Balkinization  

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Dark-Money Campaign Financing in Montana

John Mikhail

Investigative reporter Paul Abowd of the Center for Public Integrity uncovers the details in Mother Jones.  A sample:


Voters haven't had a clue who is behind American Tradition Partnership—the Colorado-based group pushing to rewrite Montana's campaign finance laws—and that's just the way the secretive nonprofit wants it.

A 2010 fundraising pitch to its donors promised that "no politician, no bureaucrat, and no radical environmentalist will ever know you helped," and "the only thing we plan on reporting is our success to contributors like you."

"Montana has very strict limits on contributions to candidates," reads the document, obtained by the Center for Public Integrity. "…but there is no limit to how much you can give to this program." 

As for the state's ban on corporate money in elections? "Corporate contributions are completely legal," the pitch assures potential funders. "This is one of the rare programs you will find where that's the case."

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