Matt Arnold has been in the news lately. Most political gadflies welcome the attention that temporarily feeds their bottomless egos, but it’s different for Arnold. Shine a little light on his “work” and see the depth of his fraudulent enterprise.
First, a well-researched piece by Reason magazine outlined Arnold’s pathetic election law work, concluding that he rarely wins and that his only impact is suppressing Colorado citizens’ First Amendment rights. Then, the Colorado Springs Gazette editorial board highlighted Arnold’s hypocrisy in his opposition to legislation that would strengthen Colorado’s election law compliance. In short, it would cut into his profit center of filing bogus election law complaints.
Fold this new information into what we already know about Arnold, and certain conclusions become more clear than ever:
- Matt Arnold is supporting progressive liberals. He has filed over 50 campaign finance complaints and over 70% were against Republican candidates. He wins very few of his cases – over 75% of the cases were either dismissed outright or dismissed after the court assessed small administrative fines of a few hundred dollars for clerical errors. While this awful win-loss ratio should be a concern for anyone considering hiring Arnold, there is a larger issue for Republicans. Every time Matt Arnold files a legal complaint the candidate must spend limited campaign dollars on lawyers rather than getting elected. By focusing most his efforts on Republican candidates in key races, Arnold hands Democrats general election advantages. Arnold is nothing more, nothing less than Ethics Watch 2.0.
- Matt Arnold is not successful. He wins very few cases. If you take out the cases where an administrative penalty of a few hundred dollars are assessed for tiny clerical errors in a report – Matt Arnold “wins” less than a quarter of his cases. The most astounding part is that even the remaining cases he “wins” are for minor tick-tacky reporting errors that also just result in a small administrative fine. The latest example of this pattern came last month when Matt Arnold filed a Complaint against the El Paso County Republican Party because there were five clerical errors in a report that included over 50,000 data cells. Arnold declared this a major victory and the County GOP paid a measly $250 fine – the only major victory is the perceived reputational damage he believes he inflicts. Arnold rarely wins and even when he “wins” it is over petty and inconsequential matters.
- Matt Arnold is doing this for money. Arnold does his “work” under his entity Campaign Integrity Watchdog, complete with a cheesy pit bull mascot and a website fit for a Nevada bail bondsman. But if you look harder you start to see the real scheme. Campaign Integrity Watchdog is presented as a public-interest organization complete with a “.org” website typically used by non-profit groups. But in truth, Arnold’s company is a for-profit corporation, he files election law complaints only if you pay his fee, and the entire scheme exists to make him money.
- Matt Arnold is a fraud. Arnold’s latest election law filing scheme fits his historic reputation as a fraudster. This is the same Matt Arnold who lied about having a Master’s degree. This is the same Matt Arnold who lied about the Arapahoe County Republicans endorsing him. This is the same Matt Arnold who tried to blackmail the Colorado Republican Party offering to drop a Complaint for $10,000 payment.
Same Matt Arnold, different scheme, but we are all wising up to his ruse. Don’t be fooled, PeakNation™.