Dark Money

As a state with a scarce population but ample natural resources, Montana has a history of being exploited by shady corporate interests. And in the wake of corrupt copper barons buying legislative seats, the citizens of the state built many safeguards against corporate influence on elections, including the strictest campaign finance laws in all of America. But 100 years after these laws were passed, the U.S. Supreme Court made its Citizens United decision, which opened up avenues for corporations to pour untraceable sums of money into elections. Dark Money follows both the chilling effects of Citizens United on Montana’s elections, and the way the state is fighting those effects — with its own laws, its small-but-mighty regulatory bodies and its tenacious investigative journalists.