On Friday, attorneys with the Goldwater Institute contacted the members of the Pima County Board of Supervisors with regards to their long time practice of giving away taxpayers’ money to their personally preferred charities and non-profits. Goldwater notified the supervisors that gifting money to groups without receiving adequate consideration in return would be in violation of State law.
Supervisor Ally Miller’s staff discovered that for years, the supervisors have quietly used their office budget funds to fund their pet projects and favored charities. In turn, some of those charities contributed to the supervisors.
Miller attempted to work with the other supervisors to end the apparently illegal practice, but they rebuffed her efforts.
“I submitted this item on the board agenda on September 16, 2014 when it was discovered supervisors were donating monies to charities and outside agencies,” said Miller. “I made a motion to end the practice and didn’t receive a second on my motion.”
“It was extremely disappointing the board didn’t recognize the need to ensure confidence in how we manage taxpayer monies,” said Miller.
“I have since received a confidential “opinion” from the Pima County attorney. All board members and County administrator Huckelberry were copied,” continued Miller. “I have placed an item on the board agenda for the October 14, 2014 meeting to have this opinion released to the public. Any monies expended in violation of the Arizona Constitution must be repaid to the general fund in an attempt to regain the public trust in the board of Supervisor’s management of taxpayer funds.”
“I am pleased at the response from the Goldwater Institute and hope the board will move forward to put an end to this practice and repay the funds they have expended inappropriately,” concluded Miller.
In the letter, Goldwater attorney Jared Blanchard noted an article in the Arizona Daily Star in which it was revealed that “Supervisor Richard Elias unilaterally gifted more than $13,299 of taxpayer funds over the last two years to a single nonprofit group. It is our understanding that this is not an isolated incident but a common practice among many members of the Board. If our understanding is correct, this practice very clearly violates the Arizona that advised the supervisors that Constitution.”
Community activist Richard Hernandez, who speaks for many in the community who are being crushed by the highest taxes in the State said, “I hope that the supervisors will vote to allow the public to read the County’s attorney’s opinion on Tuesday. My understanding is that Goldwater’s experts will now examine all of the expenditures and in time we will see what remedies the people of Pima County have. I hope the supervisors refrain form political games and will accept whatever responsibility they have to the residents of our community. While I am sure that many of the charities that supervisors Elias and Bronson gave to our worthy of the community’s support, that support must be given legally and no one could dispute that fact.”
Because the expenditures first became an issue by Miller’s other supervisors this year, who were critical of her small expenditures for office furniture and supplies, the public is expecting that trend to continue. Already sources report that Elias has already begun spinning the news as a witch hunt by the conservative Goldwater Institute against him and his fellow supervisors on the Board.
However, Eddie Fass Badilla, a community leader in South Tucson, said of the revelation, “A friend of mine called me tonight after the news got out. He said that he was upset with the continuing corruption, and he is a democrat. I told him that what is going on with these politicians is that they are listening to guys like Dan Eckstrom, who are telling them that this kind of stuff is okay and that the people need to understand that these guys are not for the people and this kind of behavior is not okay. We need to clean house and look new leadership.”
The Goldwater letter reads:
Dear Chairperson Bronson:
It has come to the Goldwater Institute’s attention that members of the Pima County Board of Supervisors have gifted portions of their office budgets to nonprofit groups. For instance, Tim Steller recently reported in the Arizona Daily Star that Supervisor Richard Elias unilaterally gifted more than$ I 3,299 of taxpayer funds over the last two years to a single nonprofit group. It is our understanding that this is not an isolated incident but a common practice among many members of the Board.
If our understanding is correct, this practice very clearly violates the Arizona Constitution. Specifically, the Arizona Constitution mandates: “Neither the state, nor any county, city, town, municipality, or other subdivision of the state shall ever give or loan its credit in the aid to: or make any donation or grant, by subsidy or otherwise, to any individual, association, or corporation . . . . ” ARIZ. CONST. ART. IX,§ 7 (emphasis added). The Arizona Supreme Court has held that this provision prohibits governments from making public expenditures without receiving adequate consideration in return. Moreover, the Supreme Court has held that “indirect benefits” are not consideration under the Gift Clause. See Turken v. Gordon, 223 Ariz. 342, 349 (20 I 0). Pima County does not receive adequate consideration, indeed it apparently receives no consideration, when supervisors donate public funds to the charities of their choice. As a result, these office budget gifts are unconstitutional.
Under our state constitution, Arizonans are guaranteed that local special interests will not receive preferential treatment under the law. Taxpayers likewise are guaranteed that public money will be spent only for public purposes and that adequate consideration will be received for the expenditure of any public funds. Supervisors unilaterally gifting taxpayer funds from their individual office budgets contravenes these basic constitutional principles.
Moreover, please note that under certain circumstances public officials who make unlawful expenditures of public funds may be civilly liable for those expenditures. See ARIZ. REV. STAT.§§ 35-154, 35-196 (2012).
The Goldwater Institute respectfully requests that the Pima County Board of Supervisors adopt a policy ending these illegal gifts. lf we do not receive confirmation within the next thirty days that the Board intends to adopt such a policy, we will avail ourselves of other legal remedies available to us. We have concurrently submitted a public records request pursuant to ARIZ. REV. STAT.§§ 39-121to39-128, so that we will be able to assess the full extent of the constitutional violations committed thus far.
We appreciate your thoughtful consideration of these matters and look forward to hearing from you.