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Tuesday night highlight: PBS Frontline documentary on Montana campaign finance
Excerpt from PBS press release "FRONTLINE and American Public Media's Marketplace Presents Big Sky, Big Money"
As America prepares to go to the polls, FRONTLINE and Marketplace take a journey into Montana to investigate the impact big money is having on our democratic process.
In Big Sky, Big Money—a one-hour documentary premiering Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 9:30 P.M. on PBS (check local listings)—FRONTLINE correspondent and Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal examines the way dramatic changes in American campaign finance laws are shaping this year’s election cycle. Two years after the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United decision, more money is being spent on elections than ever before, much of it from tax-exempt organizations that are not required to publicly disclose their donors.
Observers say that the secretive nature of some of these tax-exempt groups, called 501(c)(4)s, makes it nearly impossible to ensure that they avoid unlawful coordination with specific candidates’ campaigns. In Montana, FRONTLINE investigates Western Tradition Partnership (WTP), an outside group that challenged Montana’s strict campaign finance laws all the way to the Supreme Court—and won. In its investigation, FRONTLINE uncovers documents found in a Denver, Colorado drug den that have led state investigators to ask whether WTP has been running candidates’ campaigns.
“This is exactly the sort of thing that people have been trying to argue to the Supreme Court: that this so-called independent spending is not really independent,” says Trevor Potter, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission.
Citizens United proponents, however, argue that a robust democracy requires full participation by all citizens, including those who want to make contributions to issue groups anonymously.
In Big Sky, Big Money—a one-hour documentary premiering Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 9:30 P.M. on PBS (check local listings)—FRONTLINE correspondent and Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal examines the way dramatic changes in American campaign finance laws are shaping this year’s election cycle. Two years after the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United decision, more money is being spent on elections than ever before, much of it from tax-exempt organizations that are not required to publicly disclose their donors.
Observers say that the secretive nature of some of these tax-exempt groups, called 501(c)(4)s, makes it nearly impossible to ensure that they avoid unlawful coordination with specific candidates’ campaigns. In Montana, FRONTLINE investigates Western Tradition Partnership (WTP), an outside group that challenged Montana’s strict campaign finance laws all the way to the Supreme Court—and won. In its investigation, FRONTLINE uncovers documents found in a Denver, Colorado drug den that have led state investigators to ask whether WTP has been running candidates’ campaigns.
“This is exactly the sort of thing that people have been trying to argue to the Supreme Court: that this so-called independent spending is not really independent,” says Trevor Potter, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission.
Citizens United proponents, however, argue that a robust democracy requires full participation by all citizens, including those who want to make contributions to issue groups anonymously.
My local PBS station is showing the program at 10pm not 9:30. Maybe yours does too. In fact, last week the US Supreme Court let stand a fed appeals court decision to reinstate the campaign contribution limits in Montana.
