LAKEWOOD, Colo. – As the nation marks the ninth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, Coloradans are making strides to limit the influence of money in politics.

Last week, the city of Lakewood lowered campaign contribution limits, banned contributions from corporations and increased transparency for municipal elections.

In November, Denver voters passed similar reforms.

Amanda Gonzalez, executive director of the open government group Colorado Common Cause, says these steps are necessary to ensure that big money doesn't drown out the voices of everyday Coloradans.

"Government should reflect the interests of the average Coloradans, not special interests, and that, of course, is the concern around the influence of money in politics and the effects that Citizens United had," she states.

The 2010 Supreme Court decision, citing previous court precedent, ruled that political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment, and said the government can't get in the way of corporations spending money to influence elections.

Overturning the decision would require a constitutional amendment.

Gonzalez notes the high court has not ruled out putting a spotlight on so-called dark money, to expose special interests paying for political ads.

"The Supreme Court has resoundingly said that disclosure and transparency are absolutely something that the people can ask for,” she points out. “Those are opportunities in a post-Citizens United world to make sure that we still have a good understanding of what's happening in our elections."

A bill introduced this month in the U.S. House of Representatives would require disclosure of dark-money contributions, and provide qualifying candidates with a 6-to-1 match on small donations.

Last year, according to the group Clean Slate Now, at least 10 cities, counties and states passed significant campaign finance reforms.


get more stories like this via email

Gov. Mark Gordon has just a few days left to make final decisions on bills passed during the Wyoming legislative session.

Both fair election advocates and Gordon himself have called some in the pile "boilerplate." The governor signed bills into law this month to prohibit ranked choice voting -- a system not currently used in the state -- and foreign funding for ballot measures, although one slated for the 2026 ballot will be the first in 30 years.

Marissa Carpio, policy director for the Equality State Policy Center, noted the trend could be the result of new control by the Freedom Caucus in Wyoming's House of Representatives.

"What seems like happened is, boilerplate bills from national groups making their way into Wyoming, with issues that we just do not have," Carpio observed. "Maybe just to send a message to those national groups that Wyoming is a place where you can do that."

Gordon this week vetoed Senate File 196, which would have amended the "Second Amendment Protection Act" to include legal ramifications for police officers who "participate in" the enforcement of federal firearms laws. In his three-page veto letter, Gordon wrote the state "shouldn't need to pass boilerplates created in far-flung states that seek to fix problems we haven't seen in Wyoming."

A bill still awaiting Gordon's pen would change qualifications for voter registration to include a 30-day residency requirement and proof of citizenship, which often means a passport or birth certificate.

Carpio pointed out the bill mirrors the federal Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE Act.

"Our concerns with that bill were that it would impact women, elderly women without documentation or who might have a different name on some of their papers than other papers," Carpio outlined. "It might open up the door for discriminatory practices."

According to the Center for American Progress, 60% of Wyoming citizens do not have a valid passport, and nearly 140,000 women in the state do not have a birth certificate matching their current legal name.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.


get more stories like this via email

Early voting for the Wisconsin Supreme Court race starts next week and, although the seat is technically nonpartisan, both candidates have clear political alignments and backers that are being heavily scrutinized. The topic prompted some of the sparks in last night's heated debate.

Republican billionaire Elon Musk has poured millions into backing Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel in the April Supreme Court race. Musk's company Tesla is suing the state for denying its request for dealers licenses - a case that could reach the high court.

University of Wisconsin-Madison mass communications professor Michael Wagner said the state's rule about justices making their own decisions about when to recuse themselves from cases makes the election outcome that much more consequential.

"It's in a presidential swing state, it's on a swing court," said Wagner, "and the cases that are going to come before the court are going to be cases where the donors in the election, most notably Elon Musk, have a clear interest and a clear path they want the winning judge to take."

Judge Susan Crawford of Dane County has been called out for receiving campaign money from Democratic billionaire George Soros and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Spending on this race is expected to top the historic $56 million spent on the last state Supreme Court race.

Millions have been spent on ads to sway undecided voters. A recent Marquette University poll found many say they still don't know enough about each candidate. Wagner said he doesn't think they'll have a dramatic impact on the election outcome, and predicted party allegiance will drive most voters. But he notes some of the ads egregiously misrepresent the candidates - such as a Schimel campaign ad that featured the wrong Susan Crawford - which speaks to today's contentious political climate.

"We live in this environment where it's just easier to take the shortcut that feels good in the moment," he said, "even if it's not true, even if it isn't good for the long-term 'project' of living together and governing together as citizens."

The April 1 election is already in the national spotlight, as it will determine the political influence of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Early voting begins next Tuesday.

Nearly 1,000 political scientists from across the U.S., including Montana, have signed a statement expressing how they feel the Trump administration's actions are threatening American democracy.

The letter, signed by experts at colleges and universities in both red and blue states, highlights six specific concerns. They include the administration's actions to cancel spending approved by Congress.

Montana State University Professor of Political Science Sara Rushing noted that while cutting expenses may be a good business strategy, democracy is not a business.

That's why, she said, there are checks and balances.

"We have these procedures and practices built in to slow things down, build consensus, abide by processes, and make sure that things are fair and transparent," said Rushing. "Efficiency has never been the preeminent value of democracy."

She encouraged her fellow political scientists not to strike a tone of neutrality because, as she put it, democratic procedures and stakes "shouldn't be up for debate."

In defense of its actions, the White House says it's ensuring all federal agencies are accountable to the American people, as required by the Constitution.

More than 29% of Montana's land base is public land managed by federal agencies.

Montanans who previously worked for those agencies were some of the first to be directly affected by federal cuts, after an initial round of firings in mid-February.

Rushing said she worries the government's commitment to efficiency will "break" the systems that protect public lands.

"So, you can break Yellowstone and make it function terribly," said Rushing, "and then you can make an argument for privatizing it and running it like a business. And that would be a massive loss - not just to Montanans, but to Americans as a whole."

According to a 2024 University of Montana survey, 95% of Montanans said they visited national public lands in the past year, and about half of those said they paid more than ten visits.

Support for this reporting was provided by Carnegie Corporation of New York.




get more stories like this via email