3 April 2018 — 1606 mdt
Montana Green Party ballot access update
Yesterday, the Montana Democratic Party, and three of its leaders, asked a Montana District Court in Helena to boot the Green Part off the ballot, alleging that Montana’s county clerks and Secretary of State Corey Stapleton certified signatures that do not meet Montana’s legal requirements for ballot access petitions. The MDT is suing the county clerks and SecST Stapleton, not the Green Party.
Stories by Mike Dennison at KXLH, Holly Michels at the Missoulian, and Don Pogreba at The Montana Post blog, cover different aspects of the situation. The MDP provided Flathead Memo with a copy of the 34-page complaint, but not with the appendices and affidavits.
A court appointed special counsel should represent people who signed the petitions
Only a fool would believe that the interests of the people who signed the petitions will be represented by the MDP, the partisan county clerks and SecST Stapleton, or even the Green Party. The MDP is using the widest possible broom to sweep out signatures, possibly putting valid signatures at risk. Unless a court appointed counsel represents the interests of people signing the petitions, valid signature may fall to the MDP’s challenge because the challenge is not resisted. The court’s highest duty is protecting the constitutional rights of the voters, which transcend the statutory privileges of the political parties,
The Green Party says it had no contact with any third-party petition circulators
On 2 April, the Green Party issued a three-paragraph press release (below) stating:
We are unaware of any paid petitioning efforts taking place on our behalf.
This exchange with Flathead Memo followed:
Flathead Memo: Remove the word “paid.” Is the statement still true? In addition, to what extent, if any, was there contact, and possibly coordination, with other entities, such as AMT, circulating the petitions?
Montana Green Party: Yes, if you remove the word “paid” the statement is still true. We are a decentralized grassroots movement. We had an absolutely no contact with AMT or any other such entity.
Full Green Party statement
March 30, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STATEMENT REGARDING MONTANA DEMOCRAT’S ALLEGATIONS
(MONTANA) On Tuesday March 27 Montana Democrats filed a complaint with the state Commissioner of Political Practices alleging that an out of state political organizing firm by the name of Advanced Micro Targeting paid people to gather signatures for the Montana Green Party’s qualification petition. The Montana Green Party responded to the news of these allegations Friday morning by releasing the following statement:
“We are unaware of any paid petitioning efforts taking place on our behalf. We are a grassroots movement that, upon initiating our petition efforts more than a year ago, made a public appeal to our supporters asking for assistance gathering signatures. In an effort to make this process as simple as possible we made our petition, along with instructions to submit signatures gathered to local election officials, available through our various social media platforms as well as our website. Since then more than 7,000 registered Montana Voters signed their names declaring their support for the Montana Green Party.
We believe that it our duty, not only to these voters but to all the citizens of Montana, to do everything in our power to advance initiatives and candidates that represent our shared values. Montana voters deserve to have the opportunity to support candidates that are willing to take on difficult issues like bringing an end to foreign wars, the militarization of our police forces, the private prison industry, and the overwhelming influence corporate money has in our current political structure.”
The information available points to right wing mischief
No court has ruled — yet — that Advanced Micro-Targeting’s signature drive on behalf of ballot access for the Green Party violated Montana’s laws. But the facts concerning the issue thus far point both to possible violations of Montana’s elections statutes and to interactions among AMT and individuals associated with Montana’s Republican Party and political entities of like minds. Even if no laws were broken, the available information points to a willingness to violate political norms in a way that undermines fair and free elections. In addition, the amount and source of AMT’s spending on its petition drive remains unknown.
Montana's Green Party may be in over its head
I don’t gainsay the sincerity of most Montana’s Greens. I’ve known Steve Kelly for decades, for example. They’re idealists trying to provide voters with a morally pure, politically relevant, alternative to the mainstream political parties. They have the legal right to do that, and the moral duty to do what they believe is right. But they also have a duty to comply with Montana’s campaign finance and other laws — and in this matter, they made some mistakes (that they’re correcting) that simply should not have been made.
Whether or not Montana’s Greens make the 2018 ballot, they need a stronger organization and a smarter strategy for 2020 — a grassroots strategy, not the top of the ballot strategy they’ve been employing.