Former Public Officeholders Propose Constitutional Initiative to Take Corporate Money Out of Politics

The group aims to qualify the issue to appear before voters in 2026

By Zeke Lloyd, Montana Free Press

Two voters fill out their midterm election ballots at Hamilton High School on Nov. 8, 2022. Credit: John Stember / MTFP

A coalition of former public officeholders is pushing to end corporate money in Montana politics via a proposed constitutional initiative they aim to put on the ballot for voters to weigh in on in 2026.

The Transparent Election Initiative, a nonprofit founded by Jeff Mangan, a former state commissioner of political practices, aims to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling that enabled unlimited corporate campaign contributions.

TEI wants to alter Montana’s corporate charters, the legal contract between a state and a business allowing the private entity to operate within the state’s borders. TEI’s central effort is The Montana Plan, a proposed 2026 constitutional initiative that would change new and existing corporate charters in the state to explicitly prevent corporations from donating to campaigns. Montana requires out-of-state firms to adhere to in-state law, which would effectively delegate the new restriction to any entity moving money around inside Montana.

In a Wednesday interview with Montana Free Press, Mangan said the plan would work by blocking corporations from being able to contribute to elections through political action committees. Because of that ban, individuals would no longer be able to anonymously give to a corporation that, in turn, donates to a political action committee. (While PACs are currently required to disclose their donors, that list could be entirely composed of corporations that themselves are not required to disclose who gives them money.) TEI’s constitutional initiative would block that two-step workaround currently enabling individuals to make anonymous campaign donations.

Asked during a press conference about whether the initiative would be in violation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Mangan called his organization’s plan “a whole different section of law” that “basically bypasses Citizens United.”

The plan’s June 18 launch received support from several out-of-office politicians, including former governors Republican Mark Racicot and Democrat Steve Bullock. The proposal also received endorsements from two recently defeated Democrats: former U.S. Senator Jon Tester and state legislative candidate Rina Fontana-Moore, who also served 16 years as Cascade County’s clerk and recorder.

Matt Cochenour, who was an assistant attorney general for a decade, is on retainer to draft the constitutional initiative’s exact language. The initiative must pass a series of administrative and logistical hurdles, including a language review by the Legislative Services Division, an attorney general assessment of the measure’s legal structure and a large-scale signature-gathering campaign that will be reviewed by the Secretary of State’s Office.