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Campaign Finance Reform and Political Freedom

This campaign is about one overwhelmingly important issue: who is in charge of our government? Out of state money and influence, corporate bottom lines and closed door, back-room deals, or the people who live and work in this Last Best Place? We in Montana determined long ago that corporate money controlled by a few wealthy men was a threat to our people and our state. We therefore adopted the Corrupt Practices Act more than a century ago. Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court wrote the worst legal decision in Americas history, our state law prohibiting campaign contributions by corporations was challenged by a right-wing political action committee, and stricken down by the U.S. Supreme Court. You, the people of Montana, renewed our States commitment to the concept that government is only possible with the consent of the people with I-166. With 74.7% of the vote, we renewed our unshakeable belief that corporations are not people, that money is not speech protected by the First Amendment, and that corporations have no Constitutional right to buy elections. For now the power brokers in Washington DC and the special interests on Wall Street have a bare legal right to pour money and lies into our political campaigns. But that doesnt make it right or moral. Our political process in Washington, DC has been replaced by a culture of corruption for now and lost its core moral principle: that government exists only with the consent and by the will of real people. Our unique representative democracy and
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our concept of ordered liberty are unique and, for nearly two hundred and forty years, have been the envy of the rest of the world. Unless and until we restructure the way we run elections in America, we are at the risk of losing our democracy and, with it, our freedom. This election can be one more in a recent string of attacks on what is unique to America, or it can return to our core values as those of us who live and work in Montana step up to the ballot box and tell the outside interests that they dont live here, they dont work here and they cant buy elections here. Money has to be entirely removed from our political debate. The myth that the candidate with the largest bank balance must win has to be rejected the only way it can be: by a resounding No echoing from the polling places. . So I will also work for legislation to provide public funding for all political campaigns including primaries so the race-track the same length and slope for all runners. My first priority as a freshman senator will be to either cosponsor or bring on a bill to amend the Constitution to declare that the rights declared and guaranteed, or reserved, are to flesh and blood human beings, without limitation or exception based on race, color, creed, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, and further declaring that corporations, artificial constructs of the state, have no rights save those conferred upon them by the laws of the state in which they are incorporated, subject to the supremacy of this amendment. This amendment is the proper, and indeed the only way in which citizens of the United States can declare their will that corporations are to be our servants, not our masters. While such a Constitutional Amendment is being ratified, Americans could be better protected from big money politics by passing HR 20: the Government By the People Act. There's a direct relationship between special interest money and the policies that have left behind middle-class Montanans. Concurrent with ratification we also need to pass critical legislation like HR 20. Introduced on February 5, 2014 by Representative John Sarbanes, HR 20 is already co-sponsored by a bipartisan coalition of 141 members of the House of Representatives. Montana Congressman Steve Daines has failed
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to co-sponsor the Government By the People Act and neither of Montana's senators have moved to sponsor companion legislation in the US Senate. Here's how H.R. 20 would work to provide fair elections now: 1. Everyday Montanans would get a $25 refundable My Voice tax credit. This would help spur small-dollar contributions to candidates for federal office. 2. A Freedom from Influence Fund would be established to multiply the impact of small-dollar contributions to candidates who forego traditional PAC money and instead focus on broad-based support from small-dollar donors. At a 6:1 match, a $50 contribution would turn into a $350 contribution. 3. To prevent Super PACs and Dark Money from drowning out the voice of everyday voters, candidates could be eligible for additional resources during the "home stretch" within the final 60 days before the election. When he introduced HR 20, Congressman Sarbanes explained what is at stake. "Whether it's jobs, education, health-care or the environment, big money politics warps Congress's priorities and erodes the public's trust in government," Sarbanes stated. "The American people deserve a government of the many, not a government of the money." A third threat to the popular sovereignty which is the foundation of our democracy, is the length of political campaigns. In effect, the campaign marathon begins the moment an elected official is sworn in, when the media starts comparing how much money he or she has, and how much potential challengers have stashed. This marathon becomes a 400-yard dash at least a year before the actual election, and turns into a sprint about three months before the primary election. I will file or co-sponsor legislation to limit campaigns for national office to a reasonable time, 90 to 180 days at most, and prohibiting any fundraising activities prior to that time.

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