[The Huffington Post recently called the election of Steve Bullock as our governor "one of the 25 best progressive victories of 2012." Peter Drier's story follows.]
The Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling of 2012 -- equating money with free speech -- unleashed a flood of money from billionaires and corporations, much of it through hard-to-trace "super-PACs" and so-called "social welfare" organizations.
In the wake of that ruling, Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock defended his state's Corrupt Practices Act, which banned corporate campaign funds, all the way to the Supreme Court. The court overturned the Montana law 5 to 4, undermining the ability of states and cities to restrict corporations from trying to buy elections.
Although Bullock lost that fight, Montanans admired his populist ideals and elected him governor in November. That same day, Montana voters also supported Initiative I-166, which endorsed a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, by a 74.8 percent margin.
