2026-09-16T10:05:45.926Z / reuters.com
- 第194号倡议将禁止企业、工会及其他“暗钱”来源用于政治筹款
- 组织者称，蒙大拿州这项法案的多个版本目前在约32个州已生效或正在审议中
- 据“公开机密”（OpenSecrets）数据，今年已知的企业对外部政治团体的捐款已超过6亿美元
蒙大拿州哥伦比亚福尔斯，9月16日路透社电——美国最高法院2010年“联合公民”竞选筹款案裁决重塑美国政治格局15年后，蒙大拿州选民将于今年11月投票决定，是否通过一项投票倡议，使本州成为全美首个禁止企业为选举花钱的州。
这是一项新颖法律策略的试验案例，该策略避开2010年的裁决而非直接挑战它，并利用了两党民众对所谓“暗钱”充斥选举的日益高涨的不满情绪。
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“美国人正逐渐丧失他们对自身能影响美国政治的信心，”华盛顿左翼智库美国进步中心的律师汤姆·摩尔说道，他也是这场运动的法律设计师。
专家表示，随着全美30多个州同步开展类似的协调行动，蒙大拿州或有助于确立关键先例，并可能引发最高法院的又一轮交锋。受本次行动幕后团队启发，夏威夷州议会今年早些时候通过了一项类似法案。
这项法案能在蒙大拿州进入投票程序，起初或许令人意外——这个深度保守的州在2024年大选中以近20个百分点的优势支持唐纳德·特朗普总统。但据选民、历史学家和政治学家的采访显示，在这片曾由强盗大亨横行的土地上，民众仍对政治中的金钱问题抱有深深的疑虑。
这种情绪在美国各地普遍存在。布伦南司法中心今年的一项调查发现，79%的跨党派美国人支持通过宪法修正案恢复对政治筹款的限制。
目前尚无针对这项被称为“蒙大拿计划”的第194号倡议的独立公开民调。该倡议由参选美国众议院的民粹主义民主党人萨姆·福斯塔格和前共和党州长马克·拉西科特大力推动，但州共和党和部分商业团体对此表示反对。
史蒂夫·哈德纳吉是铜矿区比尤特的一名自称保守派自由意志主义者，他表示计划投票支持第194号倡议，以阻止州外企业资金流入本地。
“他们正在向本地选举注入数百万美元，扶植他们想要的掌权候选人，这些候选人会按他们的要求行事，”他说道，“我认为民众希望对此采取行动。”
暗钱
在“联合公民”案中，最高法院裁定企业和工会拥有第一修正案赋予的权利，可不受限制地为与个人竞选活动无关的选举支出——这催生了超级政治行动委员会和501(c)(4)类非营利组织（即C4组织），这些机构可在不披露捐赠者身份的情况下，为选举投入无上限的“暗钱”。
据“公开机密”数据，企业对联邦外部政治团体的已知捐款从2010年的1300万美元攀升至今年迄今的逾6亿美元。
蒙大拿州“透明选举倡议”组织（即“蒙大拿计划”的幕后团队）基于“公开机密”的数据显示，该州的独立政治支出从2008年的3.3万美元增至2024年的1.62亿美元，而这还只是可追踪的资金。
“没人知道有多少企业资金正涌入选举，”消费者权益组织“公共公民”的资深竞选筹款专家克雷格·霍尔曼说道。
“蒙大拿计划”并未试图推翻“联合公民”案裁决——它通过针对企业权力而非企业权利来绕过该裁决。企业权力由州政府授予，各州有权重新定义或撤销这些权力。
第194号倡议将禁止所有“法人”参与政治筹款，包括工会、C4组织和任何在本州开展业务的企业，即便这些企业未在蒙大拿州注册。
该倡议不会阻止富豪个人自由支出——但他们将无法再匿名进行此类操作。
[1/3]2024年8月9日，美国共和党总统候选人、前总统唐纳德·特朗普在蒙大拿州博兹曼的竞选集会上出席活动。REUTERS/吉姆·厄克特 购买授权
法律审查
该计划的反对声主要来自蒙大拿州商界。
卡利斯佩尔商会首席执行官洛林·克拉诺表示，其团队已利用本地企业的捐款，就从学校征收到监狱资金等其他投票倡议向公众开展宣传。
蒙大拿州商会曾提起诉讼试图阻止该倡议进入投票程序但未成功，该商会主席托德·奥海尔称，他认为第194号倡议明显违宪。
法律专家对此意见不一。
洛约拉大学法学教授贾斯汀·莱维特称该倡议“大胆且不同寻常”，表示它可能迫使最高法院权衡2010年案中赋予企业的言论自由权，与数十年来支持各州有权界定企业可从事行为的法律先例。
加州大学洛杉矶分校法学教授理查德·哈森则对这项努力更为怀疑，称其是绕过“联合公民”案的“迂回策略”，很可能会被法院的保守多数派驳回。
毫无疑问，蒙大拿州的这场行动可能会产生广泛的连锁反应。直接与全国组织者合作的摩尔表示，第194号倡议的多个版本目前在约32个州已进入活跃阶段或正在审议中，既可能作为投票倡议，也可能作为待决立法。
“选票的力量”
对企业权力的不信任在蒙大拿州根深蒂固。
19世纪末至20世纪初，被称为“铜矿大王”的矿业大亨通过贿赂操控州议会，甚至买下美国参议院席位，这一丑闻至今仍在本地学校的课程中讲授。
1912年，蒙大拿州选民通过投票倡议通过了《腐败行为法》， outright banned corporate election spending.该法律一直有效，直到2012年被美国最高法院推翻。
布伦达·瓦勒是第四代蒙大拿人，也是一名历史学家，她表示大型铜业公司曾拼死反对1912年的这项法案，但无济于事。
“100多年来，蒙大拿州民众一直依靠选票的力量夺回权力，”瓦勒说道。
前林务局空降森林消防员、工会领袖福斯塔格是民主党候选人，正在竞选蒙大拿州第一国会选区席位，他将这项倡议作为竞选活动的核心议题。
