Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/tag/commissioner-of-political-practices/)
A coalition promoting an initiative to expand Medicaid coverage in Montana — and a big increase in tobacco taxes to help pay for it — has a filed a complaint charging its opponents with illegal campaign activities. (more…) Continue Reading →
HELENA – A dark-money political organization that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars during the 2012 election to support conservative candidates for office has settled a lawsuit accusing it of violating Montana’s campaign finance laws. (more…) Continue Reading →
When he announced that he was running for Billings mayor, Jeff Essmann said on Wednesday, “I had people telling me early on that I’d need to raise a hundred thousand bucks.”
He said he told those people that that was not realistic, that it would be impossible to raise that much money for a municipal election in Montana. (more…) Continue Reading →
The state Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed a complaint against former state Sen. Art Wittich on Monday, charging him with professional misconduct. The complaint, filed with the Commission on Practice of the Montana Supreme Court by Chief Disciplinary Counsel Michael Cotter, stems from Wittich’s trial in 2016, when he was found liable for violations of state campaign finance laws. This past August, the state high court turned down Wittich’s four-part appeal of that decision. (more…) Continue Reading →
In a routine Sunday column about things the Montana Legislature did right in the recent session, Billings Gazette Editor Darrell Ehrlick wrote this sentence: “Free speech is not the right to say anything to anyone without having to sign your name to it.”
Actually, the right to say anything to anyone without having to sign your name to it is pretty much the definition of free speech. That’s why questions about campaign spending have become so tortured in Montana and in the nation as a whole. (more…) Continue Reading →
