State seeks $321,365 fine from political group
In a brief filed in Helena District Court, the office of Montana Commissioner of Political Practices asked that a political group be fined $321,365 — the maximum — because of “blatant and pervasive violations.”
The office has been investigating American Tradition Partnership, formerly Western Tradition Partnership, for its campaign activities in the 2008, 2010 and 2012 elections. The group refused to name its donors or its staff and won some court cases in its effort to change the government’s role in tracking campaign expenditures.
Former Commissioner of Political Practices Dennis Unsworth investigated ATP’s activities in 19 Montana legislative races in 2008, including the House District 3 race in which Mick Holm, D-Columbia Falls, lost to Dee Brown, R-Coram, and the House District 8 race in which Cheryl Steenson, D-Kalispell, defeated Craig Witte, R-Kalispell.
ATP’s biggest legal victory came on Oct. 18, 2010, when Helena District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock agreed with ATP that, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling earlier that year, Montana’s 1912 Corrupt Practices Act was unconstitutional.
Like the Citizens United decision, Sherlock’s ruling opened up Montana elections to unlimited contributions by corporations so long as the money did not go directly to candidates or was coordinated with candidates’ campaigns.
Three days after Sherlock’s ruling, then Commissioner of Political Practices Dennis Unsworth charged ATP and another group with violating the state’s campaign finance laws on numerous occasions.
ATP continued its work in the 2010 election. Locally, it mailed cards and newsletters opposed to Whitefish Democrat Will Hammerquist, who lost the 2010 race for House District 4 to Kalispell Republican Derek Skees.
The tide began to turn during the 2012 election. On Oct. 30, days before the general election, PBS Frontline presented a television documentary about ATP that heavily relied on a box of ATP documents recovered from a meth house near Denver, Colo.
Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell, and Rep. John Esp, R-Big Timber, filed complaints with the Commissioner of Political Practices on Dec. 3, 2012, claiming ATP and several other groups violated state election laws. Tutvedt’s primary race in 2012 was described at the time as the most expensive legislative race in Montana.
ATP suffered a major setback on Jan. 4 this year when Sherlock ruled that ATP’s actions during the 2008 election made it a political committee as defined by the state, and that ATP therefore must report its spending and donor names as required by state law.
Sherlock went on to say that ATP used its nonprofit status “as a subterfuge to avoid compliance with state disclosure and disclaimer laws.” He had dismissed much of ATP’s lawsuit three weeks earlier after the group failed to produce requested documents in court.
Shortly after that decision, media reports surfaced that ATP was dissolving. Then in April this year, in response to a request by the Montana Attorney General’s Office, Doug Lair, Geoff Goble and Peter MacKenzie submitted a legal document identifying themselves as ATP’s directors. ATP’s only staff member, Donny Ferguson, had resigned in January to work for a Texas politician.
The office of Montana Commissioner of Political Practices said in its most recent filing that the $321,365 fine it’s seeking is only for violations in the 2008 election. That investigation concluded in 2010. Nonprofit forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service show ATP raised more than $600,000 in 2008.