'Dark Money' robocalls push Ducey's education agenda

• American Encore helped elect Gov. Ducey.
• Sean Noble%2C president of American Encore%2C said the group will continue to weigh in on Ducey%27s proposals and policies.

When Steve Ramos checked his voice mail Saturday, he was surprised to hear something that sounded a lot like a political attack ad from last year's race for governor. Except instead of advocating for a candidate, the message criticized his local school superintendent and instructed Ramos to tell him to support Gov. Doug Ducey's K-12 budget.

Also similar to the gubernatorial campaign: The message was funded by one of the "dark money" nonprofit groups that spent record amounts to help elect Ducey.

A retired Mesa teacher, Ramos was incredulous that American Encore, the political non-profit behind the ad, would,continue to push Ducey's positions now that he's in office. To Ramos, the call was a political "cheap shot" because the group shields its financial backers and the assertions against the superintendent seemed inaccurate.

"I'm just surprised that American Encore would be doing this outside of an election season," said Ramos.

American Encore spent nearly $1.5 million to get Ducey elected, bankrolling hits against his Democratic opponent while also funding TV ads for Ducey. Now, the group is backing Ducey's high-stakes education proposal, one that is pitting public-education leaders against the governor.

The group's effort to bolster Ducey's agenda is the first indication that 501(c)(4) groups, which have had a dramatic impact on elections since court rulings allowed them to accept unlimited and largely anonymous donations, may deploy their vast financial networks to support their candidates' agendas and enhance their image after they're elected, political experts say.

Sean Noble, president of American Encore, said it is the group's First Amendment right to advocate for the governor's agenda and participate in a public-policy debate. Expect the group to continue "to both watch and engage on issues of importance to our state" throughout Ducey's tenure, Noble told The Arizona Republic on Monday.

However, critics of dark-money groups say the robocalls amount to political intimidation.

Noble scoffs at the characterization, saying the group's response was fair, legal and "proportional" to the criticism of Ducey's education-funding proposal.

"Having a discussion about important policy is now political intimidation?" Noble said. "Those are the very people who want to be able to speak and criticize people without having anyone be able to answer back."

Ducey's education proposal calls for a 5 percent reduction in non-classroom spending. Schools calculate that the reduction would equal $113 million less to spend statewide on things such as technology, textbooks and staff, including school libraries, food service and health workers.

"Do school districts actually spend enough (money) in the classroom?" Noble asked. "I think not. ... If the superintendent sends out a robocall, and we feel like we should do a robocall, we're going to do a robocall."

The robocall duel began last week.

Superintendents from the Valley's largest school districts dialed parents, urging them to get in touch with state officials and tell them to not cut school funding.

Mesa Public Schools Superintendent Michael Cowan, who leads the state's largest district, made automatic calls to 38,624 homes . In the call and a follow-up e-mail, he told them how to reach political leaders to object to the proposed cuts. The calls were made using the district's mass-communication system, which is publicly funded and used to inform parents about everything from testing dates to campus flooding.

American Encore responded with its robocalls against Cowan. The calls say the Mesa Unified School District "spends nearly half its entire budget outside of the classroom — that's well below the national average. In fact, Superintendent Cowan only spends 31 percent of his $557 million budget on teachers."

"With the state of education as it is today," the call says, "we need more money spent in the classroom." The call then tells listeners to call Cowan and "urge him to support Ducey's budget plan."

Cowan was not available to discuss American Encore's calls, spokeswoman Helen Hollands said.

She said in a statement that it is the district's responsibility to inform parents about issues that could affect education. "If the proposed budget moves forward and Mesa Public Schools is required to cut $8.5 million, critical support services for our students and teachers in the classroom will be diminished," she said in the statement.

She cited a state auditor general report for fiscal year 2013 that shows Mesa spent 56.3 percent of its total operational spending in the classroom. "The district spends more per student in the classroom than our peer districts or the state average," Hollands wrote.

Monday morning, she said the district had received 15 messages in response to the calls — nine supported the district, five supported Ducey and one was neutral.

Asked to comment about American Encore's support of Ducey's proposal, the governor's spokesman said it reflects the discussions that happen every legislative session.

"There are groups and individuals in the public-policy arena who are supporting the governor's classrooms-first initiative and those that are opposing it," spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said in a statement. "We might not agree with them all the time, but they are all entitled to make their voices heard as the process unfolds. What we do have control over are the messages from the Governor's Office as we work to get more dollars in the classroom, where learning happens between a student and a teacher."

Recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court that eliminated dollar limits and disclosure requirements for certain contributors set off a spending spree in the 2014 election: $12 million was spent by such groups in the governor's race alone, eclipsing the total spent in any previous Arizona governor's race.

David Berman, who authored a paper on dark money for Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy, said American Encore and the Ducey administration "go hand in hand."

"They have policy objectives and they have an investment in Ducey," Berman said of the group. "They put him in office and they want him to look good. I think they're wedded, really."

In this case, Noble said it made sense for American Encore "to do a proportional response" to criticism of Ducey's budget proposal. "We're not going to do a TV ad," he said. The group might, however, target other superintendents.

Noble said he informed the governor about the calls, telling Ducey "we were engaging" against Cowan.

Asked what Ducey's response was, Noble responded that it was "Well, people will do what they want to do."

The group's issue-advocacy messages are not subject to Arizona's disclosure requirements.

Noble said American Encore may not always agree with Ducey's proposals and policies, and it won't hesitate to say so.

Linda Somo, an independent voter and retired school counselor and English teacher, had never heard of American Encore until she received a message from the group on Saturday and did some research. Afterward, she said, she called Ducey's office "and registered a complaint."

"They (the Governor's Office) said it's an independent group that did it," she recalled. "This is not helping his cause any with me. All it's doing is angering people and making us dig in our heels even more."

Reporters Cathryn Creno and Rob O'Dell contributed to this article.