“这一问题贯穿了我们作为劳动者始终处于不利地位的所有破碎体系，”福斯塔格在哥伦比亚福尔斯的竞选活动中接受采访时说道。这个曾以铝厂为支柱的蓝领小镇如今工厂已关闭，当地人抱怨自己正被来自得克萨斯州和加利福尼亚州的富裕移民挤出本地。
52岁的无党派选民基思·米汉在福斯塔格的集会上领取了一块支持“蒙大拿计划”的庭院标牌，并将其插在自家前院。他回忆起过去选举并非仅由负面传单、自动语音电话和电视广告决定的时代。
“过去人们会认真聆听每位候选人的主张，”他说道，“如果能再次拥有更公平的竞争环境，那就太棒了。”
布拉德·布鲁克斯在蒙大拿州报道；杰西·梅斯纳-哈奇与阿利斯泰尔·贝尔编辑
Deep in Trump country, a revolt against corporate money could reshape political spending
2026-09-16T10:05:45.926Z / reuters.com
- Initiative 194 would bar corporations, unions, other ‘dark money’ sources from political spending
- Versions of the Montana measure are active or under consideration in some 32 states, organizers say
- Known corporate contributions to outside political groups exceeded $600 million this year, OpenSecrets says
COLUMBIA FALLS, Montana, Sept 16 (Reuters) – More than 15 years after the U.S. Supreme Court reshaped American politics with its Citizens United campaign finance ruling, Montana voters will decide this November whether to make their state the first in the nation to bar corporations from spending money on elections through a ballot initiative.
It’s a test case for a novel legal strategy that sidesteps the 2010 ruling rather than challenging it head-on — and taps into growing, bipartisan anger over the pervasiveness of so-called dark money in elections.
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“Americans are losing the belief that they have any influence over our politics,” said Tom Moore, a lawyer with the Center for American Progress left-leaning think tank in Washington and the legal architect of the movement.
With similar, coordinated efforts underway in over 30 states, Montana could help set a critical precedent, experts say, and potentially lead to another showdown at the Supreme Court. Hawaii’s legislature passed a similar law earlier this year, inspired by those behind the effort here.
That the measure made the ballot in Montana, a deeply conservative state that President Donald Trump won by nearly 20 points in 2024, may seem surprising at first. But in a place where robber barons once ran wild, people remain deeply suspicious of money in politics, according to interviews with voters, historians and political scientists.
It’s a sentiment widely shared across the United States. A Brennan Center for Justice
survey this year found 79% of Americans across parties would support a constitutional amendment to restore limits on political spending.
