Groups petition Supreme Court to overturn Montana ban on corporate campaign spending (click title to entry - thank you)Michael Haggerson on February 11, 2012 3:18 PM ET
American Tradition Partnership, Montana Shooting Sports Association and Champion Painting have petitioned the US Supreme Court to reverse the decision by the Montana Supreme Court in Western Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Montana that corporations cannot directly contribute to political campaigns or candidates [JURIST report]. The three groups argue that Montana's century-old ban on corporate spending, implemented by the1912 Corrupt Practices Act, is illegal [Great Falls Tribune report] in light of the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that declared that a state cannot impose a complete ban on corporate spending.
The Montana Supreme Court stated that the ban on corporate spending is legal because it still allows for some corporate spending and was in response to rampant political corruption by the "Copper Kings".
Campaign finance has been a hotly contested issue recently. Two weeks ago, theUS Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit struck down a Wisconsin law that prohibited people from donating more than $10,000 per year to political action committees. In June, the US Supreme Court ruled that an Arizona campaign finance regulation violated the First Amendment. In May, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld a Minnesota law that prohibited direct contributions to candidates and affiliated entities. The US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in 2009 that a Connecticut campaign finance law discriminated against minor party candidates in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
The Plutocrats are trampling the rights of citizens while they further a campaign to destroy the one venue of safety for the American workforce, namely the unions. Money, the plutocrats are all about as money as they can get into their coffers, while never realizing the electorate is where their customers are and by starving them, they starve their own corporations. CEOs really haven't got a clue, they only know that an increase at any price to viability of the company will earn them a bonus. They haven't a clue and if they do, they don't care and their personal wealth takes precedent.
...Thismonth, (click here) after testifying in Washington, D.C., on job creation, Snyder told reporters he does not favor pursuing right-to-work in Michigan this year. Speaking of confrontations in neighboring Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana over laws that challenge unions, Snyder said, "If you want to draw it as a contrast, you look at now that they've had those things happen, do they have a productive environment to solve problems? Not necessarily. They're still overcoming the divisiveness, the hard feelings from all of that."...
