Fireweed and the Solutions Caucus

Fireweed and the Solutions Caucus

1. The Short Version

A Helena consulting firm called Fireweed Campaigns is getting paid to manage Republican primary campaigns. The same firm also manages progressive ballot campaigns. The money behind both sides traces back to the same out-of-state donors. The staff at Fireweed personally donate to the Republican candidates they manage. And now, the Trial Lawyers are in on it too.

Everything in this report comes from public filings anyone can look up.



2. Who is Fireweed?

Fireweed Campaigns Inc. is a for-profit consulting firm based in Helena. It bills Republican primary candidates for campaign management—typically $3,000 a month plus $900 for compliance work. At the same time, every member of Fireweed’s staff makes maximum $470 donations to those same candidates.

The firm is run by Lauren Caldwell, who also serves as Political Director of the Montana Federation of Public Employees—the teachers’ union. Her chief operating officer, Kiah Abbey, has been Board Treasurer of the Montana Abortion Access Program for twelve years. Her operations manager, Audrey McCue, previously ran the Lewis and Clark County elections office, where she oversaw acceptance of $215,000 in Zuckerberg-funded CTCL grants in 2020. Her communications consultant, Caitie Butler, is simultaneously the spokesperson for Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts—a progressive ballot campaign that operates out of Fireweed’s own PO Box and pays Fireweed $126,299 for management.

These are the people managing Republican primary campaigns in Montana.

Source: MT SOS filing, Fireweed Campaigns Inc. (D1414685) (Type Fireweed Campaigns into the search bar); Montana Federation of Public Employees staff directory; LinkedIn profiles; KTVH, October 2020; MT COPP filings.

3. The Candidates

COPP filings show seventeen Republican primary candidates receiving coordinated donations from Fireweed staff in 2026. Eleven are also paying Fireweed for campaign services. The donors are the same for nearly every candidate: Caldwell, Abbey, McCue, Butler, a retired investor named Anne Avis, and Way Back PAC of Sheridan, Wyoming. Each gives the maximum $470.

Six more candidates received the coordinated donations without visible Fireweed payments: George and Melissa Nikolakakos, Valerie Moore, Eric Albus, Ed Buttrey, and Doug Martens.

Source: MT COPP donation and expenditure filings, January–March 2026 (Search by the person's name.)

4. Follow the Money

Here’s where it gets interesting. The money behind these campaigns doesn’t come from Montana.

The chain: Hopewell Fund (Arabella Advisors dark-money network) → $18.4 million to Global Impact → Global Impact Social Welfare Fund (GISW) → $500,000 to Way Back PAC → donations to Fireweed candidates

Side channel: Global Impact Social Welfare Fund (GISW) → $2 million to Western Futures Fund (WY) → $107,500 to Fireweed Campaigns for “project management”

The same network funds the progressive ballot campaigns Fireweed manages. GISWF-Montana gave $2.62 million to Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights and $100,000 to Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts. Unite America PAC—bankrolled by Kathryn Murdoch ($4.25M), Michael Bloomberg ($2.5M), Arthur Blank ($2M), and John Arnold ($1.25M)—poured $2.18 million into Montanans for Election Reform, the ranked-choice voting campaign. Fireweed managed that campaign too, for $132,619.

Source: Hopewell Fund Form 990, Schedule I; GISWF Form 990 (ProPublica); Western Futures Fund Form 990 (2024); OpenSecrets - Way Back PAC PAC Donors; OpenSecrets Global Impact Social Welfare Fund; COPP filings.

5. Conservatives4MT and the Trial Lawyers

Conservatives4MT is the main PAC that spent roughly $360,000 on mailers and digital ads supporting Fireweed candidates in the 2024 primary. In 2024, 78% of its $422,579 came from out of state.



Now the 2026 money is rolling in. The latest C-6 filing (January–March 2026) shows Conservatives4MT pulled in $169,114 in new contributions this period, bringing its cash on hand to $186,861. Here’s who wrote the checks:

Read that first line again. The Trial Lawyers Legislative PAC just wrote the single biggest check to the committee that funds Republican primary campaigns managed by a progressive consulting firm. Seventy-five thousand dollars.

