Lori Klein is the executive director of the Arizona Home Owners Protection Effort (Arizona HOPE). A political consultant and fundraiser, Klein is a founding partner of Academica Associates, which describes itself as “a private think tank serving the needs of a small client base in the international business community,” and she has been the director of Arizonans for the Fair Tax, which advocates replacing the federal income tax with a national consumption tax.

Arizona HOPE is the primary group supporting Proposition 207, an eminent-domain and regulatory-takings initiative in your state. How did the group come about?

We all decided that we needed to do something [about perceived eminent-domain and regulatory abuses]. Our chairman, Carol Springer, is a former state senator, a libertarian-leaning Republican. She was also a Realtor. We talked about it and said, “Let’s see if the Legislature will take this one on.”

What happened in the Legislature?

We did have a fairly good eminent-domain bill. The bill made it through the Legislature but was vetoed by the governor [Janet Napolitano, a Democrat]. Then we hired a lobbyist, Brenda Burns [the former president of the Arizona Senate]. We all worked with her to try to get our initiative placed on the ballot through the Legislature, because that would save us half a million dollars [for petition-drive expenses]. The politicians indicated they wanted a very strong eminent-domain and regulatory-takings initiative on the ballot. We got the bill through the Senate, but the House failed to vote on it. They were deluged with city officials and city lobbyists from all over the state, who said this would be costly, would not allow for any new development, [and would] hamstring the cities and the state. That’s just not true. They blatantly lied to the legislators.

After your legislative efforts failed, you decided to go the initiative route. Tell us about that.

Realizing the powers that were coming to bear on the Legislature not to allow this on the ballot, we began collecting signatures. We needed over 200,000. I worked very closely with Howie Rich, who is chairman of Americans for Limited Government. I worked with him on term limits and I’ve known him for years.

Why did you need Rich’s help?

Many businesspeople were afraid to contribute to us, even though they believe in property rights, because of the draconian retaliation they would experience from the cities. Government is just so entrenched in the private affairs of the business on one level or another — through regulation or licensing or zoning — that the guys with money don’t want to go up against the powers that be.

Rich has become a controversial figure in connection with ballot initiatives in the West this year. Are concerns about the New York real-estate investor justified?

Howie is doing what [billionaire] George Soros does on the left. All we’re doing is trying to take back our government. Howie doesn’t want to be out front. He wants to help groups around the country. He’s not an egomaniac. He’s not Donald Trump. He’s not a flashy guy. He just wants to do the right thing.

Americans for Limited Government has put more than $1 million into Arizona, and millions more into initiatives on other states. Is this all Rich’s money?

It’s not all his money. There are other people like him around the country who are like-minded, and they’ll contribute because they want to make a difference.

How does it look for Proposition 207?

The polling looks good. Now it’s just a matter of getting the word out. Obviously, our opposition is demagoguing the issue and flat-out lying.