Official finds Montana GOP violated campaign finance laws by helping Green candidate.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The Montana Republican Party and two minor party qualification committees violated state campaign finance laws in a successful effort to qualify the Green Party of Montana for the primary ballot without the Green Party’s knowledge, the commissioner of political practices said Friday.
The Montana GOP has acknowledged paying Advanced Micro Targeting $100,000 to gather signatures to certify the Green Party for the ballot. The money was also listed as an in-kind contribution to a group called Montanans for Conservation, which didn’t register as a minor party qualifying committee until after the Green Party was certified for the ballot on March 6.
The 2019 Legislature passed a law requiring groups to report any spending for paid signature gatherers to qualify issues or parties for Montana’s ballots to ensure transparency after an unknown entity paid signature gatherers to qualify the Green Party of Montana for the 2018 ballot.
Advanced Micro Targeting employees gathered signatures in major Montana cities in January and February. At the time, Club For Growth Action was registered as a minor party qualifying committee, but it said it had abandoned its efforts to gather signatures to qualify the Green Party for the ballot because someone else was doing it. No other minor party qualifying committees were registered with the commissioner of political practices at the time.
https://apnews.com/301e1e48b792f61d7a94604eddee015e
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