'Dark money' political group fined $260,000

A state judge in Helena has ordered a political group accused of violating the state’s campaign finance regulations to pay a $260,000 fine.

District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock fined American Tradition Partnership, formerly Western Tradition Partnership, on Nov. 26 for failing to disclose campaign spending.

The case had involved ads attacking candidates in the 2008 election created and mailed by ATP without disclosing these expenditures as required by state law. Some of the group’s actions involved candidates in Flathead County.

The office of Montana Commissioner of Political Practices had asked that ATP be fined $321,365 — the maximum — because of “blatant and pervasive violations.”

In explaining his order, Sherlock noted ATP had failed to follow up on its own case and disregarded court orders during the discovery process.

“Although ATP has cloaked itself in a patriotic and appealing name, it would appear its actions are anything but,” Sherlock said. “While ATP is a partnership, it is not acting in the American tradition.”

The “dark money” group has seen success in court in the past. Its biggest legal victory came on Oct. 18, 2010, when Sherlock agreed with ATP that, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, Montana’s 1912 Corrupt Practices Act was unconstitutional.

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, but the tide began to turn just days before Election Day when 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.

The group 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 state law, and that ATP therefore must report its spending and donor names as required.

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.

Gov. Steve Bullock, who led the fight to protect and preserve Montana’s campaign finance laws as Montana Attorney General, personally defended the state’s 100-year-old Corrupt Practices Act. The measure, however, was ultimately struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision.

“Montana has a history of clean and fair elections, but that history was tarnished in recent years by secretive, out-of-state special interests who tried to buy our elections,” Bullock said about Sherlock’s ruling. “The message to those who seek to hide in the shadows while using despicable tactics to con Montana voters is clear — you’re not welcome here.”