No independent public polling has been done on Initiative 194, dubbed the “Montana Plan.” It has been championed by populist Democrat Sam Forstag in his run for the U.S. House of Representatives and former Republican Governor Marc Racicot, though the state Republican party and some business groups are opposed.
Steve Hadnagy, a self-described conservative libertarian in the copper-mining town of Butte, said he plans to vote “yes” on I-194 to prevent corporate money flowing in from out of state.
“They’re dumping millions of dollars into elections here, setting up the candidates they want in power who will do what they ask,” he said. “I think people want to do something about it.”
DARK MONEY
In Citizens United, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations and unions have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited money on elections independent of individual campaigns – giving rise to super PACs and 501(c)(4) nonprofits, or C4s, which can spend unlimited “dark money” on elections without disclosing their donors.
Known corporate contributions to federal outside political groups rose from $13 million in 2010 to more than $600 million so far this year, according to OpenSecrets.
In Montana, independent political expenditures rose from $33,000 in 2008 to $162 million in 2024, according to the Transparent Election Initiative, the group behind the Montana Plan, based on OpenSecrets data. And that’s just the money that’s possible to track.
“No one knows how much corporate spending is pouring into elections,” said Craig Holman, a longtime campaign finance expert at Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group.
The Montana Plan doesn’t attempt to overturn Citizens United — it works around it by targeting corporate powers rather than corporate rights. Corporate powers are granted by state governments, which have the authority to redefine or revoke them.
I-194 would bar all “artificial persons” from political spending, including unions, C4s and any corporation doing business in the state, even if they’re not chartered in Montana.
It would not stop wealthy individuals from spending freely — but they would no longer be able to do so anonymously.
[1/3]Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Bozeman, Montana, U.S., August 9, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart Purchase Licensing Rights
LEGAL SCRUTINY
Opposition to the plan has been led by Montana’s business community.
Lorraine Clarno, CEO of the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, said her group has used contributions from local businesses to educate the public about other ballot measures, from school levies to jail funding.
The Montana Chamber of Commerce filed an unsuccessful lawsuit to keep the initiative off the ballot and its president, Todd O’Hair, said he views I-194 as plainly unconstitutional.
Legal experts are split.
Loyola University law professor Justin Levitt called the initiative “bold and unusual,” saying it could force the Supreme Court to weigh the free-speech rights it granted corporations in 2010 against decades of legal precedent upholding the states’ power to define what corporations are permitted to do.
Richard Hasen, a UCLA law professor, is more skeptical of the effort — calling it “an end run” around Citizens United that is likely to be rejected by the court’s conservative majority.
There’s no question that what happens here could reverberate widely. Versions of I-194 are active or under consideration in some 32 states, either as potential ballot initiatives or pending legislation, according to Moore, who works directly with organizers nationwide.
‘THE POWER OF THE BALLOT’
Distrust of corporate power runs deep in Montana.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, mining barons known as the Copper Kings bribed their way through the state legislature and bought a U.S. Senate seat, a scandal still taught in local schools.
Montana voters responded in 1912 by passing the Corrupt Practices Act — also by ballot initiative — outright banning corporate election spending. The law held until it was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012.
Brenda Wahler, a fourth-generation Montanan and historian, said the big copper companies fought tooth and nail against the 1912 measure. It didn’t matter.
“People in Montana have used the power of the ballot to take back power for well over 100 years,” Wahler said.
Former Forest Service smokejumper and union leader Forstag, a Democrat running for Montana’s 1st Congressional District, has made the initiative central to his campaign.
“This is the issue that’s woven throughout all of the broken systems that we’re stuck on the wrong end of as working people,” Forstag said in an interview during a campaign stop in Columbia Falls. This formerly blue-collar town was built around a now-shuttered aluminum factory, and locals complain they’re being priced out by wealthy transplants from Texas and California.
Independent voter Keith Meehan, 52, snagged a pro-Montana Plan yard sign at Forstag’s rally and sank it into his front yard. He recalled a time when elections weren’t just determined by negative fliers, robocalls and TV advertisements.
“People used to listen to what every candidate had to say,” he said. “It would be awesome to have a more level playing field again.”
Reporting by Brad Brooks in Montana; Editing by Jesse Mesner-Hage and Alistair Bell