Montana campaign regulator says lawmaker took dark money

(AP) — The wide range of campaign services a Montana lawmaker took from eight corporate groups affiliated with a national anti-union group during his 2010 election campaign amounts to illegal dark money, the state's campaign regulator told a jury Wednesday.

Wittich received a package from Right to Work Montana operative Christian LeFer called "the works" that included those services and the direct mail campaign that involved sending thousands of letters to voters in the Senate district where Wittich was running, Motl said.

The commissioner said phone records showed Wittich called LeFer 15 times before the 2010 primary elections, and those contacts are evidence of coordination between the campaign and the corporate groups.

Wittich attorney Quentin Rhoades cast doubt on Motl's coordination theory by pointing out that Wittich's law firm was representing LeFer's Western Tradition Partnership organization at that time in a lawsuit challenging Montana campaign finance laws.