix Business Journal article). Incidentally, if the ad was really an independent expenditure, anyone close to either candidate who gave to the effort for or against either of the candidates could be interpreted as violating campaign finance law. I’m not sure if any of the articles above even mentioned that.

Now it’s my turn.

First my credentials. I’ve sat on several political action committees and consulted many a candidate about the do’s and don’ts of campaign finance reporting and disclosure. Yes, I’ve even had to learn the hard way when it comes to filing deadlines and what to file. Independent expenditures are especially serious and sensitive and candidates and committees can get into a lot of trouble if certain people know about an “IE.” I am also on the record as opposing taxpayer-funded so-called “Clean Elections” which has included a legal challenge to the law (but doesn’t apply to County elections). But I also believe that as long as the system is in place, committees should use it to the best of their ability without breaking the law. Ultimately, I advocate for immediate and full disclosure with no limits on how much an individual gives. If Jim Pedersen wants to give $500,000 to Terry Goddard in his race for Governor, go ahead and let him but let’s make sure that the public know all about it the moment it happens. We have the technology to do that in 2009. And what makes this most important is that the media and alternate media reports it when it happens.

In early 2008, the Ellman company sought to fill a media relations position. I was told that it would have actually been broader than media relations. Nevertheless, as a recently unemployed county worker, I applied for the position. As you can guess, I did not land the position. End of story = no further connection. However, let me just say that if I had been in the position to say something about funding a borderline sexually-explicit political attack ad, I would have stood up and opposed it.

Dan Saban is a friend of mine. His family attends and works at my church – Cental Christian Church of the East Valley. The ad that was run against Dan was disgusting. As a political consultant, I adamantly opposed any form of ad that attacks a candidate’s personal life or family. If you recall, I was very vocal about the mail pieces that attacked Russell Pearce and his family. I even named names and one of the names was a major contributor to the pro-life and pro-family movement.

If Ray Stern seems to think that all the writers at Sonoran Alliance are “strangely silent” over SCA’s revelation, this one just spoke up.