On a Friday in July 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ), under President Joe Biden, arrested a man for a bomb threat he’d made a year and a half earlier to the Arizona secretary of state at the time, Katie Hobbs.
According to the DOJ’s public announcement of that arrest, that threat was sent online in mid-February 2021 through the secretary of state’s Elections Division contact form. Yet, it took law enforcement more than a year to nab the perpetrator: a Massachusetts man named James Clark.
Media outlets promptly picked up the news of Clark’s arrest, framing it as the latest in what was then an ongoing scourge of threats to election officials following the contentious 2020 election.
Hobbs was reaffirmed in the public eye as a face of resistance to former President Donald Trump’s purported election denialism. And she was deep into a contentious race of her own for the governor’s office against Trump-backed candidate Kari Lake.
“Election officials across the country are being threatened regularly for doing their jobs,’’ said Hobbs in a prepared statement at the time. “It’s unconscionable and undermines our democracy. This harassment won’t be tolerated and can’t be normalized. We thank the FBI for their persistence on further investigating this incident.”
The one detail that never received much attention was the timing of Clark’s arrest.
On the same day that the DOJ sparked a flurry of media coverage on their delayed arrest of a Trump-defying Democrat’s would-be assassin, a Hobbs campaign operative quietly registered Will of the People, a political action committee (PAC) that would go on to raise more than $5 million from dark money and labor union heavyweights across the nation.
The listed address for the PAC is a virtual office in downtown Phoenix. Its treasurer from day one was Dacey Montoya, founder and president of The Money Wheel, a well-known political and nonprofit compliance firm in Democratic circles. Montoya is currently the treasurer for both Gov. Katie Hobbs’ campaign and Hobbs’ alleged campaign finance fund-washing fund.
Montoya has offered her Money Wheel services to numerous Democratic candidates, party organizations, and progressive dark money operations both in Arizona and nationally over the years. Past clientele include Gov. Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Rep. Yassamin Ansari, Sen. Mark Kelly, Jevin D. Hodge, Kirsten Engel, Reginald Bolding, Arizona Democratic Party, Maricopa County Democratic Party, Progress Now Arizona/Progress Arizona, Our Voice Our Vote Arizona, Copper State Victory, and the Arizona Education Association.
The Money Wheel has received more than $5.2 million since 2017 at the federal level according to Federal Election Commission records, and more than $1.9 million since 2017 at the state level according to secretary of state campaign finance records. Since 2022, Montoya’s company has received more than $119,000 from the PAC.
Will of the People PAC
Most of Will of the People PAC’s millions came in 2022 and 2024.
$2.3 million from SEIU-UHW and SEIU-COPE, the nation’s largest labor union and a PAC
$1 million from Open Society Action Fund, an organization by the Soros family, who are top Democratic dark money donors
$680,000 from ProgressNow AZ
$600,000 from the National Education Association
$360,000 from the Fairness Project
$200,000 from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona
The PAC has not reported any income this year, and the only significant reported expenditures so far have been $8,000 from January through April given to The Money Wheel.
The PAC has spent an undisclosed amount of funding on lawfare to kill Republican-led ballot initiatives; in recent months, they filed two lawsuits to stop Propositions 142 (called the “Prohibit Mandatory Support for Discrimination or Preferential Treatment by Government Entities Amendment”) and 318 (called the “Require All Schools and Athletic Associations to Restrict Sports Participation and Access to Private Spaces Based on Sex Measure”).
Prop 142 would prohibit the state and government agencies from compelling, promoting, or implementing practices rooted in preferential treatment or discrimination based on race or ethnicity.
Prop 318 would restrict access to private spaces like restrooms and locker rooms based on biological sex, bar male students from participating in female sports, and establish a definition of sex rooted in biology.
In the case of Prop 318, the PAC also created a website called “Vote No on Prop 318.” However, per media coverage and the website itself, the PAC is now claiming to be a program under Progress Arizona, a progressive 501(c)(4) nonprofit. This website has not been disclosed under the PAC’s campaign finance reporting as of this report. The PAC’s logo is displayed on the website.
“Will of the People is a program of Progress Arizona,” states the website. “Email info@progressarizona.org. Paid for by Will of the People.”
Concerning the media — as previously reported, the PAC once identified The Arizona Republic as an endorser of their efforts.
