A mailer that went out to Montana voters during the 2014 election cycle showing Montana Supreme Court candidates on a graph with the names Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, may end up costing the Universities of Dartmouth and Stanford thousands of dollars.

The universities say that the mailers were part of a study, but Montana Political Practices Commissioner Jonathan Motl found that they also broke Montana campaign financing Laws.

"Stanford and Dartmouth engaged in a communication that was designed to encourage people to vote for a particular candidate," Motl said. "Because of that, they should have registered with the Commissioner of Political Practices Office and they should have disclosed the amount of money they spent and the source of the money, and they didn't do that."

Motl says the flyer was designed to increase voter turnout among those who received the mailer and also noted that nearly twice as many mailers went to heavily democratic districts in Montana. Motl’s decision came out yesterday, and so far, the response from the universities has been disapproving.

"I've had it reported to me that they say they are disappointed, so they are not in agreement that they have violated Montana's campaign practice laws, but they have been civil and have sought, I think, deal fairly with Montanans on this. So I am hopeful that we will be able to resolve this without the necessity of litigation."

Motl lauded Stanford for paying for a $40,000 apology mailer that went out to the same voters who received the controversial flyer, but chided Dartmouth for not paying to help with those costs, a factor he says will be weighed in future discussions.

The case is now in the hands of the Lewis and Clark County Attorney. Motl says that Stanford and Dartmouth owe a public debt to Montanans and says he hopes to settle for a payment from the universities. When pressed on how high the fee would be, Motl said he expected negotiations would start at at least $40,000.

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