Dark Money

Kimberly Reed’s PBS-aired POV documentary looks at the impact of corporate money being funneled into elections through shadowy political advocacy groups that seem to exist solely to destroy a particular candidate. The film focuses on Montana, which had a law dating back to 1912 that prohibited corporate contributions in state elections. The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling effectively voided Montana law (the high court also rejected a later Montana complaint) and the state, according to Dark Money, is now being polluted by corporate interests eager to elect candidates they believe will be subservient to their needs. While some of the documentary details the big-picture national aspects of the subject—Ann M. Ravel, a Democrat and former chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission, is extensively interviewed—Reed is mostly interested in Montana politics and the local scandals involving politicians with conflicts of interest. Unfortunately, the film gives the erroneous impression that so-called "dark money" is strictly a tool of far-right power brokers like the Koch Brothers (in reality, there is no shortage of money coming from the left as well), and Reed’s decision to let local journalist John S. Adams provide running commentary sometimes veers towards self-promotion on the latter’s part. Still, this is a timely film about a hot-button topic in American politics and should therefore be considered a strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)