April 15 2020

"Dark Money" (2018) Big Sky Film Productions, Directed by Kimberly Reed

This documentary film examines the influence of untraceable corporate money on our elections.  The film opens in Montana, which was an early leader (over a century ago) in limiting campaign contributions from corporations, following the buyout of officials by Anaconda Copper, which led to gross environmental damage.  Today our government has given corporations unlimited power over our elections by removing all regulations of donations to political campaigns, virtually giving them bribe power over officials at all levels.  After the federal government removed the regulations, Citizens United, for example, became one of the big 103 c4 orgs to collect money from megadonors without revealing its source; the money could (most likely) be from foreign donors seeking to influence US elections to leverage outcomes to their country's (or their personal) benefit.  On a state level, Montana became vulnerable under the liberalized ruling when a group called ATF started mailing out damaging and false political ads targeting John Ward, running for reelection to the MT House of Representatives.  This was a new org but was actually a shell company serving as a front for an effort for corporations to hide their donation from the government and therefore influence the election. Because it is a covert org, it's not clear who is actually sending out this damaging information.  Hours of journalistic and legal research finally uncovered the sham, and truth and justice were finally served in MT.  But Montana is just one of many examples, though it serves as an urgent catalyst that we work to bar corporations from controlling our elections, and thus our laws.