Can you afford to buy a politician?

While 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of Montana women’s right to vote, few Montanans can compete with $10,000 to $425,000 campaign donations.

Montanans contributed to only 28% of Ryan Zinke’s funds and only 32% of Steve Daines’ funds (Billings Gazette), compared to over 70% of John Lewis’ funds (Missoulian) and Amanda Curtis’ funds (Cosmo). Zinke’s recent fundraiser cost $10,000 per couple to speak with John Boehner (Whitefish Pilot) who leads the most unpopular U.S. Congress ever, with only a 10% approval rating (Washington Post). 

Steve Daines collected $425,000 from a Wall Street billionaire and vulture capitalists (Billings Gazette). Corporate fundraisers are the newest fad in Washington, D.C., thanks to fewer anti-corruption rules.

Can you afford to buy politicians?

In 2012, the conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices, many whom were nominated with a religious promise to strike down a woman’s right to vote on her own reproduction, struck down Montana’s 1912 Corrupt Practices Act, diminishing all Americans’ right to vote in elections.

As a result, in 2012, 75% of Montanans voted for a referendum directing Montana’s two U.S. Senators and one U.S. Congressman to create a constitutional amendment to stop unlimited corporate money from buying elections. In September, Republican U.S. senators blocked this bill.

Your vote is extremely important! Get your community to vote for math teacher Amanda Curtis to be Montana’s first female U.S. senator, and instead of the most unpopular U.S. Congress ever, vote for John Lewis!

Jackie Gysler, Bigfork