22 February 2016

Time to make fundraising candidates unnecessary in Montana

At Logicosity, Edward R. Burrow observes that Steve Bullock still has not filed for re-election as governor — nor has any other Democrat. He further observes that many donors have already maxed-out their contributions to Bullock for both the primary and general elections. If there is not a contested Democratic gubernatorial primary, Bullock will have to refund a lot of money.

That’s because Montana law only allows contributions to campaigns for contested primaries. The system therefore encourages candidates to pray their campaigns are blessed with a weak primary opponent, allowing them to raise money they won’t need to spend on the primary.

Whatever the rationale for this system, the practical effect is the encouragement of the moral equivalent of fraud: primary candidates who are on the ballot not raise issues, but only to help their opponent raise money. Shameful? No. It’s worse than shameful.

This law should be repealed. Let candidates collect contributions for both the primary and general, whether or not the primary is contested.