Havre Daily News, Editorial, Published 1/5/12
A shout out goes to the Montana Supreme Court for its decision to uphold Montana’s 99-year-old ban on corporate contributions to political campaigns.
The decision appears to fly in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court’s dreadful decision in the Citizens United case that corporations are, for the sake of political contributions, the same as people.
In arguing before the Montana Supreme Court, state Attorney General Steve Bullock said Montana should be exempted from the ruling because the Treasure State has a sorry history of corporate domination of the state political processes.
Since then, with a few bumps in the road, Montana has been relatively free of graft and corruption, especially when compared to other states.
However, Bullock said that because the state has a small population base and it depends heavily on natural resources and agriculture, it is low-hanging fruit for corporations who might want to overstep their bounds and hand out cash for political causes.
Only the big stick of the strict laws have prevented sleazy corporations from engaging in political corruption, Bullock argued. Thus, the state qualifies for an exemption from the high court ruling, the attorney general declared.
The attorney general’s argument, of course, did not sit well with the Western Tradition Partnership, the outfit that battled Bullock in court with co-plaintiff Montana Shooting Sports Association and its president, Gary Marbut.
The case will almost certainly head to the U.S. Supreme Court, and we dread that the federal justices may overturn the Montana decision.
If they do, Bullock and the majority members of the Montana Supreme Court can be proud they took a valiant stand for what is right.