Our View: Let voters boot out dark money candidates

Montana Political Practices Commissioner Jonathan Motl has found that State Senate Majority Leader Art Wittich, R-Bozeman, has violated state campaign laws by his exceptionally close ties to dark money.

Wittich worked closely with Western Tradition Partnership, an especially odious group that either — depending on who you listen to — skirted or openly violated state campaign laws to elect conservative members to the Montana Legislature.

State law says that groups such as WTP can take stands on issues and support candidates, but cannot coordinate its efforts with the candidates. Motl says he’s discovered that lots of coordination has taken place. So far, he said, two lawmakers have been especially guilty of illegal coordination, Wittich and State Rep. Mike Miller.

Under the law, Motl can fine and otherwise sanction the offending lawmakers. We urge him to do so, though he must be prepared to defend his decision in court.

No one has been more vigorous in opposition to the introduction of dark money into Montana’s generally clean political scene than this newspaper.

The wrongdoing of WTP has been proven on a special report from PBS’ “Frontline” and elsewhere.

We believe WTP has had a most deleterious effect on Treasure State politics. And had it been allowed to continue, you can be sure liberals and Democrats would be investing in their own version of WTP.

The law apparently allows Motl to remove Wittich and Miller from the ballot. He has asked District Court to consider such action in the Wittich and Miller cases.

Miller is running for re-election, and Wittich, barred by term limits from running again for the Senate, is seeking a state House seat.

Wittich has done little to deny the allegations made by Motl, instead launching into an attack against Motl and the man who appointed him, Gov. Steve Bullock, a man from a different political party and a way-different political philosophy than Miller and Wittich.

But we think Motl has done a good job of exposing the wrongdoing.

Sunshine is a great disinfectant, and Motl has done a commendable job of exposing the alleged wrongdoing by the lawmakers.

But removing Miller and Wittich from office? That is the ultimate sanction, and that is a prerogative we think that ought to be limited to one group of people — the people in the district that elected them in the first place.

Allowing people to elect their representatives is an essential part of our democratic system.

Voters in the two districts will now have a clear idea of how their candidates feel about dark money, and they should make the decision on who will represent them.

Motl has done a good job in his position, but in the end we have a lot more faith in the voters than in any Helena official.

Leave this important decision to the voters.