By now, it’s old news that Rick Hill outraised Steve Bullock by two-to-one during the month of July, slightly narrowing Bullock’s large monetary advantage. From the reports filed with the Commissioner of Political Practices, Hill raised $189,390, while Bullock raised $89,535. But the raw totals are a little misleading, because they include money Hill received from state & local parties.
Each candidate for Governor is only allowed to collect $22,600 from any political party committee. Since it’s only a one-time transfer, party money is not good sign of momentum. Hill collected all his party money in July, so it inflates his totals and accounts for a quarter of the fundraising gap. Bullock already collected money from the state party in the last report, shortly after the primary.
Although PACs are not big contributors in Montana, Hill also had the dubious honor of collecting four times more money from PACs. Here’s a list of all the PACs listed in his most recent report, and they amount they’ve given to date.
| Name | Total | Notes |
| MDU Resources Group PAC | $1,350 | (Hill later returned $90, so it wouldn’t be over the legal limit) |
| Citizens for Responsible Gov Employees | $1,260 | (Northwestern Energy) |
| Contractors PAC | $1,260 | |
| Mine PAC | $1,000 | (Montana Mining Association) |
| Avista Employees for Effective Gov PAC | $630 | |
| Devon Energy Corporation PAC | $630 | |
| Excellence in Voting PAC | $630 | |
| Exxon Mobil Corporation PAC | $630 | |
| Jobs for Montana PAC | $630 | (This PAC is funded jointly by the Contractors PAC and the Montana Realtors) |
| Montana Committee of Automotive Retailer | $630 | |
| Montana Petroleum Marketers Assoc PAC | $630 | |
| Montana Realtors PAC | $630 | |
| Montana Troopers PAC | $630 | |
| Wells Fargo State PAC – Montana | $630 | |
| Montana Independent Bankers Assoc PAC | $320 | |
| Greater Montana IEC PAC | $300 | (Greater Montana Independent Electrical Contractors) |
Perhaps it’s not surprising, but there’s a fair number of mining, oil, and gas interests on this list.
Your post would be far more informative if you had included some of Bullock’s sources such as fund raising in Washington, DC: http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/1011/Beau_Biden_fundraises_for_Steve_Bullock_.html
As you probably know Rosemont is a venture capital firm. For shame if they would ever would seek favor in some place like Montana to fatten their wallets.
You’re right, Craig, I should have included a section about out-of-state money, though it’s not a large portion of either candidate’s totals.
Hill raised one-third more money from out-of-state donors — $14,210 to Bullock’s $10,585. Bullock received the most out-of-state money from California ($1,765), Washington D.C. ($1,230), and Louisiana ($1,200). Hill received the most money from North Dakota ($2,730), Texas ($2,690), Washington ($1,730), and Nevada ($1,130). Bullock’s DC contributions came from AFSCME, employees of Baucus & Tester, an attorney at Steptoe & Johnson (where Bullock worked from 2001-2004), and an employee at Indian Ridge, LC.
No shinola Sherlock.
After all we were once called the “Treasure State”.