Dark Money And/Or Dark Politics In Mesa? > Shine A Little Light On That Subject, Please

[Harvard Political Review]

Article just out in Harvard Political Review

When All Politics is No Longer Local
December 28, 2015 by Caroline Turvo 4:34 p.m.
 
Ex-Mayor Scott Smith, the subject of a post here on 12 August headlined "Mr.Smith Goes to Harvard", apparently hasn't moved on from his stinging defeat aspiring to become governor of the State of Arizona, getting endorsed by the unpopular Jan Brewer, losing out big time to fellow-Republican Doug Ducey, and handing the Mesa mayor's seat to his hand-picked successor John Giles.



Even though now out-of-office, Scott Smith continues to meddle in state politics trashing the funding for Ducey's successful gubernatorial campaign, and exerting his influence in local politics for the upcoming 2016 Mesa City Council election cycle where he and Giles recruited a fellow Mormon to replace retiring Councilmember and Vice-Mayor Dennis Kavanaugh, with both coming out to endorse their hand-picked candidate - Jerry Lewis - on the same day he made the announcement to run . . . anybody else smell the stinky aroma of the Good 'Ole Boys Crony Political Machine here?

Back to Smith's grumbling for whatever agenda he's holding onto while at Harvard University whose motto is Lux et VERITAS : Light and Truth, even though he's getting into allegations of "dark money" for outside money distorting local politics.
Readers can take the time to read the entire HPR article by going to this link for details >> http://harvardpolitics.com/online/politics-longer-local-independent-expenditures-rising-costs-municipal-campaigns/

The effect of outside money from non-profits and tax-exempt religious organizations in state politics is even more staggering.[Read Caroline Turvo's article in the link provided above].

Nowhere, however, in the article is mentioned the "dark money" that got funneled into California from out-of-state by the Mormon Church for support in 2008 of  Proposition 8 opposing same-sex marriage that sparked heated debate and protest by gay-rights organizations and others. The Supreme Court was asked to clarify the issue and did so, citing the Equal Protection Clause in the U.S. Constitution granting the rights of all protected classes by the enforcement of law.
That is now the law of the land, including Arizona and the City of Mesa.
According to basic tenets the LDS Church will take no partisan role in politics, stating that it will not "endorse, promote or oppose political parties, candidates or platforms; allow its church buildings, membership lists or other resources to be used for partisan political purposes; attempt to direct its members as to which candidate or party they should give their votes to ... or attempt to direct or dictate to a government leader."
How this operates in-practice here in Mesa remains to get looked at and seen with the rising wave of diversity and demographics here, where 80% of the City Council is controlled by 14% of the population.
Mark Twain has this to say about religion:

Reader comments are invited.