| It's fitting that the State of Montana would challenge the Orwellian named Citizens United ruling as it was just the corporate SuperPac election purchases that the people in that state took on a hundred years ago.
Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana, presents the case in a NYT op-ed. His message is essentially correct; however, historically, he errs even more than I did in SOS -- One Hundred Years On. Political corruption was a feature of Montana politics not limited to William A Clark who served one term in the US Senate, March 1901 to March 1907. The campaign to pass the Montana Corrupt Practices Act wasn't initiated until 1911. Years after Clark and his family had ceased being politically and financially powerful in the state. Years after the Standard Oil trust had gained control of the major copper mines not to mention gaining control of Clark's newspaper, The Butte Miner. It was as if the Koch Brothers and Rupert Murdoch were one in Montana 2011.
The more direct impact that William Andrews Clark had on US politics is the Seventeenth Amendment, direct election of senators. Likely given some assistance by Mark Twain's 1907 essay, "Senator Clark of Montana." As Clark allegedly said that he'd never bought a man that wasn't for sale. Can only wonder if he'd be surprised at how cheaply votes still come today. |
