Pete Buttigieg visits Butte to discuss removing corporate money from Montana politics

BUTTE, Mont. — Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came to Butte on Sunday for a town hall focused on Initiative 194, also known as the Montana Plan.

The proposal would change state law to block businesses from donating to election campaigns. NonStop Local attended the town hall and asked Buttigieg how supporters say the measure would work around the Citizens United ruling.

The initiative defined businesses as artificial persons under state law and said they could not contribute anything to elections, including money. It applied to businesses, nonprofits, trusts, partnerships, corporations and businesses based outside Montana that operate in the state. It excluded political committees.

Buttigieg said the measure offered what he called the best path to remove corporate money from Montana politics.

“It’s not about challenging anybody’s rights – people have rights. Corporations have powers, which are different from rights. Corporations only exist to do what state law says they can do. And if state law says, ‘This is not part of what a corporation is,’ then that’s very hard to undercut, even for the supreme court,” Buttigieg said.

During the event, Buttigieg said dark money and corporate election funding were making it harder for Congress to do work that helps everyday Americans. He said issues like grocery prices, gas costs and home ownership were not being prioritized when campaigns were mostly funded by special interests.

“You have a chance to show that there are practical, lawful steps to help us reclaim democratic control and put we, us, the people, back in the center of our politics,” Buttigieg said.

He also said concern about corporate election spending crossed party lines and drew support from Democrats, Independents and some Republicans.

“The belief that we need to get corporate and dark money out of politics – it's not specifically democratic. But it’s something the vast majority of Americans in places red, blue and purple all believe in Bumped to But part of what excites me so much is that this has galvanized Democrats, Independents and quite a few Republicans to be part of it,” Buttigieg said.

Supporters still need 30,000 signatures to place the initiative on the ballot. After that, it would need support from a majority of voters to pass.