Main Street Business Support The Montana Plan

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by TODD FRANK Todd Frank is owner of The Trail Head, Trail Head River Sports and SOAR inflatables, Missoula.

I-194 is bad for business in Montana isn't it? That's what Montana's attorney general says about the initiative on the sign-up sheet. In reality I-194 aims to remove the ability of corporations or other "artificial persons" from contributing anything of value to elections and voter approved initiatives. If the group behind the initiative took the Attorney General to court about his opinion that the initiative would harm business they would likely win. That of course would tie it up in court and miss the June deadline for signatures. I suspect the AG office understood that.

For 99% of the small businesses on main street Montana, that notion is a pile of horse manure. If you are one of the mega corporations not able to donate anonymously, it might cramp your ability to buy influence in government.

I-194 gives the citizen of Montana back what the 2010 citizens united ruling took away. The system is broken; everyone admits that. It's about the money plain and simple. Citizens of Montana do not matter to the elected officials who are elected to represent us. With nearly 300 million dollars spent on a single seat in the U.S. Senate, our voices will never matter.

As a main street business for over 50 years, I simply reject the notion that corporations with unlimited budgets should be able to buy elections of people who will be in the pocket of those donors.

Lawsuits have already been filed by the usual suspects, Montana Mining Association, Treasure State Resource Association, Montana Chamber of Commerce, as well as the wealthy landowners who run the Stock Growers Association. To no one's surprise the lawsuits were immediately thrown out. These groups do not represent the 99% of small businesses on main streets in Montana. They represent the mega corporations and uber wealthy who want to dictate policy that is friendly to them. Make no mistake, they will be free to lobby as they do now, they just won't be able to throw millions of dollars anonymously to convince voters to be afraid of whatever boogey man they fear will hinder unfettered access to plunder Montana.

I encourage you to sign the initiative and get it on the ballot in Montana so we can make our elected officials start working for us. Visit https://sign.mttei.org/ and sign on.

Transparent Election Initiative - Montana

Sign the petition to eliminate corporate and dark money from Montana politics.