Ads back Sandy pit project

In a similar campaign, Wal-Mart funded a citizens' group in Flagstaff, Ariz., earlier this year. During that election, Wal-Mart fought size restrictions on stores that would have prevented it from opening Supercenters, which typically run around 200,000 square feet. Protect Flagstaff's Future, the group that supported Wal-Mart, won the May 17 referendum, and the proposed square footage cap failed.

During that campaign, Wal-Mart provided $400,700 of donations and in-kind contributions to Protect Flagstaff's Future — nearly 97 percent of the group's total donations of $414,164, said Margie Brown, Flagstaff city clerk. Groups that supported the size cap on stores collected nearly $142,000 combined, or roughly one-third of what Protect Flagstaff's Future received.

"We've never seen money spent like this. Ever," Brown said.

Frank Dickens, the founder of Protect Flagstaff's Future, said that he formed the group with the interest of protecting property rights. Dickens, a real estate agent, did not want the Flagstaff City Council to restrict store sizes.

"I made it very clear to the community that I would take any source of funding that I could get to make sure that the citizens needed to get the information they needed for this campaign," Dickens said. "I contact Wal-Mart . . . and I asked them if this was the kind of thing that they funded, and they said that they would contribute to our campaign."

Becky Daggett, executive director of Friends of Flagstaff's Future, which fought against Dickens' group, said that Dickens was simply the front man for Wal-Mart in the campaign. Similarly, SOC has leveled that accusation at Darrow, who maintains that she is acting in her own interests.

"It's insulting that I can't feel differently without being accused of simply fronting for a business," Darrow said. "It's kind of amusing to me and to friends who know me because I'm not going to be a spokeswoman for anything that I don't want to be a spokeswoman for."

But Darrow's claims don't convince SOC member Robyn Bagley.

"Where has the citizens group been the last year and a half?" Bagley said, referring to the legal battles between SOC and Boyer that led to the referendum. "I find it an insult to democracy that she would make a mockery of citizens groups."

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E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com