The Montana Commissioner of Political Practices has reviewed and accepted a complaint filed by a Flathead County Republican leader alleging the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and a Washington, D.C.-based public affairs firm did not disclose lobbying activities supporting the tribal water compact during the current legislative session.
The complaint, filed by Jayson Peters, chairman of the Flathead County Republican Central Committee, names CSKT, public affairs firm Mercury LLC, registered lobbyists Mark Baker and Shelby DeMars, and the pro-compact group Farmers and Ranchers for Montana (FARM), which the complaint identifies as a “grassroots lobbying group working on the tribes’ behalf.”
Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl said he received the complaint April 3. The CSKT have 20 days to review the complaint and respond, and the office will then conduct an investigation.
According to Motl, the alleged rules violation falls in a “gray area” surrounding the regulation of grassroots lobbying efforts, which he said deserves further clarification through a rules change.
The complaint argues that FARM has “chosen to use dark money and skirt Montana lobbying laws to hide the full amount of funds to lobby the Montana Legislature and other elected officials.”
“This is a breach of the public trust and open government,” the complaint states.
According to rules governing lobbying in Montana, lobbyists must register with the state if they engage in face-to-face discussions with legislators and disclose the in-kind value, or cash value, of their contributions.
The same rules don’t apply to so-called “grassroots” groups that make contributions that are less quantifiable – for example, by urging constituents in a lawmakers’ legislative district to contact the lawmaker and urge him or her to vote a certain way.
“The problem with our lobbying laws is that we don’t have good regulations,” Motl said. “There is very little that is currently considered to be lobbying. When we take a look at this we are going to find that there is a problem with the law.”
Motl drew comparisons to recent local efforts by the conservative group Americans for Prosperity-Montana to target Rep. Frank Garner, R-Kalispell, because the freshman lawmaker refused to sign a blanket pledge opposing Medicaid expansion in Montana.
“The sort of grassroots activity that people are concerned about is not just confined to one entity,” Motl said. “AFP held town meetings. Did you find that anywhere in a complaint?”
The complaint contains copies of what the complaint states are minutes from June 2014 tribal council meetings. According to the minutes, the tribal council voted on June 3 to allocate $600,000 for a “Water Rights Budget.”
The complaint alleges the council later agreed to pay Mercury $200,000 to obtain the services of lobbyist Mark Baker to work on behalf of the compact legislation, and that the money should have been reported to the Commissioner of Political Practices.
CSKT Communications Director Rob McDonald said the complaint is another example of compact opponents’ efforts to distract from the debate surrounding the compact, which the state House of Representatives passed this week.
“CSKT’s legal staff is still reviewing the complaint and will respond in a timely manner,” McDonald stated in an email. “Given the tone of compact opponents, it’s not unexpected to see a baseless attack launched by the opposition, which seems to be done to distract from the actual content of the compact.”
DeMars called the complaint “sad and disappointing but not surprising” and said the timing of the complaint, which came immediately before the hearing of the compact by the House Judiciary Committee, “lays bare the ill intentions of the Compact’s opponents.”
“This is merely more of the same opportunistic political tactics that we have come to expect from Compact opponents,” she wrote in an email. “While we have tried to conduct a respectful and substantive debate on the merits of the compact, many opponents have resorted to scare tactics, fear-mongering and spreading misinformation. Considering the tone and tenor of their misinformation campaign thus far, this complaint is not surprising and confirms that they have no intention to engage in an honest debate about the benefits of the Compact, or even deal in actual facts about its contents. They intend only to mislead Montanans.”
Motl said that given the amount of influence by outside groups this legislative session, he wouldn’t be surprised if more lobbying complaints follow.
“If we get a number of complaints that we are not able to satisfactorily resolve based on the current statute, then there is work that needs to be done in terms of better regulations,” he said.