Sheehy ad attacks Tester over money from lobbyists

HELENA – MTN continues our “Truth Be Told” series, taking a closer look at some of the claims Montana voters are making in the massive amount of political ads in the U.S. Senate race between Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and Republican Tim Have seen Sheehy.

Recently, Sheehy’s campaign tried to connect Tester with lobbyists. In a television commercial titled “Bullsh*t,” two ranchers criticize Tester’s record, with one calling him “the number one recipient of lobbyist campaign money.” Sheehy repeated this claim during his debate with Tester last month.

The nonpartisan, independent research group OpenSecrets tracks money in politics, including money from lobbyists — but Sarah Bryner, research director at OpenSecrets, says donations from lobbyists aren’t the biggest issue for them these days.

“In our post-Citizens United world, lobbyists now really only make up a relatively small portion of the money in the policy pie,” she said.

“That’s not to say that lobbyists don’t deserve a special level of scrutiny because they are expected to achieve political results in return for their work,” Bryner continued. “So when this type of person starts contributing private money, then that actually opens up a level of control that may not be warranted for everyone. But in pure dollar terms, it’s still a fairly small to medium-sized industry.”

OpenSecrets has two different breakdowns of lobbyist contributions. The first includes money from federally registered lobbyists who have actively lobbied Congress in the last year. It shows Tester is the top receiver for the 2024 election cycle at $489,440. He is followed by Sen. Martin Heinrich, DN.M.; former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.; Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.; and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

The other calculation is described by OpenSecrets as including “members of the lobbying industry.” Bryner said that could include people who lobby at the state level, but also people who work for a lobbying firm but are not registered lobbyists themselves. On this list, Tester is the second-largest recipient of the cycle at $495,260. Cantwell is No. 1, and the remaining top five includes Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn.; Heinrich; and Senate candidate Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del.

According to the initial calculation, OpenSecrets reports that Sheehy received $109,676 from registered lobbyists. The list for the second calculation includes only the top 20 recipients among Senate candidates, and Sheehy is not included, but OpenSecrets told MTN that he raised a total of about $147,000 from the lobbying industry.

These figures cover 2023 and the first six months of 2024. They do not cover the latest round of federal fundraising reports filed last week, in which Tester reported another $32.1 million and Sheehy another 9.7 Having raised millions of US dollars.

Bryner said that while the specific numbers and positions on the list could change, overall trends remain relatively stable. She said they found that lobbyists donate to members of both parties, and that most donations typically went to sitting lawmakers — particularly leadership members and Democratic senators from smaller states.

“The reason we see outsized contributions from lobbyists to Western Democrats or Democrats in the Purple State in particular is because they often don’t have the money in their own state to go there,” Bryner said. “If you’re a Democrat representing California or New York, you can just go to the streets and your local Silicon Valley millionaire will be able to help you.”

Bryner said OpenSecrets’ data on lobbyists has been used in political ads before, but she doesn’t have a “normative assessment” that receiving contributions from lobbyists is inherently a problem.

“It’s a much more nuanced story,” she said.

Montana’s Senate race is, of course, one of the most competitive in the country this year, with Tester and Sheehy’s campaigns bringing in more than $100 million combined – more combined than in any election this year except the presidential and Senate races in Texas, Ohio, Maryland and California. This underlines once again that money from lobbyists has played a relatively minor role so far.

Before the last report, Tester’s campaign had raised about $42 million this election cycle. The $495,260 from the lobbying industry would be just over 1.1% of that. Sheehy’s campaign had raised more than $13 million before the last report, and his $147,000 would represent just under 1.1% of that.

The Tester Campaign responded to MTN with a statement.

“Tim Sheehy has been using his lobbying connections for his own interests for years,” said spokesman Harry Child. “He opened his own lobby shop and bribed bureaucrats and politicians to line his own pockets, then accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in lobbyist money even though he told Montanans he wouldn’t do that. Montanans will re-elect the third-generation dirt farmer this November — not the rich out-of-stater who refuses to tell the truth.”

You can find all of our Truth Be Told stories on our MTN websites.