Steve Bullock Hates 'Dark Money.' A Lobbyist for 'Dark Money' Donors Is Helping His 2020 Campaign.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock is staking his name and presidential campaign on battling “dark money” — a commonly used term for secretive political cash meant to influence elections. He’s even suing President Donald Trump’s administration over it.

But next month, Bullock is scheduled to visit Washington, D.C., for a closed-door campaign fundraiser co-hosted by 11 of the capital’s elite — including a federally registered lobbyist whose clients have contributed corporate cash to groups that don’t disclose their donors, according to an invitation obtained by the Center for Public Integrity.

Jay Driscoll — a Bullock friend and managing partner at lobbying firm Forbes-Tate — lobbied for 37 corporate clients during the first quarter of 2019 alone, according to congressional lobbying records. 

The Center for Public Integrity in 2014 found that nine of Driscoll’s current corporate lobbying clients had contributed to politically active nonprofit groups that don’t voluntarily disclose their donors. The donor companies disclosed the contributions long after the fact, in little-scrutinized corporate governance filings.