http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/metro/71790



Prop. 200 group under scrutiny


Immigrant advocates cite finance laws
By Lourdes Medrano
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A national immigration reform group that played a key role in the passage of Proposition 200 in Arizona is being investigated for possible violations of state campaign finance laws.

At issue is whether the Federation for American Immigration Reform should have registered as a political committee and filed finance reports during last year's campaign to pass Prop. 200.

The main thrust of the successful initiative was to keep people who are living in the country illegally from receiving public assistance. FAIR largely funded efforts to gather the signatures needed to put the measure on last November's ballot.

On Friday, several Tucson immigrant-advocacy groups called on the Arizona Attorney General's Office for swift prosecution of FAIR, saying the group engaged in a misleading campaign that helped persuade voters to overwhelmingly approve the initiative.

"They at least need to play by the rules," said attorney Tom Berning, who filed a complaint with the Secretary of State's Office after receiving a FAIR letter before the election seeking financial support for Prop. 200 without stating state-required disclosures.

Berning's complaint resulted in a finding of reasonable cause that was forwarded to the Attorney General's Office in March. Spokeswoman Andrea Esquer confirmed the investigation but declined to disclose details.

FAIR headquarters referred inquiries to its Phoenix attorney, David Abney, who said he is working with the Attorney General's Office toward a resolution. He characterized the mailing - which also touted the group's "pivotal role" in placing Prop. 200 on the ballot - as a mistake.

"There was no intent at all to do anything wrong," he said in a telephone interview. Abney said he didn't know how many such letters were mailed or how much money was raised.

In a February letter to the Secretary of State's Office, FAIR wrote that omission of the disclosures was not intentional, "as can be seen from our careful adherence to all disclosure requirements on a lot of the ads we helped sponsor."

It also wrote that "revenues not designated as membership contributions would be spent on behalf of the Yes on Proposition 200 Ballot Committee … for whom FAIR was at the time a major contributor under Arizona law."

As such, FAIR wrote, the group did not need to register as a political action committee as mandated by state law.

Final reports for the Nov. 2 election showed that Protect Arizona Now, a FAIR ally, listed total expenditures of $518,314. FAIR was a major source for the money spent on gathering signatures. FAIR also contributed to the separate Yes on 200 Committee, which spent another $256,895 on the campaign.

"But for FAIR, Prop. 200 would never have been approved," said Isabel Garcia, who co-chairs the Coalición de Derechos Humanos, a Tucson-based human-rights group. Noting FAIR's planned rally at the state's capitol Monday, Garcia said the organization is "fanning the flames" of the anti-immigrant sentiment in Arizona and other states.

Added Alexis Mazon, an organizer with Defeat 200: "We're not surprised to find out that there are wrongdoings on FAIR's part, because it is consistent with the disingenuous approach that they take to its work overall.

"In Arizona we have fallen victim to the falsehoods that FAIR has propagated again and again about the contributions of immigrants to our economy."


â—? Contac t reporter Lourdes Medrano at 573-4347 or at lmedrano@azstarnet.com.