A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

8 August 2015

If too young to vote, then too young to make political donations

Bozeman Chronicle reporter Troy Carter discovered that in 2000, Greg Gianforte’s children — the oldest was 12, the youngest just four — made three-figure donations to the campaign of Rob Natelson, the libertarian law professor then running for governor of Montana (he lost).

Astounding, there’s no unambiguous law against this — but there should be. Citizens not yet of voting age should not be allowed to donate cash or in-kind services to political campaigns of any kind (that includes school bond and levy elections).

This could be enforced with substantial success by requiring that all donors provide the year of their birth when making donations, and making lying about that a criminal offense.

Gianforte isn’t the only man who believed his children were so precocious that at four years of age they could make intelligent and independent decisions on which candidate to support.

But I believe no man’s four-year-old — or 12-year-old or even 17-year-old — is that precocious. When children too young to vote donate to political campaigns, they’re helping, often without knowing, their parents circumvent campaign contribution limits.

That can be stopped with a simple law. Will our legislators pass one? Will our political candidates pledge to introduce and pass such a law?