By Corinne Murdock |

The Biden administration and the dark left money network are demanding access to nonparty conservative organizations’ private documents in two lawsuits against election integrity laws requiring proof of citizenship and voter roll cleanups. 

In the case Mi Familia Vota v. Fontes (2:22-cv-00509) the Department of Justice (DOJ), Democratic National Committee (DNC), Arizona Democratic Party, and leftist dark money groups including: Mi Familia Vota, Living United For Change Arizona (LUCHA), and Voto Latino are challenging the election integrity bills HB2243 and HB2492. In the case Mi Familia Vota v. Fontes (2:21-cv-01423), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, League of Conservation Voters, LUCHA, Mi Familia Vota, and Arizona Coalition for Change are challenging SB1485.

Any individuals or organizations that aren’t party in a lawsuit are considered “nonparty.” Federal law allows for nonparty individuals and organizations to be brought into a case and be compelled to disclose evidence requested. In these cases challenging Arizona’s three election integrity laws, that means conservative organizations are being asked to hand over private documents, communications, legislative correspondence, lobbying strategy, and information on contributions and expenditures.

Those issued nonparty subpoenas include the Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) and the Republican Party of Arizona. No court has issued an injunction on the contested laws to date.

The Goldwater Institute is representing AFEC in their defense against the subpoenas. In a motion to quash the subpoenas, the organization argued that private opinions have no bearing on the validity of a challenged law, citing precedent set by Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee (2021), and that the subpoenas threaten the rights to free speech and privacy.

“The Supreme Court has stated time and again that individual legislators’ opinions about a statute reveal little or nothing about the law’s meaning and validity,” read the motion. “It is thus all the more true that the statements and opinions of private parties, several degrees removed from any official government action, have no bearing on the question of whether a state law is consistent with federal law.” 

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, declared in a report that the budding leftist practice of filing nonparty subpoenas against conservative individuals and organizations constitutes a weaponization of federal law to intimidate and silence conservatives. 

AFEC’s subpoena came from the Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander for Equity Coalition (AZ AANHPI for Equity). While that organization argues for total transparency of its ideological opponent, it is shrouded in mystery itself.

AANHPI for Equity and AZ AANHPI Advocates have independent websites, social media pages, and staff, yet the pair are presented as one entity in multiple locations (for example, on the AZ AANHPI for Equity “about us” page). Both were founded in July 2020 by Jennifer Chau, who has served as the director for AZ AANHPI for Equity, an unspecified nonprofit, and executive director for AZ AANHPI Advocates, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, since their inception according to her LinkedIn page.

According to the IRS, AZ AANHPI Advocates had its federal tax exempt status automatically revoked in mid-May for not filing any tax forms in the entire three years of its existence (EIN:85-2344934). The IRS issued its revocation posting earlier this month. No IRS records exist for AZ AANHPI for Equity.

Yet, both organizations’ websites continue to solicit donations and market themselves as nonprofits. The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) awarded AZ AANHPI Advocates good standing for its status as a nonprofit in mid-July as well. No ACC records exist for AZ AANHPI for Equity. 

On its website, AZ AANHPI Advocates discloses that it receives funding from top leftist dark money organizations The Future We Need and Arizona Wins!. The listed address for The Future We Need is the same address for the Arizona Education Association and Progress Now Arizona (now Progress Arizona); yet, no such organization as “The Future We Need” exists per ACC, the IRS, the Federal Election Commission (FEC), or the secretary of state’s campaign finance databases. There does exist a similarly-named dark left political action committee (PAC) entity, “The Future We Want.”

In their entire three years of advocacy and fundraising, only AZ AANHPI Advocates had any campaign finance records filed within the state: just one receipt of $10,000 from Invest in Arizona in August 2021, for “signature gathering.” According to the secretary of state’s campaign finance database, AZ AANHPI has never filed any reports on their contributions or expenditures. 

Invest in Arizona and Arizona Wins both had one top Democratic dark money handler in common: Dacey Montoya. (Gov. Katie Hobbs’ controversial former press secretary, Josselyn Berry, worked as the program manager for Arizona Wins from 2015 to 2016 and executive director for ProgressNow from 2016 to 2019; Hobbs’ gubernatorial campaign used the same mailing address as both organizations; and Montoya’s consulting firm was involved in both Hobbs’ secretary of state and gubernatorial campaigns). Montoya is now the treasurer for the organization behind the ballot initiative to legalize any and all abortion up to birth, Arizona for Abortion Access.

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.