It appears that the PAC may have failed to file some of its required expenditure disclosures. Four television advertisements urging Arizonans to vote “no” on Prop 132 (called the “60% Vote Requirement for Ballot Measures to Approve Taxes Amendment”) weren’t reflected in the PAC’s ballot measure expenditures for 2022, because none were issued.
Voters approved Prop 132 in 2022, which established a 60% vote threshold for ballot measures approving taxes.
Will of the People Is Also a Nonprofit
The PAC also has a similarly named nonprofit, “Will of the People Arizona.” The two share a launch year, an address, and leadership.
One of the first leaders of the nonprofit arm, Betsy Boggia, was not listed on PAC documentation. Boggia served as the director/secretary from 2022 through 2024, based on Arizona Corporation Commission records.
Boggia is a League of Women Voters board member and a recent former president of its Tucson chapter, according to her active and up-to-date LinkedIn profile. Notably missing from her work history and posts were any references to her leading a nonprofit that raised more than $5.5 million in three years.
Boggia’s silence on the matter may be explained by the nonprofit’s tax filings, which reported that Boggia spent an average of just one hour per week running the multi-million dollar operation.
Between the nonprofit and PAC, the two apparently affiliated entities have raised and spent approximately $11 million in four years.
The nonprofit didn’t disclose its revenue sources on its available tax filings from 2022, 2023, and 2024. Only four contributions totaling $2.1 million were publicly available through other organizations’ tax filings:
$1 million from Open Society Policy Center in 2024
Only the ACLU provided a detailed explanation for the purpose of their contribution: paid communications to defeat Propositions 128, 129, and 132.
Propositions Targeted by Will of the People PAC and Nonprofit
Based on various sources, the PAC and nonprofit together targeted at least 14 Republican-led propositions from 2022 through this year.
Nine were defeated and five passed. Five are to be determined this year.
The PAC and nonprofit also successfully advocated for the passage of Prop 139 in 2024, which made abortion a constitutional right in Arizona.
On publicly available archived versions of the PAC’s site from 2024 through 2025, the PAC clearly disclosed which propositions it opposed: Props 134, 136, 137, and 139.
Prop 134 would have set a signature distribution requirement in all 30 legislative districts for citizen-led initiatives: 10% for statewide initiatives, 15% for constitutional amendments, and 5% for statewide referenda.
Prop 136 would have allowed individuals to sue to stop voter-proposed initiatives from being put on the ballot if they believe them to be unconstitutional.
Prop 137 would have ended term limits for state supreme court justices and superior court judges.
Then, earlier this year, the PAC changed its website to offer a ballot proposal guide in exchange for donations. The linked donation button led to a donation page hosted by ActBlue Civics, which disclosed that the donated funds would be given to Progress Arizona, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, not the Will of the People PAC.
In 2024, the PAC disclosed giving $8,000 to Progress Arizona’s policy and research director, Casey Clowes, in 2024 to run digital ads opposed to multiple propositions and in favor of one proposition, Prop 139, which created a constitutional right to abortion.
The PAC has also paid $55,000 to ProgressNow AZ and Progress Arizona PAC, and $706,000 to the Arizona Democratic Party.
The current version of the site as of this report no longer includes the promise of a ballot proposal guide in exchange for fundraising. Instead, the PAC website now urges individuals to endorse a “no” vote on Props 142, 144, 318, and 320.
“A group of power-hungry politicians have voted to put a set of highly deceptive propositions on your ballot this November,” states the present version of the site. “They are aiming to make voting more difficult for Arizonans, hollow out our schools with funding cuts, and institute blanket discrimination in youth sports. You can help stop these propositions by adding your name to the list of Arizonans endorsing a NO vote on these dangerous measures.”
Despite its grassroots-sounding name, Will of the People has been funded by millions of dollars from national labor unions, progressive organizations, and Democratic-aligned dark-money groups, while its leadership and vendors have extensive ties to Arizona’s Democratic political establishment.
The organization has opposed numerous Republican-led ballot measures. With five targeted measures still awaiting a vote, its influence over Arizona’s ballot initiatives remains active heading into November.
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Gov. Katie Hobbs stands accused of illegally commingling millions in funds to subsidize her campaign.
A letter sent by attorney Tim La Sota to Secretary of State Adrian Fontes earlier this month accuses the governor of commingling funds between her reelection campaign committee, Elect Katie Hobbs, and two other entities which submit funds to her campaign committee.
