Jeff Mangan, founder of the Transparent Election Initiative, made a stop in Whitefish last week as the organization pushes to gather signatures to put the Montana Plan on the ballot in November. 

The Montana Plan is a proposed statutory initiative that would prevent corporations from donating to election campaigns.  

The initiative aims to essentially reverse the power of the 2010 federal Citizens United ruling wherein the U.S. Supreme Court said that the ability to spend money in elections is free speech. 

Mangan was at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center last week as a guest on the liberal-leaning Beer, Buds and the Big Sky Podcast where he advocated against dark money.  

“Basically, if someone wants to remain anonymous – a donor, whether it be a corporation, or another organization, a billionaire, whoever – they give that money to c4 organizations,” Mangan said. “C4s are those nonprofit, social welfare programs that the IRS does not require to disclose their donors. 

“The c4 then gives money to a PAC. When the PAC discloses donors, as required to under federal and state law, they only disclose the name of the c4. That’s where the dark money comes in.”  

Mangan said that in 2008, there was $33,000 in independent expenditures in Montana elections. In 2024, the $180 million in independent expenditures in the Senate race between Tim Sheehy and Jon Tester reflected an over 5,000% increase. 

The Montana Plan, Initiative 194, needs 30,000 signatures by June 19 to be on the November ballot. It started as a state constitutional initiative, but earlier this year it was knocked down by the Montana Supreme Court because it made too many changes at once, violating a single subject rule.  

Since then, the Montana Plan has shifted to a statutory initiative, which would change Montana law rather than the state Constitution. The statutory initiative has less stringent requirements than a constitutional amendment. The statutory initiative has passed a legal procedural review by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen. 

Last month in another setback, a lawsuit brought on by local business groups alleging the Montana Plan was unconstitutional was quickly dismissed. 

The suit was brought on by groups including the Montana Chamber of Commerce, Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, Billings Chamber of Commerce, the Montana Mining Association, Montana Stockgrowers Association, Montana Petroleum Association, Montana Trucking Association, Montana Contractors Association, and the Treasure State Resource Association.  

With an unanimous decision, the court ruled that reviewing the constitutionality of an initiative is disfavored because Montanans have a right to go through the initiative process. 

Transparent Election Initiative also recently announced that former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has endorsed the Montana Plan. Buttigieg will come to Butte for a town hall on May 17.  

“Montana has a history, going back to the days of the Copper Kings, of dealing with and standing up to concentrated power and wealth, distorting democracy, and the Montana Plan is a way to change all of that,” Buttigieg said in a social media video.