HELENA — Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl is leaving office after four years in which he and his staff cleared a backlog of campaign complaints, rewrote campaign finance rules and brought court cases against nine Republican primary candidates.
Motl is handing over the commissioner’s job Monday to former Democratic lawmaker Jeff Mangan of Great Falls. Mangan will be the first commissioner this decade to be appointed and confirmed to a full six-year term.
The commissioner oversees the state’s campaign, lobbying and ethics laws. The position has been the target of accusations of partisan bias, resulting in five commissioners holding the office since 2010.
Mangan says he met with Motl and the commissioner’s staff three times over the past two weeks to review cases, and that he plans to immediately start writing campaign complaint decisions.