'Mean-spirited' elections expected

Commissioner of Political Practices Dennis Unsworth and two of his staff members came to Whitefish last week for a forum on election regulations.

Rebecca Norton, of Whitefish, said she organized the meeting because of her concern about last fall's "mean-spirited" city council election.

"I thought it was illegal but learned it wasn't," she said.

All 50 states have some type of election oversight stemming from the Watergate era, Unsworth explained, but they all face the same hurdles — Constitutional protections for free speech and free press, and legislators who are reluctant to fund and support the enforcers.

"People are surprised there's no law saying people must be nice during elections," he said. "The general rule is, 'You don't win by playing nice.'"

Montana distinguishes itself by having the lowest campaign spending limits in the nation, Unsworth said — $160 per person compared to the U.S. average of $1,000. This is offset by the smaller media markets — $60,000 is sufficient for a race in Billings, he said.

Candidates who feel wronged by another's statements can bring charges of "political civil libel," Unsworth said, which go to his office rather than the courts. But candidates must prove that the statements are untrue and done with malice, which is difficult to prove.

"We have never found such a violation in Montana," he said, noting that he has three campaign flyers in a desk drawer that might make a good test case should someone file a complaint.

Investigating campaign violations is also expensive, Unsworth said. The 2007 Legislature provided him with an investigator, and the office now has two attorneys, but cases were backing up before the 2009 Legislature cut the office's budget by $100,000. As a result, taking three years to resolve a complaint isn't unusual, he said.

"The law says, 'The Commissioner shall,'" Unsworth said. "Well, the Commissioner can't."

Rep. Janna Taylor, R-Dayton, spoke about a bill she introduced in 2009 that was intended to help enforce the state's election laws.

"The Commissioner's office needs teeth to enforce campaign regulations," Taylor said, noting that one recent Lake County candidate tried to hide his party affiliation by "using a tiny disclaimer on a big yard sign.

House Bill 398, which died in the House's State Administration Committee, called for a civil penalty of $100 per instance up to $2,500 for campaign messages that do not disclose the names of the persons who paid for the message or do not contain supporting evidence for claims messages make. The bill also called for a civil penalty of $50 per day up to $2,500 for not filing reports on time.

The point of the bill was to use a small fine for cases that are "black and white," Unsworth said, so complaints could be resolved much sooner.

"They were afraid of it," he said about the legislators who tabled the bill. "They felt we shouldn't have more power."

Two other legislators present at the meeting cited campaign violations — John Sinrud, who served as a Republican in the House while living in Bozeman and now works for the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors, and Rep. Mike Jopek, D-Whitefish.

"So both sides see problems," Norton said after hearing their stories.

The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that lifts political spending limits for corporations could pose a threat to Montana's century-old election law, which was created in response to the Anaconda Copper Mining Co.

"Do you expect candidates here will accept unlimited money from corporations?" Taylor asked. "I won't, and Jopek won't."

Unsworth said the state law will likely be challenged in a landmark case. If the corporations succeed, he said, the case will expose other election laws that will "crumble away."

"Our election regulations are still on the books," he said, "but expect things to get Western here."

Good people are afraid to run because of negative campaigning, Norton said. She and others present said they wanted to see candidates required to sign a clean-campaign pledge like the state's Form C-3, which is currently voluntary and not enforceable.

Paula Sweeney said opponents to her husband Frank's losing city council bid last fall posted the couple's income and photos of their homes online. As a result, people drove onto their property and took pictures, she said.

"It was an invitation to rob us," she said.

Families should be off limits, Sweeney said, and the community should set standards on what they think is decent.

"I don't think we should wait until someone is murdered," she said about the need for reform.

Sinrud, however, had a different take. He wanted voters to take responsibility for learning about candidates. "We're a manipulated populace," he said, even for initiatives and referendums.

As for candidates, the slander "wears on you, but that's politics," he said. "If you can't handle it, you should get out."