Landslide! Montana Voters Give The Boot To Citizens United, Reject Activist Courts Creating “Corporate Rights”

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Landslide! Montana Voters Give The Boot To Citizens United, Reject Activist Courts Creating “Corporate Rights”

The U.S. Supreme Court won’t rule in Montana election dispute

Supreme Court won’t block Montana campaign law ahead of vote
Dan Whitcomb Reuters
October 23, 2012

(Reuters) – The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to block a Montana law limiting campaign contributions to candidates for statewide office, leaving the caps in place at least through the November general election.

The high court upheld a ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco earlier this month that temporarily reinstated Montana’s right to regulate campaign contributions after a federal judge struck down the restrictions as unconstitutional.

Several conservative advocacy groups, led by American Tradition Partnership, had asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the case to block the 9th Circuit Court ruling while the case was pending. But the top court, in a one-paragraph order, denied the petition.

“The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling confirms that American Tradition Partnership’s latest ploy had no merit, and is a blow to the moneyed interests that want to sway our elections for their own ends,” Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock said in a statement responding to the ruling.

The legal fight over Montana’s campaign finance laws has been closely watched following a 2010 Supreme Court decision that found corporations and unions had a constitutional free-speech right to spend freely to support or oppose political candidates.

The Montana law, enacted after a 1994 voter initiative, caps contributions by individuals and political action committees at $630 for gubernatorial candidates, $310 for other statewide offices and at $160 for all other public offices.

JUDGE FOUND LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Total limits for political parties are $22,600 for governor, $8,150 for other statewide candidates, $1,300 for state senators and $800 for all other public offices.

But U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell found it was unconstitutional to cap donations by individuals, political action committees and political parties and ordered the limits not be enforced.

The 9th Circuit Court disagreed and issued a stay of Lovell’s ruling, which the Supreme Court declined to lift.

Donny Ferguson, executive director of American Tradition Partnership, said the Supreme Court ruling was not a surprise and did not have direct bearing on the ultimate outcome of the case.

“Montana’s limits are so low they give a virtual monopoly on political speech to media corporations, which are owned by out-of-state interests,” Ferguson said. “Allowing citizens to donate a higher amount gives them a chance to match the amount of speech controlled by newspapers, radio and TV.”

David Parker, political scientist at Montana State University, said the Supreme Court’s decision was unlikely to greatly influence the coming election.

“Basically, campaigns were organized under rules that existed, the same rules that will exist from here on out,” said Parker, author of “The Power of Money in Congressional Campaigns, 1880-2006.”

Less clear was the status of $500,000 funneled by the state Republican Party to its candidate for governor, Rick Hill, during a brief period in which limits were not in place, Parker said.

Montana campaign contribution limits to stay in place through election

9th Circuit: Montana campaign contribution limits to stay in place through election

HELENA – Montana’s campaign contribution limits will remain in place at least through the November election after a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling Tuesday that put a hold on a federal judge’s decision that would have allowed for unlimited spending in state races.
The appeals court also indicated it thinks the state ultimately has a strong case as it seeks a reversal of U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell’s decision, which agreed with conservative groups who argued the state’s contribution limits were too low to allow effective campaigning.
The court first intervened last week, issuing a temporary stay shortly after Lovell’s ruling. The court issued a lengthy order Tuesday keeping the stay in place until it makes a final decision on the state’s appeal. The appeals court noted that it specifically reviewed the state contribution limits in 2003 and found them to meet constitutional muster.
The order said tossing the contribution limits jeopardizes the fairness of the coming election. It says the state of Montana and its public interest could be irreparably harmed.
“The State of Montana has made a strong showing that it is likely to succeed on appeal,” the appeals court order says.
The case is one of several brought by conservative groups seeking to strike down state campaign laws they view as unconstitutional restrictions of speech.
Attorney General Steve Bullock has taken a prominent role in defending the state’s campaign laws. He lauded the appeals court intervention.
“The court has said that Montana’s campaign contribution limits will stay in effect for this election. That is an important victory for all Montanans, regardless of party affiliation,” Bullock said. “Montanans put a high value on the integrity and fairness of our election system, and the court has allowed us to maintain our citizen democracy, rather than putting our elections up for auction to the highest bidder.”
Montana limits range from $630 for an individual contributing to a governor’s race to $160 for a state House candidate. The amounts are adjusted each election cycle to account for inflation. The law also limited aggregate donations from political parties.
Conservative groups emboldened by the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision have made Montana the center of the fight over many campaign finance restrictions.
The groups, led by the Washington, D.C.-based American Tradition Partnership, have convinced Lovell, of Helena, to strike other laws, such as a ban on knowingly false statements in certain advertisements.
The U.S. Supreme Court also tossed the state’s century-old, voter-approved ban on independent corporate political spending in state races.
That decision prompted a new ballot initiative that would direct state leaders to seek a constitutional amendment undermining the high court’s decision.
The attorney general’s office argues that American Tradition Partnership is a shadowy group that is illegally trying to conceal its political spending, perhaps with money received from foreign corporations. The state is seeking sanctions against the conservative group in a separate court case.

