How do you like political ads now that corruption and lying are legal?
In 2012, Conservatives dismantled Montana’s ban on knowingly lying in political ads (Sources: Havre Daily, March 24, 2012; Great Falls Tribune, May 3, 2012).
Conservatives, led by American Tradition Partnership, Montana Right to Life, and Beaverhead and Lake Republican Central Committees, also attacked Montana’s Corrupt Practices Act, a law 75% of Montana voters approved in 1912 to stop Copper Kings from buying political offices.
In 2010 “Citizen’s United,” Conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court decided that money is free speech and corporations can spend unlimited money to influence elections. In 2012, the court placed Montana’s 1912 law on hold.
Twenty-two states and Senator Jon Tester have joined Montana’s Attorney General and Democratic Governor Candidate Steve Bullock in the fight to keep Montana’s 1912 Corrupt Practices Act.
What can you do?
• Register your friends and neighbors to vote. Vote early after October 7 with an absentee ballot or at the polls November 6. Use this letter while registering voters today and as a reminder to vote in the fall. 2011 Montana Conservatives attacked voting rights. Use it or lose it!
• Reaffirm Montana’s 1912 Corrupt Practices Act by signing and voting for referendum I-166 (corporations are not people).
• Instead of voting for the lying and corrupt candidates of American Tradition Partnership, that swept the Republican primary (Flathead Beacon, June 13, 2012), vote for Senator Jon Tester, Attorney General Steve Bullock for Montana’s new Governor, and for a Democratic Congress.
Jackie Gysler
Bigfork