State election chief seeks new funds for hobbled campaign finance website overhaul

Regional News

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(Note: This story comes from the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting through a Creative Commons license. AZCIR is a nonprofit investigative newsroom.)

Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan campaigned on making it easier for people to see how money flows into political campaigns, and she has a plan for a website that will help.

But after spending $494,000 in 2015 and 2016 to create a new campaign finance reporting website that never saw the light of day, her office is now asking the Citizens ’ Clean Election Commission to pay $200,000 of an estimated $462,000 cost to develop a new campaign finance website, plus $50,000 per year in maintenance.

Matt Roberts, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office, said the proposal is not a restart of the project, but rather a continuation.

“We would have preferred if it came out in 2016, but we had our hands full with a hectic election cycle,” Roberts said.

He also said that the Secretary of State’s Office always expected to spend roughly $1 million developing the new campaign finance reporting system.