Elect Katie Hobbs and all other candidate campaign committees are restricted in the types of funds they may accept. Campaign committees must rely on what’s known in campaign finance parlance as “hard money,” or donations given by individuals directly to a political candidate, and cannot accept “soft money,” or donations or contributions collected into political action committees (PACs) from corporations or unions. Individual donations are limited to $5,500 per person.
The letter claims that Hobbs has used a PAC, which it claims to be hers, Copper State Values, as an unlawful repository for soft money to be used for Elect Katie Hobbs expenses. Allegedly, Copper State Values receives soft money funds from Hobbs’ joint fundraising committee PAC, the Katie Hobbs Victory Fund, and then sends the funds on to Elect Katie Hobbs and other political entities working to reelect Hobbs such as the Navajo County Democrat Party and the Arizona Democratic Party.
“Candidate contribution limits mean little if candidates can simply funnel money that the candidate herself cannot legally receive to a political action committee and turn around and have that political action committee pay for that candidate’s campaign expenses,” said the letter.
Since 2023, Elect Katie Hobbs has accrued more than $7.8 million and spent more than $4 million, Copper State Values has accrued more than $3.8 million and spent more than $2 million, and Katie Hobbs Victory Fund has respectively accrued and spent more than $1.8 million.
The letter further described Copper State Values as unusual since it lacked the typical hallmarks of a PAC, such as a political activity or a website. The PAC’s main activity appears to be the alleged shared expenses with Elect Katie Hobbs for which it pays, such as payroll, rent, and travel.
“The PAC seems to only function as a repository of monies that are then distributed to various left-wing entities, who will presumably help the Governor get elected — that and paying for expenses that legally must be paid by [Elect Katie Hobbs],” stated the letter. “[I]n terms of the PAC, it seems to do nothing but receive money and distribute money. It does not have any discernible political activity in terms of expenditures for express advocacy. It does not even have a website. And yet, it racks up hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses, money that it reimburses to Elect Katie Hobbs.”
Hobbs’ reelection campaign manager, Nicole DeMont, serves as the chair of Copper State Values, and both Copper State Values and Elect Katie Hobbs share the same address, email address, and treasurer, Dacey Montoya.
The letter noted that Demont’s consulting firm, Monteverde Strategies, has received about $55,000 from Copper State Values. It also noted that Capital Strategies, a consultant for Hobbs, has received more than $198,000 from Copper State Values, though the consultant doesn’t disclose its relationship to the PAC on its website page for current and former clients.
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Arizona’s top Democrats from Congress on down are coordinating to pass a ballot measure that would enshrine relaxed voter ID laws in the Arizona Constitution.
A coalition of top Democrats joined on a livestream earlier this week for a launch of the Protect the Vote Arizona Act political action committee: Reps. Greg Stanton (D-AZ-04), Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ-03), and Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ-07); Secretary of State Adrian Fontes; Attorney General Kris Mayes; and the minority leaders for the Arizona House and Senate, Rep. Oscar De Los Santos (D-LD-11) and Sen. Priya Sundareshan (D-LD-18).
The Democrats styled the ballot measure in their public comments as focused primarily on keeping mail-in voting as an option in Arizona. However, most of the ballot measure focuses on undoing the strictness of voter ID laws and ensuring that stricter voting requirements may not come to pass.
The Protect the Vote Arizona Act would require the acceptance of any IDs with the photograph, name, and address of an individual — not just limited to any government-issued form of identification.
The act also prohibits limiting allowable forms of identification to photo IDs, and requires acceptance of IDs so long as election workers can’t determine “on its face” that the identification provided had expired.
The act would also require the acceptance of “any two forms of identification that bear the name and address of the elector.” The non-exhaustive examples of valid voter ID included utility bills or bank or credit union statements dated within ninety days of the election, or any mailing labeled “official election material.”
Even if an individual doesn’t provide valid identification, the law would require that individual be allowed to cast a provisional ballot regardless. According to the ballot measure, that provisional ballot wouldn’t count unless the elector provides any of the myriad forms of ID to their county elections officer within a certain time frame.
Beyond identification laws, the act would prohibit any policies or laws that would “burden” voting, not just those that restrict or curtail voting. One of those measures would concern mail-in ballots. The act proposes to enshrine mail-in ballots within the Arizona Constitution.
