A political action committee, Our Arizona Values, is spending money left and right in support of left-of-center and against right-of-center Republicans this 2020 Primary Election cycle. The organization is funded by the likes of avowed Never-Trumper Kathryn Murdoch, daughter-in-law of the late Rupert Murdock.
Our Arizona Values appears to represent anything but the values of Arizona’s conservative and even moderate Republicans. In fact, the group is funding attack ads against the challengers of Heather Carter and Michelle Udall, who because they have earned the scorn of values voters, have earned primary challengers.
According to Politico, Murdoch, who is concerned about the “existential threat of climate change,” is spending $100 million on a political system she says is “so broken.”
Between 2007-2011, Ms. Murdoch served as Director of Strategy & Communications for the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) where she also managed CCI ‘s partnership with Microsoft in the development of a global greenhouse gas emissions tracking software. Before beginning to work with the Clinton Foundation, Ms. Murdoch held a variety of senior management positions in marketing, communications and business development, primarily in the fashion and online media arenas.
Mrs. and Mr. Murdoch live with their three children in New York City.
Murdoch told Politico that “the decisions we make in the next few years are going to have an impact on coming generations. I need to know that I’ve done everything that I can possibly do.”
That includes getting active in Arizona’s political races in order to send candidates back into office who will fight for mail-in ballot voting, and gun control.
Our Arizona Values spent money in Arizona as follows:
| Against Nancy Barto |
For Heather Carter |
For Jarrett Hamstreet |
For Michelle Udall |
Against Steve Montenegro |
|||||
| $ 239,915 | $12,416 | $12,416 | $11,443 | 19,716 | |||||
| TOTAL $295,906 | |||||||||
Here are more details:
| Date | Filer Name | Amount | Name | Transaction Type | |
| 07/13/2020 | Nancy Barto For State Senate 2020 | ($175,449.00) | Polestar | IE Against | |
| 07/13/2020 | Nancy Barto For State Senate 2020 | ($19,718.00) | Polestar | IE Against | |
| 07/13/2020 | Nancy Barto For State Senate 2020 | ($12,416.00) | Polestar | IE Against | |
| 07/13/2020 | Friends Of Jarret Hamstreet | ($12,416.00) | Polestar | IE For | |
| 07/13/2020 | Vote Heather Carter Senate | ($12,416.00) | Polestar | IE For | |
| 07/13/2020 | Nancy Barto For State Senate 2020 | ($12,416.00) | Polestar | IE Against | |
| 07/13/2020 | Nancy Barto For State Senate 2020 | ($12,416.00) | Polestar | IE Against | |
| 07/13/2020 | Elect Michelle Udall | ($11,443.00) | Polestar | IE For | |
| 07/13/2020 | Montenegro For House | ($10,668.00) | Polestar | IE Against | |
| 07/13/2020 | Montenegro For House | ($9,048.00) | Polestar | IE Against | |
| 07/13/2020 | Nancy Barto For State Senate 2020 | ($7,500.00) | Polestar | IE Against | |
For the last few years, we at AZRRT / ARIZONAPEOPLESLOBBYIST have been warning voters that we should not focus on campaign rhetoric, but concentrate on the actions of candidates. Those actions include how they voted who bankrolled them. To that end, earlier this month we released our “2020 How They Voted Report”, which may be viewed here.