BUTTE, Mont. — In election news developments in Butte, a city-county sheriff candidate was found to be in “serious violation” of state campaign finance laws.
In a partial judgment handed down Wednesday, Montana Political Practices Commissioner Chris Gallus found that candidate Mike Gage received illegal campaign contributions from Kane Fisher of Immanuel Security LLC.
The maximum amount an LLC can give to a candidate is $450 per election if properly documented. But Mr. Gallus wrote that Immanuel Security’s owners paid more than $8,000 for radio ads that were not properly disclosed and worked with Mr. Gage’s campaign.
In his fact finding, Gallus said the ad was “just under 60 seconds” long and began with a statement endorsing Gage’s candidacy, followed by Fisher stating that Immanuel Security was endorsing Gage. It is explained that
The ad ended by saying the cost was paid for by “Immanuel Security of Butte,” but did not disclose the financial officer’s name or address, as required by law.
Gallus wrote that Fisher should have created an independent political committee on ad spending and submitted a report within days of the ads being published. Mr. Gallus said that Immanuel Security formed a group called “Friends of Gage” on September 12th after being notified of potential misconduct, despite not meeting these requirements. He said he named it the Incidental Political Committee.
Mr. Gage also filed four monthly campaign finance reports after the required deadline. His March application was 13 days late, his April and May applications were both nine days late, and his June application was four days late.
NBC Montana spoke briefly with Gallus by phone Thursday afternoon, and he said such violations occur regularly, especially at the local level. However, he said the public understands the obligation to report because they have a right to transparency. He said it’s natural for candidates to overlook things during a campaign, but he still intends to enforce the law.
The first complaint was filed Sept. 6 by current sheriff Ed Lester, who said he knew something was wrong when he heard the ad on the radio earlier this year. There is.
“We know those things are pretty expensive. You have to pay for them. And when you receive money or spend money as a campaign, you have to report those costs. The money coming in must be reported as much as the money going out. Mr. Gage’s campaign does not report any money spent on radio advertising or money coming in from Immanuel Security. “No,” Lester said Thursday.
NBC Montana also spoke with Gage, who said he was new to politics and was approached by Immanuel Security to participate in the ad, but had no idea he would be breaking the law.
“This is something none of us have ever done before. It wasn’t until March that we decided (to run). We are doing our best and the Commissioner I’m going to accept everything the office says, that we made a mistake, and I’m going to accept whatever it takes to correct the mistake,” Gage said.
“It’s very clear. Candidates are responsible for complying with all campaign finance laws. That’s clear, there’s no debate. So whether you’re new to this field or have been in this field for many years, candidates are responsible for complying with all campaign finance laws. In all cases, the law must be followed,” Lester said.
“In the past, I have always had conflicts with officers who have been good officers and good people, but this issue never came up. I have never been involved in a campaign finance violation case in the past. No. So I don’t know what that means for the race, but I think it reflects the character of the opponent,” Lester added.
Gage said the delay in filings is due to difficulties in putting together the documents.
“I didn’t know exactly what I was doing with them. Yeah, that’s true. They were a few days behind,” Gage said.
Lester was skeptical of that reasoning and said that while campaign finance reports may be difficult to figure out, using that reasoning to meet deadlines is not an acceptable excuse.
“If you don’t know what you need to do, you can always call the commissioner’s office and find out how to proceed,” Lester said. I know it’s not easy, but it’s not as difficult as failing to report thousands of dollars worth of ads. Campaign finance deadlines are very clear. All deadlines are the 20th of the month. And missing a deadline four times in a row means you’re not really interested in meeting it. ”
Gage told NBC Montana that he reached out to Gallus Thursday morning to better understand the ruling.
“Maybe it would have been best to contact his office first[before placing the ad]to see if it was something we needed to post going forward or something we didn’t need to post. He told me that the next time something like this happens, say thank you, but don’t say thank you. So that’s how we’ll do it from now on. If you have, please contact the commissioner’s office first instead of assuming you know what the answer is,” Gage said.
“Mr. Gage acted at least negligently,” Gallus wrote in his ruling, adding that his office reserves the right to continue investigating these matters and does not consider possible civil action. He said the case has also been referred to the Butte-Silverbow County Attorney.
Gallus said failure to properly attribute an ad could be a misdemeanor, but the issue has been fixed and no criminal charges will be filed. He said if the donation exceeds $500, civil liability will likely result in a fine of up to three times the donation amount, as required by law.
Mr. Gage told Mr. Gallus that he believed the matter had been resolved and the case had been dropped because he had not heard from the attorney representing Immanuel Security after he sent Mr. Gallus a letter of apology.
Regarding this claim, Gallus said, “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