Help us protect early voting and mail-in voting in Arizona! Join me for a ‘Protect the Vote’ livestream this evening to learn more about this key Arizona ballot initiative. We must count and protect every single vote 🗳️📩 pic.twitter.com/uqkqmfYOue
Ansari said in the livestream that Democrats need to gather 500,000 signatures by July 2 to get their constitutional measure on the ballot this November. The Protect the Vote Arizona website said a lower number will be needed: about 384,000 signatures.
Ansari estimated that they’ve already collected about 50,000 signatures in recent weeks.
During conversations on the ballot measure, Grijalva agreed with a claim that the SAVE Act and similar efforts to require voter ID were rooted in racist efforts to prevent non-whites from voting.
“We have to give people hope that there is a way out of this,” said Grijalva. “We know that our message is resonating with people.”
Other top Democrats on the livestream included Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Greg Casar (TX), Jasmine Crockett (TX), Maxwell Frost (FL), and Robert Garcia (CA).
The political action committee behind the ballot measure, Protect the Vote Arizona, claimed to have had no funding or expenditures since its launch in January through the end of March.
Key members behind the ballot measure are Maritza Miranda Saenz, a lobbyist with Lumen Strategies, and Dacey Montoya, Gov. Katie Hobbs’ treasurer and a leading dark money handler for Arizona Democrats (see: “The Money Wheel”).
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The Arizona Democratic Party (ADP) is heading into the second quarter of this pivotal election year with a negative cash balance exceeding $720,000.
Their latest campaign finance report, filed last week, reflected total-to-date expenditures that nearly tripled their income: over $2.8 million compared to $1 million.
For this first period, ADP’s expenditures did fall below their income: about $67,500 compared to $151,500.
ADP experienced much stronger fundraising in the first quarter of 2022, the last midterm election year. The party’s reported income was over $370,000 and expenditures were $146,000 in that first quarter.
A stark difference was evident between ADP’s campaign finances for the last two off-years as well.
The party’s campaign finance report data for all of 2025 reflected income just below $857,000, but expenditures totaling over $2.7 million. In the first quarter of 2025, the party raised only about $210,000 and spent nearly $360,000.
Comparatively, by the end of 2023, ADP had $1.5 million more in income than expenditures. In the first quarter of 2023, ADP raised nearly $1 million and expended about $227,000.
Some among ADP leadership did warn last summer that the party would go broke by the end of the year. The party has dealt with publicized infighting for about a year.
Unlike other transfers listed, shared expenses with the Navajo County Democratic Committee (NCDC) were categorized as an “unlimited transfer” routing arrangement for ADP funds.
NCDC has a surplus of nearly $1.6 million. Since the beginning of last year, NCDC has sent over $61,000 to ADP.
In that same time period ADP sent back over $107,000 to NCDC, or $46,000 more than NCDC has sent. Their cycle to date reported a cash flow between the two totaling nearly $150,000.
Navajo County accounted for ADP’s second-largest expenditure last year.
AZ Free News contacted ADP about the state of their finances and their fiscal arrangement with NCDC. ADP didn’t respond to our inquiry.
Apart from NCDC, ADP’s number-one expenditure last year by far was $1.7 million last August to the Copper State Values PAC, established and run by Gov. Katie Hobbs’ campaign manager Nicole DeMont and treasurer Dacey Montoya. Since DeMont set up the PAC in December 2024, its primary function has appeared to be a funding arm for the Hobbs reelection campaign.
The PAC sent back $94,500 a few months later, last December.
Discounting the $49,000 received from NCDC last year, ADP’s biggest sources of income were:
United Food and Comm Workers (UFCW) Union Local 99, the largest private-sector union in the state: $100,000
Estate of the late Janet Delesanti: $49,000
Arizona Public Service: $30,000
Elevance Health Inc (formerly Anthem), an Ohio-based insurance company: $25,000
Donalyn Mikles, former attorney for the defunct Arizona Summit Law School and director of the California-based Kling Family Foundation: $20,000
Moms Fed Up, a D.C.-based political activist organization: $20,000
William (Bill) Roe, former chair of the Arizona Democratic Party: $15,000
Pam H. Grissom, founder and longtime (not current) board member for Arizona List: $15,000
AFSCME People, AFSCME’s D.C.-based political action arm: $15,000
The following donated about $10,000 each: University of Phoenix, PMI US Corporate Services, Nextera Energy Resources, Arizona Education Association Fund for Public Education, Arizona State Association of Electrical Workers, and Daniel T. Ling.
