Ellsworth receives lifetime ban from Montana Senate floor for ethics violation

Former Senate leader Jason Ellsworth was banned from the Senate floor for life as part of a censure Tuesday stemming from an ethics investigation into a government contract awarded to a friend.

The Senate voted 44 to 6 to censure the Hamilton Republican, who has survived three different expulsion votes since mid-March, each failing to reach the two-thirds majority necessary to pass.

Before the vote Tuesday, Republican and Democratic leaders praised the compromise. 

“It’s more than just the Senate Ethics Committee report, so I want to make that clear,” said Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvray. “So, we’re going all the way back to the [Federal Trade Commission] complaint in 2009 where he was fined $600,000 for failing to disclose material facts to customers in his business in magazine sales. Two different infractions where he was stopped by the Montana Highway Patrol, abused his position as a senator and was ultimately charged with multiple misdemeanors. In May of [20]23 when he was issued an order of protection alleging domestic abuse. December of [20]24, we’re all familiar with, two bifurcated contracts, which the legislative auditor found to be acts of fraud, waste and abuse, which led to this ethics committee holding hearings.” 

The earliest incident cited by McGillvray, specifically Ellsworth’s settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, predated Ellsworth’s 2018 election to the state Senate by several years. 

Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, said the vote was about Ellsworth’s failure to disclose his personal relationship with a friend and former business partner, Bryce Eggleston, who in late December received a $170,100 contract to observe and report on how government agencies put into practice any 2025 Republican bills that become law limiting the autonomy of Montana courts.

An investigation by the Legislative Audit Division concluded that Ellsworth attempted to split the work into two contracts to avoid a $100,000 threshold that would have required the work to go out for bid. Ellsworth has denied involvement in how the contracts were originally set up. In the end, the state Department of Administration put the work into a single contract classified as a “sole source” agreement, which allowed the work to be awarded without open bidding.

The contracts drew public attention when current Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, and Majority Aide Rhonda Knudsen reported Ellsworth for investigation to the legislative auditor. Eggleston said he lost interest in the work because of the scrutiny.

“I believe, many of us believe, that this motion is appropriate for the unethical failure to disclose a conflict of interest, which we believe is what is at issue,” Flowers said.

“Penalties in the motion are strict, in my opinion, but I also think they’re fair.” 

The full slate of penalties presented by McGillvray included removing Ellsworth from Senate standing committees and interim committee assignments during the next two years. Ellsworth will be allowed to vote remotely during Senate floor proceedings, including any Senate special session during the 2025 biennium.

Ellsworth is banned from initiating verbal communications with executive branch directors and legislative staff. He also lost access to legislative office space, including legislative staff offices for the 2025 biennium.

Ellsworth did not respond to press inquiries after the vote. The senator was not present on the Senate floor Tuesday but did vote against censure, which some lawmakers said went too far.

“I have some deep concerns about the fairness of the process from its inception, specifically when the Ethics Committee was convened,” said Sen. Ellie Boldman, D-Missoula.

In a Democratic caucus a week earlier, Boldman suggested that Ellsworth was being punished for defying Republican Senate leadership on the first day of the session by collaborating with Democrats in reassign himself and several other lawmakers to preferable committees, this after being assigned to a committee that dissenting lawmakers described a parking spot for Republican senators who prevailed in some of 2024’s most contentious legislative primaries.

Ellsworth served as Senate president in 2023 but lost the position to Regier this session.

“I think I certainly would have been interested in a compromise, but the good senator from Ravalli County has kids. He has a new grandchild,” Boldman said. “I’m sure he’d like to, as a former president of this body, be able to come here and, whether he has to vote or not, take photos and still be part of this institution until the day he dies. And I think this is just too close to expulsion for my liking.”

 Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, said there should have been a stepped-in disciplinary process, akin to a stepped-in warning for employees.

“I think there should be steps or procedures, such as the first being a verbal notice, second being a written notice and third being expulsion,” Windy Boy said.

There remains an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice into an alleged act of official misconduct identified by the Senate Ethics Committee early in its work on the Ellsworth matter. 

Meanwhile, the Senate Rules Committee has been asked to consider whether the Senate Ethics Committee should review current Senate President Matt Regier’s use of public funds to hire outside legal counsel.