Fireweed flair-up: 'Orphaned' Gallatin Valley GOP candidates rebuked for hiring private help

Seventeen Montana Republican candidates, all facing primary resistance from outside Montana and inside their own party, have aligned with independent Helena-based Fireweed Campaigns, drawing rebuke from party hardliners.

Shelley Vance, running for state Senate District 34 encompassing Belgrade and Churchill, and former Belgrade Mayor Russ Nelson, running to represent Belgrade in House District 67, are Fireweed clientele drawing Republican criticism for hiring the firm.

“These progressive billionaires are attempting to advance their agenda in Montana through a multi-layered, deceptively designed network of political action committees and dark-money nonprofits, including Helena-based Fireweed Campaigns Inc., which manages political candidates and liberal ballot initiatives,” reads an April 1 release from the state GOP.

The resolution, passed by the MTGOP Executive Board, accuses Vance, Nelson and other candidates of betraying Montana Republican voters by coordinating with out-of-state, far-left organizations described as antithetical to GOP sensibilities. The measure calls on the candidates to return any donations from Fireweed.

“We’ve hired a campaign company, and they don’t like it,” Nelson said of the 17. “That group (the Montana Freedom Caucus) and the Montana Republican central committee want to get rid of that tax law. What are they going to do, raise 400,000 Montanans’ taxes? I wouldn’t have a chance in hell without the knowledge behind me and resources Fireweed provides.”

Vance was even more direct.

“I’m not going to be knocking on doors talking about this kind of bull----,” she said. “Unless you’re a diehard Republican, when you’re getting these mailers, all you’re seeing is the ultra-conservative Republicans attacking some woman.”

The MTGOP created its own problem of “orphan” candidates seeking independent help to combat attacks from its own party, according to Caitie Butler, Fireweed communications specialist.

“It’s interesting we’ve become the boogeyman,” Butler said. “We consider ourselves bi-partisan, non-partisan or even anti-partisan. The MTGOP wants to make this look nefarious because the candidates we’re supporting are the ones it is working against.”

Butler personally manages communications and social media outreach for the firm’s clients, including Vance and Nelson.

She balked at blanket accusations Fireweed is managing liberal ballot initiatives and advancing out-of-state interests via their clientele. Fireweed has never had a Democrat client — only Republicans and independents, she said.

Referencing the MTGOP attacks against her clients, Butler, with more than a decade of Republican campaigning experience, confirmed it is true Fireweed is billing at least 16 primary candidates approximately $3,000 monthly for its campaign services.

The MTGOP alleges Fireweed made maximum financial contributions to 11 candidates, accusing Butler and the company’s owner, Lauren Caldwell, a former Montana Democratic Party director, of monetizing progressive candidate campaigns for liberal gains.

“Lauren Caldwell worked for the Montana Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee more than a decade ago,” Butler said. “She’s really passionate about campaigns at the state, legislative and municipal level, areas where it is hard to find professional services. Lauren saw there was a need for candidates that fall outside the party structure.”

The MDLCC is a wing of the Montana Democratic Party running the party’s in-state legislative campaigns. Later working for the Montana Federation of Public Employees, Caldwell oversaw the union’s endorsement of Republican, Democrat and Independent candidates, per Butler.

While $470 is the maximum allowable individual campaign contribution for Montana representatives by law, the candidates Fireweed advises face hundreds of thousands to potentially millions of dollars in orchestrated resistance, some of it from out of state.

They need all the help they can get, per Butler.

“We’ve been honest we charge $3,000 monthly,” Butler said. “You have to get a lot of small dollar donations to hire out for services. There is an exemption for (both) parties where they can provide in-kind (campaign) services to candidates for free.”

The MTGOP hired a Nevada-based campaign management firm this cycle to help candidates gratis, Butler said. Fireweed charges the minimum legally allowable fee for its campaign management services, she added.

“It’s interesting (the MTGOP) is crying foul over this when they have hired an out-of-state campaign management group to help a select number of Republicans they decided they are willing to support,” Butler said. “The candidates who did not have access to any campaign management support are largely the ones we are working with, who are not able to access support through the MTGOP because they have been blacklisted. Shelley and Russ fall under that.”

Americans For Prosperity, based in Arlington, Virginia, spent $224,891.71 sending mailers and ad campaigns against Fireweed clients from February until mid-March, per campaign finance reports. The spending amounts to approximately $14,000 per Fireweed candidate, Butler said.

AFP is a prominent libertarian-conservative political advocacy group in the U.S. Founded in 2004 by David and Charles Koch. The organization says it focuses on promoting free-market policies, limited government, and economic opportunity in all 50 states.

“These candidates don’t have the support of their political party and are having tens, hundreds of thousands of dollars spent against them,” Butler said. “Having Fireweed support is the only way for them to get help when it’s an onslaught of out-of-state negative mail, digital streaming, radio ads, texts and calls from out of state special interests that have no accountability to Montana, that are run by people who don’t live in the state. You can’t know for sure how much they spent, but when you extrapolate it is probably in the millions.”

One of the biggest issues positioning Nelson and Vance — both self-described conservatives — away from party hardliners is property tax relief.

The Montana Freedom Caucus opposes H.B. 231 and S.B. 542 because the group views it as a ‘tax shift’ rather than a true tax cut, arguing it increases burdens on certain property owners — such as second-home owners and businesses to provide relief at the expense of others. Instead the group advocates for reducing overall government spending as opposed to restructuring tax rates.

Vance faces Caleb Hinkle after he changed from re-election for House District 68 one minute before the filing deadline. Nelson faces incumbent Jedediah Hinkle for his seat.

“It’s a distraction is what it is,” Vance said of Fireweed accusations. “They are showing something shiny because they don’t have anything else.”