Documents reveal state and federal agencies are training law enforcement agencies to surveil anti-Keystone XL pipeline activists’ social media, and how to arrest protesters en masse.
Elections
2018 Republican Senate primary voting guide
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Four Montana Republicans are running in the June 5 primary election for a chance to unseat Montana’s Senior U.S. Senator, Democrat Jon Tester, in the Nov. 6 general election.
2018 Primary
2018 Democratic House primary voting guide
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Five Montana Democrats are running in June 5 primary election for a chance to unseat first-term incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte in the Nov. 6 general election.
campaign finance
Complaint against ‘Dark Money’ prosecutor dismissed
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HELENA — Allegations that a high-profile state-appointed attorney broke some of the very same campaign practices laws he was hired to prosecute have been dropped. Deputy Commissioner of Political Practices Kirsten Madsen, in a 19-page order issued Friday, dismissed a complaint filed late last year against Billings attorney Gene Jarussi by Republican political consultant Jake Eaton.
Charles Johnson
John Melcher “benefited farmers, miners, the elderly, the hungry and a constituency of the world’s poor”
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Former U.S. Sen. John Melcher, who died Thursday in Missoula at age 93, was a leading congressional supporter of federal farm bills and programs to fight hunger here and around the world. Melcher could work with the other members of Congress to get things done, but he also could be a lone wolf, when necessary, unafraid to go against his Democratic Party or the entire U.S. Senate.
2012 election
Montana Growth Network settles long-standing political practices lawsuit
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HELENA – A dark money political organization that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars during the 2012 election to support conservative candidates for office has settled a lawsuit accusing it of violating Montana’s campaign finance laws. The Montana Growth Network, headed by former Red Lodge Republican state Sen. Jason Priest, agreed to pay a $30,000 fine to the state Commissioner of Political Practices under the terms of the settlement.
Highway safety
Six states get best ratings for highway safety laws, Montana ranks near the bottom
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Amid a resurgence in U.S. traffic fatalities now taking roughly 100 lives a day, an advocacy group recently issued a report card identifying states that do the most, and least, to improve highway safety. The ratings by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety credited six states — California, Oregon, Washington, Louisiana, Delaware and Rhode Island—with having the most protective road safety laws.
Campaign Spending
Who’s Calling the Shots in State Politics?
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State Del. Dan Morhaim talks to reporters on March 3, 2017, after the Maryland House of Delegates voted unanimously to reprimand him for using his position to advocate for changes to medical marijuana regulations that could have led to gains for a company he worked for.
Campaign Spending
After a decade-long internal battle, have legislative Republicans buried the hatchet?
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By John S. Adams, Montana Free Press
For the better part of the past decade, Montana Republicans have enjoyed comfortable majorities in the state Legislature. Despite those majorities (or maybe because of them), GOP caucuses in the House and Senate have spent much of the past 10 years engaged in a bitter, and oftentimes very public, intra-party feud.