Money Changes Everything

In the age of Citizens United, dark money can influence political races at every level from U. S. President to county clerk. Data mining is being used to strategically target and manipulate unsuspecting voters. Candidates need to raise record breaking amounts of money just to compete. Long held ethical political practices continue to collapse. The 2020 election cycle is in full swing and the rules are already in place, but we want to start a conversation about what we can do going forward to stop this situation from continuing in the future. How do we bring real campaign finance reform into the political conversation? Earlier this month as we were preparing to post our candidate interview episode featuring Montana Governor candidate Reilly Neill, she contacted us to let us know she was withdrawing from the race. Since campaign financing was one of the reasons she withdrew, we asked her to sit down with us and talk about her campaign experience and her ideas about how candidates and voters can navigate the system as it is now, and work together to change it going forward. We also asked our local House Dist. 60 Representative Laurie Bishop to join us and talk about her views on the issue from a legislative perspective. She further defines the issue, talks about her own experiences, and offers some great advice to voters on how they can deal with the conflicting information overload they’re getting.