Tonight – Presentations to explain implications of growing corporate power

Presentations to explain implications of growing corporate power
Guest column by WALTER WILDE

The breed of clear-thinking, hard-headed, eloquent men who gave us our U.S. Constitution is in short supply these days. What those men had in mind in 1787 bears little resemblance to the government we have now. Sovereignty now pretty much adheres to the rich and powerful, as it did before the Revolutionary War, rather than to the general citizenry as they intended.

The hallowed and staunchly defended precept that every individual is free to speak his or her mind has, through the gradual but persistent activism of our Supreme Court for over a century, been extended to include artificial persons – entities created by law, like corporations – while at the same time, and in the same way, becoming conflated with the expenditure of money required to propagate such speech on a massive scale. Gigantic multinational corporations and the billionaires who have profited from them, claiming an “inalienable right to free speech,” now legally spend millions upon millions of dollars to affect the outcomes of elections, overpowering the unamplified speech of ordinary citizens and rendering it fundamentally irrelevant to the political process.

One major surge of corporate power was beaten back by the legislative reforms of President Theodore Roosevelt in the early 20th century. Another resulted in the Great Depression and was countered by massive reforms instituted by President Franklin Roosevelt and by the advent of World War II. The current round of activity to increase the power of the wealthy began following the social upheavals of the 1960s, quickened markedly under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, who brought us “trickle-down” economics, received a huge boost from President Bill Clinton’s repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act and continued advocacy of “free trade” and deregulation, then absolutely flourished under the permissive policies of George W. Bush.

But it took a financial crisis rivaling the Great Depression, the shock of an outrageous Supreme Court ruling, and the explosive outbreak of citizen occupations across the nation to shake the American public from its slumber of complacency and reawaken its dormant political energy. Subsequent revelations have brought the hijacking of our government into sharp relief, and Americans are responding. It is gratifying to see.

The time has come to shake out the cobwebs and get to work. The challenges we face are not insurmountable; until our votes no longer count, we still have the tools we need to right our ship. Hundreds of thousands of individuals across the nation have joined groups supporting a constitutional amendment to counter the judicial activism that allowed the theft of our sovereignty. Fourteen amendments have been introduced into Congress and others are awaiting sponsors. The website of United for the People lists 120 national organizations pushing a constitutional remedy, plus 137 current members of Congress, 932 state officials and 915 local officials who have endorsed the amendment campaign. The numbers are growing every day.

Polls indicate that Montanans – indeed all Americans – strongly favor the removal of big money from our elections. Yet the complexity of the issues and the general scariness of a constitutional amendment make many uncomfortable to speak up about it. To help Missoulians become better acquainted with those issues, Missoula Moves to Amend and MontPIRG students will host a series of “community conversations” during the final three weeks of October:

On Oct. 15, we will explore in depth the two Citizens United doctrines that have stirred up so much antipathy in the public: corporations as people and money as speech. The program will feature former state legislator Jon Ellingson, professor Anthony Johnstone of the University of Montana Law School, and Dan Kemmis, researcher, author and former Missoula mayor.

On Oct. 22 the takeover of our government by special interests over past 40 years will be traced through the eyes of documentary filmmakers Donald Goldmacher and Frances Causey.

On Oct. 29, UM professor Paul Haber and state Rep. Ellie Hill will contrast the ways our government might look 30 years from now depending on whether we succeed in ejecting big money from our political process or fail.

All presentations will take place at 7 p.m. in Room 122 of the Gallagher Business Building at UM and will be followed by audience question-and-answer and discussion. Please join us for these interesting discussions.

Walter Wilde is a spokesman for Missoula Moves to Amend.

