HELENA – Democratic attorney general candidate Pam Bucy and Republican candidate Tim Fox both said Friday they would continue the legal fight to preserve Montana’s campaign finance laws amid several legal challenges.
Montana has taken center stage in the battle over campaign contribution restrictions in the wake of the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that paved the way for more corporate spending in federal politics. Courts have subsequently struck down Montana’s century-old ban on some independent corporate expenditures, the ban on partisan endorsements of judicial candidates and other Montana laws.
Earlier this week, a federal judge struck down contribution limits to candidates at the request of some conservative and Republican groups. The state is appealing.
Bucy and Fox are running to succeed Steve Bullock, who is running for governor.
Bucy has been touting her experience as a prosecutor, including time in the attorney general’s office, and argues her substantive knowledge of the job gives her an advantage over her opponent. Fox has been a vocal proponent of using the office to fight back against President Barack Obama’s health care law and federal rules that are unpopular in the state, and to promote coal and oil on Montana lands.
Bucy, a Department of Labor attorney, said Friday she would continue the office’s work to preserve campaign fiance laws that are the focus of several lawsuits. She said conservative groups behind the lawsuits are trying to ensure that only the wealthy influence elections.
“Very few people are going to benefit from that kind of money,” Bucy said. “I will absolutely push these cases all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Fox, a Helena private practice attorney who ran for the job in 2008, said he would also continue the appeals. He said Montana needs some sort of limits on campaign contributions, which may need to be enacted with legislation if the current decision stands.
“It is important for Montana’s attorney general to vigorously defend Montana’s laws,” Fox said. “Should I be fortunate enough to be elected, I will look forward to defending these campaign laws on Montana’s behalf.”
The state is currently appealing a federal judge’s decision to allow partisan endorsements in judicial races, in addition to the decisions on campaign donation caps and another that struck down laws requiring attack ads to disclose voting records and a ban on knowingly false statements in such ads.
Another case scheduled for trial next year focuses on the Washington, D.C.-based conservative group behind many of the legal challenges. State authorities argue that Western Tradition Partnership, now known as American Tradition Partnership, illegally raised and spent money.
The group is fighting the state’s ability to regulate its activities.
“I think everything that has happened here is so disappointing,” Bucy said. “This is real personal to me now. It really does feel like a return to the days of the Copper Kings.”