Even though the City of Billings city council elections are supposed to be local and non-partisan, it seems that increasingly external groups or political action committees (PACs) are weighing-in, aligned with candidates based on party politics.
Such was certainly the case in the 2019 election when four organizations including the Democrat Yellowstone County Central Committee, spent over $70,000 in support of four candidates who were perceived to be on the left side of the political spectrum. The candidates that received donations, and were otherwise the focus of campaign efforts were, Danny Choriki, Carmelita Dominguez, Kendra Shaw and Randy Heintz.
Support included funding printed materials, canvassers, door knockers, mailers, designing promotional materials, ads on Facebook, etc.
Dominguez received the lion’s share with about $18,000 in direct contributions, as well as in payment for mailings, canvassers and door knockers. Dominguez was vying for the council seat in Ward 4 against Pam Purinton, which Purinton narrowly won.
Primarily, the three outside organizations or political action committees (PACs) were Montana Conservative Voters Action Fund which contributed over $25,000, Montana Rural Voters Action Fund which contributed $28,000; and Forward Montana which contributed $6,700.
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