Judge hopes to make decision on initiative signatures next week

MATT GOURAS Associated Press Writer

September 9, 2006

GREAT FALLS - One of the key players behind three controversial initiatives was forced in court Friday to reveal that the bulk of the money behind the measures came from out of state.

Trevis Butcher, the executive director of Montanans in Action, was not forced to reveal individual donors, but did say they were "foundations" and "national organizations."

Opponents to measures backed by Butcher, including a constitutional state spending cap, asked a Great Falls judge to take the measures off the November ballot due to "pervasive fraud."

Funding has become a big issue in the political campaign against the measures, including a call from Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Friday to debate New York real estate investor Howard Rich. Schweitzer said the mogul has financially backed groups supporting Constitutional Initiative 97, the spending cap, and the two other ballot initiatives.

But it will be up to District Judge Dirk Sandefur to decide if the signature gatherers the money was used for engaged in fraudulent methods. He said after a full-day hearing on Friday that he hopes to make a decision by the middle of next week.

CI-97 opponents are joined by opponents to CI-98, which would make it easier to recall judges, and opponents to I-154, which would change state law to make it harder for government to condemn private property for public use or enact regulations that limit a property's use.

An attorney for a few voters who said they willingly signed the petitions knowing fully what they meant said it is not fair to throw out all of the measures for what he described as just "a few bad apples."

Attorney Pat Watt said the wishes of voters who want the measures on the ballot should be recognized.

"We don't think (fraud) is pervasive," he said. "We think there's some things that weren't done right. There were some things that could be done better."

Measure opponents produced a few witnesses who said they were offered one of the ballot measures to endorse, only to be duped into signing the other two.

Attorneys for supporters of the measures disputed claims that signature gatherers inflated their totals, saying coordinators believed they were following the law by certifying signatures collected by a number of people.

Montana courts take up the issue even as courts in other states have decided to remove measures similar to CI-97 from ballots.

Last week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court threw out that state's proposed "taxpayer bill of rights." On Friday, a similar measure was thrown off the ballot in Michigan.

Also Friday, the Nevada Supreme Court stripped a proposal to curb government spending from that state's Nov. 7 ballot. That court also erased several sections of a plan to limit land seizures by government agencies, similar to the sentiment behind Montana's I-154.

Helena attorney Mike Meloy, representing the initiative opponents, told Sandefur that signature gatherers purposely gave false addresses and names to avoid being located in the event of such a dispute. He said the judge needs to remove the ballot measures in Montana to send a signal that such behavior won't be tolerated.

Butcher, who has resisted disclosing the source of money for Montanans in Action on the basis that it is an educational group and not a political action committee, escaped being forced to release the full list of donors in court on Friday.

But his disclosure that much of roughly $600,000 used for the campaign came from out of state was a victory to the initiative opponents who have been seeking to learn where the money comes from.

Conservative groups supporting the initiatives won't reveal their sources of funding, Schweitzer said, but Rich "has been paying for it in a bunch of other states."

"The assumption is that he's paying for it here," Schweitzer said.

In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Rich said Friday that he had "never met Governor Schweitzer, but he seems to be confused about what is going on in his state."

"Local groups are working hard to put the voters and taxpayers back in charge in Montana, and Montana voters will have the final say on these issues in the fall," Rich wrote.

Butcher, a Winifred rancher and political activist, said he has not seen donations directly from Rich come to his group.

"I would personally challenge the governor to a debate on the issue. The governor does need to be publicly debated on this issue," Butcher said. "He needs to debate someone in Montana, and I propose that person be me."