A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

22 September 2016

Libertarian discord, Republican slow filing, Democratic Gotcha!

A Libertarian Keystone Cops routine follows Mike Fellow’s death. Yesterday, the Ravalli County Libertarian party announced it had selected Rick Breckenridge, Proctor surveyor and former candidate for chairman of Montana’s Republicans, to replace Fellows as the Libertarian candidate for the U.S. House.

That a county party would assert the power to act on behalf of the state party seemed odd. Today, the Missoulian reports that not only was it odd, it probably wasn’t legal. Secretary of State McCulloch’s office is working to find a legal solution to the mess.

 Updated at 1811 MDT.  The Associated Press reports the dispute has been resolved, and that Breckenridge filed the necessary paperwork with Montana’s Secretary of State. SecST’s filing page now lists Breckenridge as the Libertarian candidate for Congress. In the end, the keystone cops got their man on the ballot.

Don’t be surprised if the Republicans file a lawsuit to keep a replacement for Fellows off the ballot.

Montana’s Democratic Party sat on alleged Republican campaign finance reporting violations. Today, the Montana Democratic Party filed a complaint with Montana’s Commissioner of Political Practices alleging that Montana’s Republican Party was late filing five of nine required campaign finance reports dating back to March. One report was only two days late, but one was 40 days late and another 37 days late.

Here’s the Democrats’ breakdown of the alleged violations:

alleged_gop_violations

I’ll cut the GOP some slack for filing two days late. But not for filing 40 days late. The former might result from unforeseen delays, but the latter can result only from purposeful procrastination, from a policy of deliberately hiding facts from the public. The Democrats’ complaint is on sound footing.

But the complaint also is on a political footing. There’s only one reason to wait until 22 September to register a complaint for a deadline missed in March: to let the violations pile up so a stack of them can be hurled at the GOP just before the start of absentee voting. Some will consider that tactically smart. Others, including, I suspect, most voters, will consider it Gotcha! politics.