HELENA -- Gov. Steve Bullock continued beating the drum against dark money in elections Sunday on MSNBC’s “AM Joy.”

In an interview with national correspondent Joy Reid, Bullock responded to her question of what he would do to take the corrupting influence of big money in politics out of elections.

Reid referenced an opinion piece Bullock had online on USA Today, which is owned by Gannett and a sister publication of the Great Falls Tribune, in which he said there were two obstacles of America once again being the land of the free: the divisive presidency of Donald Trump and the corrupting influence of dark money in politics. Bullock is now among 23 Democrats running in the 2020 election.

“I’ve done more to fight the corrupting influences of dark money than anyone else in this field,” Bullock said. “You look at the Trump tax cuts, even Sen. (Lindsey) Graham said ‘We have to do this to make our donors happy.’”

He said Republicans can’t even acknowledge that climate change is real anymore “ultimately because the donors say it is too important for their petroleum companies and others.”

He said in Montana dark money and undisclosed money was kicked out of elections for the last 90 days, which “makes elections more about people.”

He also said he would sign an executive order upon entering office forcing “companies doing business with government to disclose ways in which they are trying to impact elections.” He signed a similar executive order for Montana in June 2018.

Dark money refers to funds donated to nonprofit organizations that spend it to influence elections. These nonprofit organizations can receive an unlimited amount of donations, and are not required to disclose donors.

His website, stevebullock.com, lists dark money under the header of “One Big Idea,” states he will let federal agencies go after “the secretive groups who corrupt our elections, enforcing our laws and reversing years of inaction."

The site states he will ban Super Political Action Committees from American elections. And, Bullock said he will direct the solicitor general to appeal the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision which said campaign spending is protected under free speech in the First Amendment.

The governor announced his presidential campaign on May 14. This week he plans on spending some time in Seattle and San Francisco, then go to Iowa this weekend.

Veteran journalist Phil Drake is our eye on the state capitol. For tips, suggestions or comment, he can be reached at 406-231-9021 or pdrake@greatfallstribune.com. To support his work, subscribe today and get a special offer.

To know more

To read about Gov. Bullock's thoughts regarding dark money, go to: https://stevebullock.com/one-big-idea/. To see the "AM Joy" interview, go to: https://bit.ly/314RXqA