The Great Falls Tribune’s John Adams wrote a piece on the Montana Department of Commerce’s response to dismissed tourism department official Betsy Baumgart’s formal grievance against the agency.
According to the department, Baumgart was fired for a variety reasons, one of which was not spending a good portion of her budget. From Adams’ story:
According to the her termination letter, one of the primary reasons Baumgart was fired was because her division didn’t spend more then $4 million in state “bed tax” money set aside to promote tourism and to promote the state as a location for filming motion pictures and television commercials.
Earlier this summer the Legislative Fiscal Division identified that fund balance as a source “for potential fund balance sweep to general fund.” According to Schwinden’s letter, those funds have now been “specifically identified as a funding source to offset current state budget shortfalls.”
By most accounts Montana tourism fared relatively well during the economic downturn when compared to much of the region and some in the state’s tourism industry have questioned Baumgart’s dismissal. Now, the state GOP is criticizing the decision. Montana Republican Party Chairman Will Deschamps just issued the following statement:
“Without a Republican Legislature we can’t reign in the out of control spending. Governor Brian Schweitzer claims he’s a fiscal conservative, but when state employees save the taxpayers’ money, he fires them. Montana’s state government has many employees who work to cut taxes, restrain spending, and be good stewards of the people’s dollars. Brian Schweitzer just doesn’t want them in office. That’s why we need to elect Republican Legislators. I suggest that Montanans should apply the very advice our governor gave us in his recent editorial.
Already, Republican Legislators like Senator Dave Lewis have stepped up to defend state employees unjustly fired by the Schweitzer administration. If we elect a Republican Legislature, state employees should feel free to save taxpayers’ money without fear that they’ll lose their jobs.”