In Arizona, Out-of-State Environmental Special Interests Spend Millions to Elect Democrats to the State’s Public Utility Commission

Arizona is one of just 10 states in the country that elects its utility regulators. For over a century, campaigns for the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), the state’s Public Utility Commission, were largely uneventful. The debate over rooftop solar policies changed the sleepy nature of ACC campaigns in 2014. That year, Pinnacle West, the parent company of APS, and Bay Area Solar interests, including Sun Run and Solar City, engaged for and against candidates for that office for the first time. The 2016 campaign brought more of the same, with millions more spent by solar interests and APS’ parent company. While the candidates backed by Pinnacle West were successful in both 2014 and 2016, the company’s strategy came under heavy scrutiny by Corporation Commissioners Bob Burns and Sandra Kennedy and local and national media.

In 2018, after initially committing funds to a PAC called ‘Arizonans For Sustainable Energy Policy’, Pinnacle West reversed course and passed on engaging in the ACC race for the first time in 2 cycles. That same year, a new player emerged on the Arizona political scene for the first time, Chispa AZ (Chispa). Created by the well-funded national dark money NGO, League of Conservation Voters (LCV), Chispa was established to “rally[] the local Latinx and low-income people of color communities to fight climate battles and address environmental issues we couldn’t do as individuals.” LCV and Chispa hold many views that are outside of the political mainstream. On energy, the group has opposed natural gas use in Arizona both for power generation and in homes. Nationally, the organization has taken positions hostile to nuclear and hydroelectric power. The group has also been vocal in support for policies that provide subsidies for rooftop solar users that shift costs to non-users. When it comes to law enforcement, the group vocally advocates for defunding the police and abolishing ICE, Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security.

As their entre into Arizona politics, in 2018 Chispa spent 4.2 million across state and local races with $2.8 million spent on  Democratic Commission candidates Sandra Kennedy and Kiana Sears. In a memo shortly before the November 6th election, CHISPA Executive Director Laura Dent told interested parties, “no matter the result next Tuesday, our work is laying a strong foundation. We are committed to fighting for healthier, more sustainable communities and pressuring policy makers and polluters to protect our right to a safe environment. This year set the stage for Chispa AZ PAC, and we will continue to build and strengthen in future cycles”. Chispa’s efforts in 2018 were successful in helping prominent dark money critic, Sandra Kennedy, gain office - and as promised by Dent, helped set the stage for the group’s future engagement in Arizona.

Despite staying out of the 2018 ACC campaign, questions remained about Pinnacle West’s strategy for future election cycles under new CEO Jeff Guldner. In January of 2020, Guldner appeared at an ACC open meeting and addressed the company’s future position stating, “[t]oday as chairman and CEO of both APS and Pinnacle West, I can say that under my leadership, Pinnacle West and APS, and any of our affiliates, will neither directly nor indirectly participate in any election of any Corporation Commissioner through either financial or in-kind support."

With Pinnacle West and APS formally out of ACC electioneering, Chispa and allied environmental dark money groups began to step up their efforts to elect Democrats to the ACC. In the 2020 and 2022 cycles, Chispa spent a  combined $3.56 million supporting Bill Mundell, Shea Stansfield, Anna Tovar, Sandra Kennedy and Lauren Kuby and opposing their Republican challengers. Chispa’s spend was complemented by an additional $8.33 million from other dark money environmental and progressive 501c4s and PACs.

The spend by these environmental NGOs was countered by minimal engagement from pro-GOP interests. In 2020, Republican candidates Eric Sloan, Lea Marquez Peterson and Jim O’Conner received just $156,000 in outside support from the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, the Arizona Professional Fire Fighter PAC and the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. In 2022, Republicans Kevin Thompson and Nick Myers had no independent expenditure spending on their behalf. Despite their overwhelming money advantage, Democrats secured only one of five contested seats over the 2 cycles.

With a little over a week until election day, the 2024 ACC campaign is shaping up like the previous three cycles, with environmental interests spending big and business community interests choosing to stay out. Chispa has spent nearly 1.1 million of out of state dollars on Jonathan Hill, Joshua Polacheck and Ylenia Aguilar, the 3 Democratic candidates seeking seats on the regulatory body. In addition to Chispa’s spend, the Working Families Party National PAC has also made a sizable investment to help elect the Democratic slate. Based out of Brooklyn, NY, the PAC is funded by far-left wing mega-donors like Regan Pritzker and Rachel Gelman. Gelman received national attention earlier this year for funding anti-Israel unrest on college campuses across the United States. To support the Democratic candidates for the ACC, the Working Families PAC has made $182,000 worth of independent expenditures and invested $500,000 in a political action committee called Arizona Power PAC, which is also advocating for Aguilar, Hill and Polacheck and against Republicans Rene Lopez, Rachel Walden and Lea Marquez Peterson. Arizona Power PAC has also received investments from Climate Cabinet PAC and Arizonans for a Clean Economy, a 501c4 based in Phoenix, AZ that lists former Corporation Commissioner and anti-dark money crusader, Bob Burns, as a director.

Thus far, Aguilar has been the biggest beneficiary of these progressive outside groups’ largess. When examining her background, it is no surprise why. Aguilar, a Central Arizona Project board member, also serves as ‘Moms Clean Air Force Arizona’s’ Southwest Field Organizer. According to the organization’s website, Aguilar works in Arizona and Nevada on clean energy and electrification issues. Moms Clean Air Force is a project of the Environmental Defense Fund, one of the country’s largest environmental NGOs. Aguilar’s website prominently states that she does not believe Corporation Commissioners should take money from special interests but has yet to disavow the dark money being spent on her behalf. Not only has she not denounced this spending, she’s misled voters about the role outside money is playing in the ACC race.

On October 11th, Aguilar sat for an interview with the online environmental media outlet, Volts. During the interview, she accused an unnamed utility of spending to defeat Sandra Kennedy and Lauren Kuby in the 2022 ACC race and went on to state that a similar effort was underway in 2024 through donations to the Arizona Republican Party. Campaign finance records filed with the Arizona Secretary of State’s office do not support those assertions. In the same interview, host David Roberts states, “So what's probably going on then is you have these big utilities and energy companies funneling money into the Republican party, in part earmarked to win these races. And there's just no commensurate money coming in on the other side”. Even with the seven figure spend on her behalf, Aguilar affirmed Roberts stating “Yep, that’s exactly right. That’s what’s happening right now.”

Despite the avalanche of money from Chispa and other out of state progressive interests over the last three election cycles, environmental groups have largely flown under the radar in their attempts to remake a major Arizona institution in their likeness.  While these groups have seen very little return on their investment in the past, their spend in 2024 could tip the scales for the Democratic ACC candidates in a tightly divided state and drastically impact how energy policy is made in the future.