Monday Forum: Has Our Democracy Changed Forever? – MMTA Missoula Moves to Amend

Monday Forum: Has Our Democracy Changed Forever?
Monday Forum Explores Impacts of New Election Laws

On Monday, October 15, at 7 p.m. in room 122 of the Gallagher Business Building on the campus of the University of Montana, a new group, Missoula Moves to Amend, has brought together three speakers to lead a community conversation examining the question: Has our democracy changed forever?

Observers have yet to tally the obscene amounts of money raised and spent to influence voting in 2012, but there’s little doubt this election will set new records locally, statewide, and nationally. More to the point, citizens know that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in January 2010 has dramatically changed their democracy.

The evening’s speakers include Anthony Johnstone, a constitutional law professor at the University of Montana. He previously served as the Solicitor for the State of Montana and defended Montana’s election laws. He holds a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago Law School.

Jon Ellingson served two terms in the Montana House of Representatives (1994 to 1998) and then was elected to the state senate where he concluded his legislative career in 2006 serving as majority leader. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University, a master’s degree in political science from the University of Montana and his juris doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law.

Dan Kemmis has served as a Speaker of the House in the state legislator (1983 to 1985), Missoula’s Mayor (1990 to 1996), and Director of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West at the University of Montana. He is the author of three books on the vibrancy of local democracy, including Community and the Politics of Place.

This is a public meeting designed with short talks by the speakers to generate informal questioning, sharing of observations, and conversation.

The forum is co-sponsored by the University of Montana’s public interest research group, MontPIRG, and Stand With Montanans, the group sponsoring Initiative-166.

Missoula Moves to Amend is an affiliate of a national organization, Move to Amend, which is building a citizens’ movement to pass a constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not people, money is not speech, and citizens at all levels have the right to regulate election campaign contributions. (https://movetoamend.org/democracy-amendments )

For more information contact Walter Wilde, 721-5289, or Jeff Smith, 880-8320.

Feingold speaks on “Campaign Finance Reform in the Post-Citizens United Era”

Former Senator Russ Feingold (co-author of the McCain-Feingold campaign reform legislation) will speak at UM. He will give a talk “Campaign Finance Reform in the Post – Citizens United Era” on Monday Oct 8 at 3pm in Gallagher Business Bldg 123.

Activist judge says: “Big money wins in Montana”

Big money wins, voters lose with elimination of contribution limits. I-166 News Release: http://www.standwithmontanans.org/big_money_wins_voters_lose …

Conference decries Citizen United decision

“Unfortunately, the post-Citizens United influx of outside money into state campaigns is already affecting states’ unique political structures, he said.”

http://missoulian.com/news/local/citizens-united-decision-affecting-states-uniqueness-speakers-at-um say/article_604abc02-09d1-11e2-9cf8-0019bb2963f4.html

Tonight at 7:00 in the UC Theater – Debate and discussion about corporate finance reorem

Debate on “corporate personhood” tonight

Monday, September 24, 2012 11:25 AM
“Derek Kanwischer”

Join us for a debate and discussion about the legitimacy of corporate finance reform tonight at 7:00 in the UC Theater, University of Montana
(Third Floor of the Student Center (UC) – elevator available)

The whole country is watching what happens here in MT as I-166 will be voted on by Montanans this November. Corporations do not breathe, they do not have children, they do not die fighting in wars for our country, and they do not vote in elections. Should corporations be considered people with free speech rights? Come to this debate and discussion to support the effort to put limits on corporate citizen rights.

We hope you decide to participate in these debates. We will be there to deliver our side on this issue, and we are providing you the opportunity to share your perspective with voters. Montanans will be casting their votes on I-166 this November. Our aim with these events is to make sure each vote is an informed ones. Mail ballots will be delivered the second week of October now is the time for Montanans to hear about this important issue.
More information is available at http://www.StandWithMontanans.org, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/StandWithMontanans, on Twitter, @STANDwMONTANANS, and by calling (406) 356-NOV6 (6686).

MMTA Educational Programs Coming This Fall

Educational Programs Coming This Fall

Missoula Moves to Amend plans to sponsor a series of educational programs leading up to the November election covering various legal, economic, and cultural aspects of the movement to amend the Constitution of the United States. First up will be a panel discussion by three prominent legal experts on the subject of “money as speech,” as it relates to political contributions and expenditures. This issue lies at the very heart of of most proposed amendments to take back our democracy from those who continue to spend billions to drown out the voices of The People, in whom our Constitution vests ultimate sovereignty..
For more on these issues, see movetoamend.org and our Facebook page at Missoula Moves to Amend (http://tinyurl.com/bnt6c3d)