Supreme Court Halts Public Matching Funds for Arizona Candidates

The Supreme Court ruled
today that Arizona candidates who have opted in to the state's
public
financing system can't collect matching funds--the money allotted to
candidates who are up against particularly well-funded opponents or
interest
groups--until the Court has time to consider whether the matching funds
are constitutional.

Arizona's
primary elections will be taking place on August 24. Nearly half of the
state-office candidates running in the primary have agreed to public
funding.

Michael B.
Keegan, President of People
For the American Way, issued the following statement:

"The Supreme
Court has demonstrated
once again the extent to which it is willing to upend federal and state
legislation
and defy even the laws of common sense in order to maximize the power of
corporations and wealthy individuals in our elections.

"In Citizens United v. FEC, the Court
undid a century of
established law to allow corporations to spend millions of dollars from
their
treasuries to influence elections. In this ruling, the Court has shown
once
again that it is open to letting big money gain big influence in our
democracy.
By leaving publicly funded candidates scrambling to catch up with
well-heeled opponents,
it has once again shown total disregard for the efforts of elected
lawmakers to
limit the sway of big bank accounts in the democratic process."