Phoenix, AZ – Team America, a national political action committee, has filed the paperwork forming the Committee to Oppose Recall of Russell Pearce. That gives the new committee legal permission to start raising money to support the Senate president in the Nov. 8 special election. The move is not entirely a surprise. Team America is organized by former Congressman Tom Tancredo who gained a national reputation as a foe of illegal immigration, and Republican activist Bay Buchanan who was treasury secretary in the Reagan administration. In fact, Team America had sent out an e-mail more than a month ago looking for donors. But Matt Roberts of the Secretary of State's Office said none of that was legal in Arizona until the group formally filed the necessary papers.
(They obviously now have a filed committee on July 21st. And our position still is they cannot make expenditures or accept contributions until they got to that magical date.)
Roberts said any money already received ahead of time cannot be spent in Arizona. But now that it is organized, this new committee does have a big advantage. A committee set up by Pearce himself can accept individual contributions of only $424 from any one person. But donors to Team America can give any amount they want to be used to aid Pearce because it is required to operate independent of the Senate president. Roberts said, though, that corporate and union contributions continue to be off limits. For Arizona Public Radio this is Howard Fischer.