A Democratic super PAC quietly meddled in Arizona's GOP primary too

A mystery super PAC that spent nearly $2 million meddling in the Arizona Republican Senate primary was revealed to be funded by Democrats after the group's August Federal Election Commission report was published last weekend. That super PAC, blandly titled "Red and Gold," was able to conceal its donors -- and thus its links to national Democrats -- and avoid disclosure until after the election with a tactic increasingly used by other Democratic super PACs this cycle.

Last May, a pair of Democratic super PACs meddled anonymously in the West Virginia Republican Senate primary using the same arrangement. In Arizona, like in West Virginia, the super PAC avoided disclosure by forming on August 1, within a month of the August 30 primary, and electing to file monthly FEC reports.

Campaign finance experts had expressed concern that the tactics seen in West Virginia in May could spread to other races. 

"With these kind of campaign finance shenanigans, once the dam breaks, you can expect to see a flood of similar conduct," said Brendan Fischer of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, in May. "Once one political operative figures out how to get around the law, you see others following suit."

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