“Do you think there’s too much money in politics?”
That’s the question Jeff Mangan, founder of the Transparent Election Initiative, asked a room of about 40 Flathead residents to consider in a presentation Monday about “The Montana Plan.”
“The Montana Plan,” or Ballot Issue 4, aims to redefine the powers of corporations in Montana’s constitution. By doing so, it hopes to attempt a new approach to overturning the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which opened the door for corporations to more-heavily contribute to political campaigns and gave rise to super PACs that can hold major political influence.
But The Montana Plan hit a snag last Friday, as Attorney General Austin Knudsen deemed it legally insufficient to collect signatures for the ballot.
Knudsen’s legal sufficiency review found the measure violated Montana’s separate-vote principle, which requires ballot measures to focus on a single issue, rather than rolling several issues into one measure. The review also contained a “Statement of Material Harm” where Knudsen wrote that the measure would prohibit businesses from appearing on legislative and regulatory measures — something that would cause harm to business’ interests.
The attorney general also wrote that the measure would require the Commissioner of Political Practices (a position Mangan formerly held) to hire an additional employee to enforce the measure to the tune of $96,000.
“And, if litigated, COPP believes Ballot Measure No. 4’s litigation will cost taxpayers between $50,000 and $500,000 to defend — based on past challenges to similar issues,” Knudsen’s review stated.
Mangan pledged on Monday that the Transparent Election Initiative would challenge the AG’s review in court. It has a 10-day window to file that challenge and had not done so yet as of Wednesday afternoon.
Most of Mangan’s Monday presentation in the Flathead served as a pitch for the ballot initiative. He offered a dive into Montana’s history with the Copper Kings’ corruption and voters’ response: passage of the 1912 Corrupt Practices Act, which banned corporations from spending money to influence elections in the state. His presentation also covered the amount of corporate spending in elections today and why the Transparent Election Initiative thinks The Montana Plan could be a solution.
The Transparent Election Initiative’s challenge to Knudsen’s legal sufficiency determination joins a similar challenge for Ballot Issue 6, which Knudsen also found legally insufficient.
Ballot Issue 6, championed by the group Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts, aims to amend the constitution to require that judicial elections in Montana remain nonpartisan and prevent the legislature from creating new courts unless justices are subject to nonpartisan elections. That group filed a lawsuit against Knudsen over his legal sufficiency finding on Oct. 17, asking the Supreme Court to overturn Knudsen’s findings.
This reporter can’t believe she’s saying it — but the 2026 election cycle is starting to feel like it’s looming, and it’s shaping up to be interesting. For now, though, let’s just worry about Wednesday’s headlines.
I’m Mariah Thomas, and I’ve got the rest of your Daily Roundup.
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Meet Sassy! She’s an 18-year-old domestic medium hair mix, and looks like the sweetest old girl.
To find out more about Sassy and other pet adoption opportunities at the Humane Society of Northwest Montana go to: www.humanesocietypets.com. To donate to the Humane Society of Northwest Montana, visit the organization’s donation page here.
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