I-194: INITIATIVE NO. 194

“The Montana Plan” claims to end dark money and corporate influence in Montana elections. It does neither. It imposes sweeping, unconstitutional restrictions on the freespeech rights of Montana small businesses, churches, and community groups, while leaving untouched the out-of-state PACs and dark money that dominate Montana campaigns. I-194 is a sham. Proponents have not identified a single Montana corporation that has spent money to influence a Montana election. Instead they point to Koch Industries and national super PACs — entities Montana has no power to regulate. Their "creature of state law" theory only works, by their own logic, for corporations Montana itself charters. The only entities I194 actually restricts are Montana’s own small businesses, ranches, churches, and community groups, exposed to steep penalties for speaking up. Courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have already rejected this theory. In First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, the Court struck down a nearly identical Massachusetts law, holding the First Amendment protects political speech regardless of corporate source; Citizens United v. FEC reaffirmed it. I-194 asks voters to relitigate a settled question — and pay the legal bills when it loses again. The irony: I-194’s own campaign is bankrolled by dark money, much of it from out of state, funneled through the Transparent Election Initiative, a nonprofit that need not disclose its donors, with help from a Washington, D.C. advocacy group. Montanans deserve real transparency, not a doomed measure that punishes local businesses while true outside spending goes untouched. Vote no on I-194.

Read the opposition statement and notice what it leaves out: Montana’s experience with elections flooded and distorted by outside secret money with no regard for the truth nor issues Montanans face every day: healthcare, housing, taxes, schools, utility bills, and public lands. Instead, they resort to scare tactics in a twisted attempt to portray the defenders of unlimited “dark” money political spending as the underdogs and Montanans reclaiming their elections as the threat. It’s the same old bait and switch Montanans have seen before. Elections should be decided by the votes of Montanans, not the dark money spent by anonymous donors and corporations. The opposition falsely claims that dark-money groups could continue spending as they do now. Another bait and switch. I-194 eliminates the power of all artificial persons—including 501(c)(4) dark-money groups—to spend money supporting or opposing candidates and ballot issues. They also falsely suggest businesses and community groups could not even publish a website. That is absurd. They may speak, organize, publish, and advocate on any issue they choose. But, when they spend to support or oppose a candidate or ballot issue, they must do so through a transparent political committee so voters can see who funds the message. Small-business owners, church members, union members, employees, and nonprofit supporters keep their individual voices. Ruggedly independent Montanans once stood up to the Copper Kings . . . and we can do so again by ending anonymous and corporate money in our elections. I-194 serves the people of Montana.