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

7 January 2017

Sen. Keith Regier wants to weaken campaign finance reports

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If Sen. Keith Regier (R-Whitefish) gets his way, Montana’s campaign finance reports will no longer include the occupation and employer of donors. Regier has introduced Senate Bill 87, “An Act Eliminating the Requirement that Candidates and Political Committees Disclose Employer and Occupation Information for Certain Contributions and Expenditures.”

Here’s a section of the bill:

Section 1. Section 13-37-229, MCA, is amended to read:

13-37-229. Disclosure requirements for candidates, ballot issue committees, political party committees, and independent committees. (1) The reports required under 13-37-225 through 13-37-227 from candidates, ballot issue committees, political party committees, and independent committees must disclose the following information concerning contributions received:

(a) the amount of cash on hand at the beginning of the reporting period;

(b) the full name, and mailing address, occupation, and employer, if any, of each person who has made aggregate contributions, other than loans, of $35 or more to a candidate or political committee, including the purchase of tickets and other items for events, such as dinners, luncheons, rallies, and similar fundraising events;

What SB-87 would delete from the C-5 campaign finance report for candidates is identified in yellow in this excerpt from Regier’s own 27 October 2016 C-5:

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For example, Regier lists several contributions from the Lantis family of Spearfish, SD, which owns Lantis Enterprises, a business that appears to operate assisting living and nursing homes, some in Montana. Heritage Place, for example, may be the assisted living facility in Kalispell, but although the link to Heritage Place has a URL of http://heritagekalispell.com/, the page produced by that link is in Japanese, and the translated text is not about an old folks home.

SB-87 would not make unearthing a donor’s occupation and employer impossible, but it would exponentially increase the difficult of doing so. And that, not protecting the privacy of donors, undoubtedly is the purpose of the bill. Regier wants to make it much more difficult for voters to learn which economic and policy interests are funding candidates and Political Action Committees; harder to follow the money.

SB-87 was referred to the Senate’s state administration committee yesterday. A hearing date has not been set.

I suggest renaming the bill the “Montana Campaign Finance Opacity Act of 2017.”