“Ghost candidate” allegations against Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and primary challenger Logan Olson have been dismissed by the state Commissioner of Political Practices.
Commissioner Chris Gallus has ruled that Knudsen did nothing wrong in recruiting Logan Olson to run against him in the 2024 Republican primary, an arrangement that allowed Knudsen to fundraise for a primary race in which Olson wasn’t actively campaigning.
Montana Democratic Party Director Sheila Hogan filed a complaint against the two Republicans after a recording surfaced of Knudsen telling supporters about his arrangement with Olson.
“Candidate recruitment is permitted so long as there is not an ongoing effort to communicate that would result in coordination,” Gallus said in his findings, filed Thursday, July 18. “There are no facts showing that Mr. Olson and Attorney General Knudsen engaged in such efforts.”
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Finding that Knudsen’s recruitment of Olson was unacceptable would have upended more than 30 years of enforcement during which other candidates have essentially done the same.
“Such action would result in an abrupt change without notice to candidates, exposing them to severe penalties,” the commissioner said.
Olson will have to pay a $4,525 civil action penalty for failing to properly report his filing fee, which was paid for by Chuck Denowh, of Standard Consulting. The fee paid by Denowh should have been reported as an in-kind contribution, Gallus concluded, and the payment also amounted to a larger contribution than Montana law allows.
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