Conservatives4MT immediately spent $20,664 at Edge Marketing and Design for social media, direct mail, and radio ads targeting Senate District 19 and Senate District 9—the districts of Fireweed-managed candidates.

Source: Conservatives4MT C-6 filing, MT COPP, filed 03/26/2026 for period 01/01/2026–03/25/2026 (Then click on Committee Search and insert Conservatives4MT)

6. The Shell Game

Two of the committees that just wrote checks to Conservatives4MT didn’t exist until March 12, 2026. Big Sky Fiscal Guardians and Treasure State Stewards were both registered on the same day. Along with Conservatives4MT, all three committees share:

• Same Treasurer: Ross Fitzgerald, P.O. Box 207, Power, MT
• Same Deputy Treasurer: Roger Hagan, 117 Gerber Rd, Great Falls, MT
• Same Bank: First Interstate Bank
• Same Helena P.O. Boxes

Ted Kronebusch sits on the boards of both Montanans for Election Reform Action Fund (the Unite America vehicle managed by Fireweed) and Treasure State Stewards—linking the progressive ballot campaign directly to the new PAC infrastructure.

Bruce Tutvedt, the former state legislator from Kalispell, ties it together. He’s President of the Election Reform Action Fund and was the largest in-state donor ($25,000) to Conservatives4MT. One foot in the progressive ballot campaign, one foot in the Republican primary operation.

Source: MT SOS filings; MT COPP committee registrations.

7. What They Did Once Elected

This is where the money turns into votes.

In the 2025 session, two bills would have allowed partisan labels in Montana judicial elections—Senate Bill 42 and House Bill 838. Both cleared committee on party lines. Both died on the House floor because a bloc of Republicans crossed over and voted with Democrats.

SB 42 failed 41–59 on April 1. Seventeen Republicans voted No. Ten of those seventeen are on the Fireweed slate. Had they voted with their caucus, the bill passes 51–49.

HB 838 failed 46–54 on April 7. Twelve Republicans voted No. Nine of those twelve are on the Fireweed slate. Had they voted Yes, the bill passes 55–45.

The campaign to keep courts nonpartisan—Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts—shares its mailing address (PO Box 87, Helena) with Fireweed Campaigns. It pays Fireweed $126,299. GISWF-Montana gave the committee $100,000. Caitie Butler, who makes the coordinated $470 donations to Fireweed candidates, is its spokesperson.

The same money that pays for the “keep courts nonpartisan” campaign funds the consulting firm that manages the legislators who voted to keep courts nonpartisan.

Source: Montana Free Press Capitol 2025 legislative tracker, SB 42 and HB 838 vote breakdowns; COPP filings.

8. The News Outlet

Anne Avis gave $470 to eleven of the seventeen Fireweed-slate candidates. In every COPP filing, she’s listed as “Retired.” She is also Board Vice Chair of Montana Free Press, the state’s largest nonprofit news outlet and publisher of the Capitolized legislative tracker that covers these very races.

Montana Free Press’s 2024 major funders include the Arthur M Blank Family Foundation ($300,000) and Arnold Ventures ($150,000). Arthur Blank personally gave $2 million to Unite America PAC. John Arnold gave $1.25 million to Unite America PAC and $307,500 to Guarantee PAC. Both PACs fund Conservatives4MT. Avis and her husband separately gave $30,000 to the publication.

This report does not allege editorial bias. It observes that the board vice chair of the state’s dominant political news outlet is personally making coordinated donations alongside progressive consulting staff, directed at Republican primary candidates, and that the outlet’s largest funders are the same people bankrolling the PACs in this report.

Source: Montana Free Press board page; Montana Free Press Major Supporters, 2024; OpenSecrets Unite America PAC donor records; Open Secrets Guarantee PAC donor records

9. The Bottom Line

A progressive consulting firm manages Republican primaries. The trial lawyers, out-of-state billionaires, and dark-money networks fund the operation. The same donors fund progressive ballot initiatives through the same firm. Shell PACs with identical officers launder the money into the Republican side. And the board vice chair of the state’s biggest news outlet donates to the same slate.

Every dollar, date, and name in this document comes from public filings: IRS Form 990s, Montana COPP reports, Montana Secretary of State records, OpenSecrets PAC data, and published news reports. The full source documentation package is available as a companion document.

This report does not allege illegality or draw legal conclusions.