Since May 17, Montana has had no contribution limits for political parties, but changed Thursday. Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl said U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell has put a stay on his own order.

"The Attorney General went back before Judge Lovell this week, on Tuesday, and explained to Lovell the difficulty we were having getting a contribution limit and the judge agreed with that," Motl said. "And yesterday issued an order saying 'Okay, I'm going to stay a portion of my May 17 order that affects the political party contribution limits that were passed by initiative.'"

Motl applauded both Montana's political parties and Judge Lovell for the way they behaved during the interim.

"And my hat is off to the political parties, political committees and even individuals. I think everybody, given what happened in '12, didn't want to see that happen again," Motl said. "So there was a lot of restraint, and we had a federal judge who I think acted with a good deal of good will towards the 2016 election process."

In 2012, the Republican Party gave a significant amount of money to gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill, which resulted in a drawn out legal battle. According to Motl, nothing like that appears to have occurred this time.

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