HELENA – Mailers from political-action committees and other outside groups attacking Republican candidates in contested legislative primaries are starting to appear in voters’ mailboxes before the June 3 election.
Laurel-based Montana Family Foundation and Billings-based Conservative Majority Political Action Committee are two groups that have sent out oversized campaign postcards opposing incumbent Republicans in at least five state House districts.
Such attack mailers have become regular fixtures in Montana over the last few election cycles, and they are now appearing in contested GOP races where conservative and more moderate Republicans are competing for the party’s nomination. Candidates and critics of the mailers say they distort voting records and try to deceive voters.
One mailer from the Conservative Majority PAC, which formed just a few weeks ago, blasts Rep. Jeff Welborn of Dillon for voting to spend taxpayer money “like a drunken sailor.” Welborn, who is being challenged by Brooke Erb in the House District 72 primary, said he does not know who is behind the ads.
“You’ve got to address it, or the silence becomes deafening,” Welborn told Lee Newspapers of Montana. “Then I go back to talking about the issues that I like to talk about. . I just go right back and talk about the good work we did on education last (legislative) session.”
Conservative Majority PAC treasurer James Pennington did not return telephone messages last week. The organization must file a report with the state by Thursday detailing its fundraising and spending.
But the Montana Family Foundation does not have to report its donors because it’s registered as a nonprofit social-welfare group that spends less than 50 percent of its funds on election-related material.
One of its mailers targeted Rep. Rob Cook, R-Conrad, over his vote on parental consent to teach sex-education to children.
“The Montana Family Foundation, and those who help fund it, should be ashamed of this mailer,” Cook told The Great Falls Tribune. “Any persons considering a donation to this group should be aware that they have a documented history of unsavory election behavior.”
Montana Family Foundation president Jeff Laszloffy defended the mailers and said the foundation is only targeting Republicans in conservative legislative districts where issues such as sex education and abortion are important to voters.
He said most of the donors to the foundation should remain anonymous, otherwise they could face repercussions for their political beliefs.
“People should have the right to engage in the process without the fear of repercussions simply for having an opinion,” Laszloffy said.
Political Practices Commissioner Jonathan Motl has sent letters to eight groups he suspects or knows will be involved in campaign-related mailers, advising them of the rules and reporting requirements.
Motl said he sent the letters because some groups that circulated attack mailers in the past three election cycles ignored finance reporting requirements.
If groups send out attack mailers, they must register with his office and file reports on their spending, he said.