Republicans are declaring victory over California billionaire, Tom Steyer, and his attempt to increase taxes and energy rates on Arizona families. According to the AZGOP, Steyer’s initiative effort “fell way short of the valid signatures needed to make the ballot this November.”
According to an AZGOP press release, “Steyer’s out of state circulators missed the mark by more than half, collecting only 106,441 valid signatures.”
Steyer’s “group submitted 480,464 signatures to the Arizona Secretary of State’s office on July 5,” according to the Daily Caller. “The number was more than twice what was required, however, recent investigations indicate many signatures are illegitimate, with numerous examples of forgery and fake names.”
The AZGOP argue that the “fact that Steyer’s campaign submitted double the required signatures and still failed to make it onto the ballot is very telling of the kind of scam this has been from the very beginning.”
“This is a huge win for our state,” said the head of the AZGOP. “Tom Steyer has been trying to take over our state and turn it into another California. I am glad that Arizona is safe from this tax scam. We are a state where businesses are thriving and Arizonans are working at good, high paying jobs. We won’t let Tom Steyer destroy our economy, and despite his best efforts, our state will continue to thrive.”
“Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona — a group that is campaigning to amend Arizona’s constitution and require 50 percent of the state’s electricity originate from renewable energy sources — has been given about $4.45 million from NextGen Climate Action, a liberal super PAC founded and funded by Steyer,” reported the Daily Caller.
“Steyer, a billionaire environmental activist, used his super PAC to funnel nearly $1 million to this renewable energy campaign at the beginning of 2018. Steyer has apparently been much more generous since then,” reported the Daily Caller. “Second quarter finance reports reveal NextGen gave another $3.5 million in the last three months. Steyer’s group is the only major contributor to the initiative — by a landslide. NextGen has provided 99.99 percent of total contributions given to Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona.”
On the flip side, the Phoenix Business Journal reported this week that “Arizona Public Service Co. has spent $6 million so far in an ongoing battle involving a renewable energy petition.”
Arizona Public Service (APS) “has been fighting the Clean Energy for a Health Arizona group in an effort to block an initiative that would call for voters to decide to change the state constitution to mandate utilities get 50 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2030,” according to the Phoenix Business Journal.