Photo illustration by Getty Images.

Montana’s battle against dark money in politics stretches back more than a century, when the state was humiliated because of a bribery scandal that saw wealthy copper king William Andrews Clark elected to the U.S. Senate. This week, Montana added to that history by beginning the constitutional initiative process aimed at challenging dark money, corporate spending and the Citizens United ruling.

Leaders who have signed on the measure admit: They have a steep hill to climb. Citizens United, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, said that the power to spend money in elections is tantamount to free speech and so most attempts to thwart or limit it have run afoul of the U.S. Constitution and the nation’s highest courts.

However, the wording of the new initiat

See Full Page