A federal judge on Thursday put back into place limits on what Montana’s political parties can give to campaigns. State attorneys on Tuesday argued that U.S. District Court Judge Charles Lovell should issue a stay over part of his own order from last week that removed contribution limits for the political party committees. In his order May 17, Lovell said the contribution limits were too low and unconstitutional, but left what happened next up to Attorney General Tim Fox. Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl interpreted Lovell’s order as ending limits set by a 1994 initiative and said he was required to reinstate the limits that were in place before then, adjusted for inflation. That left the limits for contributions from individuals and political action committees significantly higher, especially for PACs.
However, adopting the old limits for what a political party can give would have created a lower limit than what Lovell struck down as too low.
That created a situation where there were no limits on what political parties could contribute and led to the state filing a stay last Thursday. “It brings stability to the 20016 election because we have limits completely in place,” he said.
Attorney General Tim Fox has filed a notice of appeal on Lovell’s overall order issued May 17, but unlike a similar situation in 2012 the appeal will not be fast-tracked.
Full Article: Judge issues stay reinstating campaign contribution limits from political parties | Montana Politics | helenair.com.