One hundred years ago, Montana turned the corner from corporate colony to respectable statehood by restraining corporate participation in election campaigns. There could be no more compelling reason to retain Montana’s Corrupt Practices Act. If corporations expend money to sway candidate elections but refuse to be open and accountable, than a ban is required in order to maintain fair and honest elections. The sanctity of the ballot box is enough of a compelling state interest to restrict free speech rights. The law is narrowly taylored and allows corporations to contribute through PACs.
Montana, a pesky backwater 100 years ago, took on the national corporate giants. The Amalgamated employed two-thirds of the state's workers--miners, loggers and even newspapermen. Three major railroads set rates that threatened the prosperity of farmers and ranchers. Banking corporations colluded to manage the economic fate of small business owners.
Montanans called it the “Copper Collar” because almost no one slipped the strangle-hold of the corporations. The citizens had little say in their own well-being or their own government. The governor and members of the legislature took their marching orders and their payoffs from the “Company” lobbyists.
News was distorted by the company-controlled daily newspapers. If a reader found an important legislative action relegated to a few lines in the back section, they figured something big was afoot. There was no easy way to learn the truth.
But something snapped in 1911. The corporate lust for power and control went too far. Political operatives set out to control goverment right down to the county fair board. To put their plans into action, they hit the county nominating conventions. As a result, local governments came under the control of elected officials loyal to the Company.
But the all powerful Company missed something. They deemed the small-town weekly newspapers harmless as long as they focused on local news. But the election snafu was local news and editors eloquently told their readers what was going on. Editor McDowell of the Terry Tribune is a good example.
“Campaigns were conducted by simply the opening of a barrel, and sowing the state from one end to the other with corporation money —the largest barrel winning in the end. This extravagant campaigning prevented the election of any but the wealthy or those supported by special interests.”
On June 11, 1911, forty men organized the People’s Power League to counter corrupt corporate control of Montana politics. Half were union men who worked the mines, stoked the smelters, ran the railroads, and built roads, bridges and buildings. The other half were lawyers and judges, ranchers, shopkeepers, and owners of weekly newspapers.
The first priority of the League was to return control of Montana’s elections back to the voters. The League put their hope in the untried Initiative Process. Initiatives could bypass the Governor and company-run Legislature to become law.
The League designed a package of four Initiatives. Three Initiatives established the open primary elections. The fourth initiative got to the heart of the matter and was called the Montana Corrupt Practices Act.
Entusiastic signature gathering by the Union-members put all four Initiatives on the ballot. The Initiatives passed in 1912 with over 75% of the vote. By the next election, it was illegal for corporations to make independent corporate expenditures to influence the outcome of campaigns for public office.
Editor Sutherlin of the Rocky Mountain Husbandman said, “With the initiative and referendum, Montanans felt they had a weapon powerful enough to put all corporations out of politics both now and for the years to come.”
Suthlin's prediction proved to be true until 2012 when Western Traditions Partnership, Incorporated, challenged the constitutionality of the Corrupt Practices Act based on the Citizens United ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court. The court said money is speech and corporations, as persons, have First Amendment Rights. Therefore, Montana’s Corrupt Practices Act, which all agree is a clear ban on corporate independent expenditures, came under scurtiny.
If Montana’s 100-year-old ban on corporate expenditures goes down, big-monied interests will define the issues, unfairly attack the integrity of candidates, and flood the media with slick advertizing. If the corporations prevail in swaying elections, our office holders will be hand-picked to respond more quickly to corporate needs than to citizen's needs.
Everyone knows we can't just say anything we want. States are allowed to restrict free speech rights when there is a good reason to do so and the restriction is not overly broad. In legal terms, if the state has a Compelling State Interest and the law is Narrowly Tailored, it may restrict the freedom of speech. Slander and keeping pornography from children are examples of speech that is restricted.
Montana’s Corrupt Practices Act has already demonstrated compelling state interest. Prior to 1911, Thomas J. Walsh had campaigned twice for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Even though he was a popular choice, company manipulation of the state legislature defeated him.
In his third bid, Walsh had more votes than any other man running. Since the company could not deny Walsh the seat outright, they resorted on bureaucratic manuvering. The legislature voted fifty times without naming a U.S. Senator. The last vote was taken during the last hour of the legislative session.
The company lobbyists claimed they’d take anyone except Thomas J. Walsh, but their actual plan was to leave Montana’s seat empty. In this way, the company would teach Walsh and his supporters that they'd never win.
The statesman in Walsh would not allow Montana's U.S. Senate seat to go vacant. He withdrew and nominated a respected friend, William Myers. Company lobbyists decided not to oppose him. In the blink of an eye, an astonished Myers was told to pack his bags for Washington D.C.
But, Thomas Walsh was not done. He and like-minded Montanans formed the People’s Power League. In the year the initiatives became law, Thomas Walsh began a distinguished career in the U.S. Senate that lasted a quarter century.
http//:wwwpeoplespowerleague.info