None of the Democrats’ other legislative districts or county parties in the state have reported a negative cash balance, with the exceptions of Santa Cruz County Central Democratic Committee and La Paz County Democratic Central Committee.
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Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) announced he has raised nearly $3 million to date, and has over $1 million cash on hand.
Following the aggregate donations of multiple contributors, the biggest donations to Biggs’ campaign came from Biggs’ federal campaign, Biggs2016, amounting to $50,000, and the Freedom Club PAC which gave over $16,000.
Arizona campaign funding data reports fellow Republican congressman and gubernatorial candidate David Schweikert as having raised nearly $900,000, and having nearly $300,000 cash on hand.
Schweikert’s top donors came from Schweikert’s own coffers. $572,00 came from Schweikert’s federal campaign committee, Friends of David Schweikert. $115,000 came from Schweikert himself.
Even combined, the pair doesn’t come close to the amount in the Democratic governor’s campaign coffers.
Incumbent Gov. Katie Hobbs has raised over $5.7 million since last year, and has over $6 million in cash on hand.
Unlike Biggs and Schweikert, Hobbs had multiple large donors outside of multiple contributor aggregates, mainly unions: Unite Here Tip Campaign Committee ($11,000), United Food and Commercial Workers Union of Arizona Local 99 ($11,000), AFSCME People ($11,000), Arizona Education Association ($11,000), and Hollywood star Jennifer Garner ($10,000).
Hobbs also received nearly $250,000 in non-contribution income from Copper State Values, a political action committee established and chaired by Hobbs’ campaign manager, Nicole Demont.
Demont established the PAC in December 2024, and teamed up with leading dark money handler Dacey Montoya (“The Money Wheel”), who serves as the PAC’s treasurer. Funds from the PAC began benefitting Hobbs’ campaign last June.
Other than a few contributions to outside organizations, it appears Copper State Values functions as a funding arm for the Hobbs campaign.
Copper State Values has made payments to a number of companies which Hobbs has paid for services, including $150,000 to the California-based Capital Strategies, which has Hobbs listed under its clientele; nearly $7,000 to Pingdex for calls; and $40,000 to Monteverde Strategies.
The non-contribution income covered shared expenses between the Hobbs campaign and the PAC: acquisition, office supplies, insurance, professional services, rent, finance consulting, payroll, postage, mailers, utilities, fuel, food and beverage, fundraising event, travel, and health insurance.
Multiple donations came from the health sector: Centene Management Company, the Missouri-based largest Medicaid managed care organization in the nation; PhRMA, the D.C.-based biopharmaceutical trade association; 7WireVentures, an Illinois-based backer of digital health companies; Paradise Valley healthcare executive Reginald Ballantyne; Scottsdale-based Priority Ambulance; Ohio-based Elevance Health; UnitedHealth Group; CVS Health.
Others donations coming from special interests included Google, NextEra Energy Resources, a Florida-based wholesale electricity supplier; DraftKings, the Massachusetts-based online sports gambling giant; Sports Betting Alliance; DoorDash, the food delivery service giant; Casey Wasserman, with the major California talent agency Wasserman; Green Valley-based cell tower and telecommunications attorney John Pestle; California-based solar developer Mark Boyadjian for Arevia Power; Tempe-based Carvana; and California-based clean energy developer Clearway Renew Consolidated Devco.
Multiple donations to the PAC came from the real estate sector: California-based Klein Financial Corporation; Verde Investments, a Tempe-based real estate firm; James Edward Pederson, a Phoenix-based founder of the Pederson Group; Mark Breen, and Scottsdale-based president of Atlantic Development & Investments.
Other sizable donations came from the Arizona Beverage Association; Marcia Grand, Tucson retiree and wife to late trial attorney Richard Grand; the Salt River Pinta-Maricopa Indian Community; Arizona Democratic Party; Democratic Governors Association; D.C.-based Laborers International Union of North America; and Illinois-based racial justice group Communities United.
Karrin Taylor Robson, who suspended her campaign earlier this year, accumulated over $4.7 million for her gubernatorial run. Over $2.2 million of that came from her own pockets. Her cash balance sat at $1.1 million.
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