"With the 2012 legislative season and another episode of the Great American Campaign Circus dawning over the nation, Arizona may find itself the proving grounds for possible reform in the age of “pay-to-play” politics.

"In January, Arizona Rep. Steve Farley (D-Tucson) will introduce the “ALEC Accountability Act of 2012,” which is aimed squarely at the less-than-transparent American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a national organization that advances corporate-authored model legislation at the state level through the use of a hidden distribution network of special interest cash.

"This network, known as the ALEC “scholarship fund,” holds more than $1 million for state lawmakers to attend various functions (commonly referred to as “junkets”). At these functions, lawmakers are literally wined and dined by lobbyists seeking to advance the legislative agendas of their clients.

"To Farley and proponents of the bill, the problem is absolutely clear. In a nutshell: ALEC is a lobbyist organization, but its corporate backers operate out of public view. “If voters knew that [their lawmaker] was receiving a huge donation from BP, for example, then they might be less likely to vote for them,” Farley says. “They would understand that their best interests were not necessarily being looked after. We should be as transparent as possible. … We can’t pretend that [legislation] was our idea when it came from ALEC and from a multinational corporation that had its own interests in mind.”

"When was the last time you flew your representative off to dinner in your private jet?

"Given the strength of anticipated opposition to the ALEC Accountability Act, Farley hopes members of the public will contact lawmakers to make their support for reform known. “ 'They should send more e-mails than ALEC does,” he says. “They should send them to [lawmakers] and tell them directly: We are watching you. … We want to know who’s wining and dining you.' ”

And from Jim Hightower: 

"Let's hear it for American Tradition Partnership! It's an organization that stands up for the politically dispossessed in our land. It goes to the highest courts to assert the fundamental rights of a minority that's been denied its full voice in America's political and governmental power circles. Yes, American Tradition Partnership is a tenacious advocate for (cue the patriotic music): corporations.

"Huh? Despite its grandiose name, American Tradition Partnership is a front group that funnels money from corporations into various political ads attacking candidates whom the corporations don't like – without identifying the corporate backers. Hoping to expand its laundry services for these secret donors, ATP filed suit in Montana to overtrun the state's century-old ban on spending corporate funds in state and local elections. The front group argued that the ban restricts corporate influence over government policies.

"Wow. That's so twisted and anti-democratic that it'd make an American eagle scream in pain. But for arrogant corporate elites and their political lackeys, too much is never enough.

"The good news is that corporate lackeys don't yet control Montana's Supreme Court. On December 30th, The Court's majority sided with democracy, common sense, and state Attorney General Steve Bullock, who argued for the people of Montana that corporations already have beaucoup ways to assert their oversized political power, without needing to funnel secret money into our elections."