Montana Free Press (https://montanafreepress.org/category/politics/page/2/)
Republican Kalispell Rep. Frank Garner files complaint against group, which was at the center of allegations of illegal third-party influence in state primaries in 2008, 2010 and 2012
Gene Jarussi, the state special attorney general in charge of litigating a series of lawsuits against political candidates for illegal campaign activities, is now himself facing allegations of political misconduct. In a Nov.
State Del. Dan Morhaim talks to reporters on March 3, 2017, after the Maryland House of Delegates voted unanimously to reprimand him for using his position to advocate for changes to medical marijuana regulations that could have led to gains for a company he worked for.
By John S. Adams, Montana Free Press
For the better part of the past decade, Montana Republicans have enjoyed comfortable majorities in the state Legislature. Despite those majorities (or maybe because of them), GOP caucuses in the House and Senate have spent much of the past 10 years engaged in a bitter, and oftentimes very public, intra-party feud.
When 150 Republican and Democratic legislators, dozens of lobbyists, labor organizations, special interest groups, political operatives, and citizens from across Montana all descend on the state Capitol for a special legislative session, you end up with a lot of delicate moving parts. The fiscal and political realities House and Senate lawmakers are faced with as they work toward a solution to the state’s $227 million budget hole are complex, dynamic, and too numerous to list.
Shelby prison deal could be Bullock’s “one exit”
By John S. Adams, Montana Free Press
As state lawmakers lay the groundwork for a special legislative session to tackle Montana’s $227 million budget shortfall, the proposed GOP deal for how to plug the gap is coming into focus. At the same time, two independent sources have confirmed to the Montana Free Press that Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, in “in talks” with top executives of CoreCivic, the owners of a private prison in Shelby that is at the center of the 2017 special session’s most contentious proposal.
Private prison in Shelby central to special session negotiations
By John S. Adams, Montana Free Press
As lawmakers prepare to gather in Helena on Monday, the question looming over the state Capitol is this: can Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock hammer out a deal with House and Senate Republicans, or will lawmakers leave town without an agreement and force Bullock to slash hundreds of millions in government programs and services to cover the state’s the $227 million budget shortfall? “As far as I know this is uncharted territory,” Republican House Speaker Austin Knudsen said in an interview Friday.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock’s campaign has agreed to pay a $3,000 fine to the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices to resolve a complaint stemming from Bullock’s use of a state aircraft during his 2016 re-election campaign. A three-page settlement document posted to the Commissioner of Political Practices’ website late Friday afternoon “finally resolves” the allegations against Bullock’s campaign committee, Friends of Steve Bullock.