As part-time citizen legislators in Montana, there is a concerning trend of Montana special interest groups unduly influencing, or worst yet, outright control legislators. The most stunning example of this is the Montana Hospital Association (MHA). In 2015, the federal government made available the Medicaid Expansion program. I am not going to debate its merits here, rather only call in question the way the Montana Hospital Association has gone about securing a huge windfall of tax dollars year after year. (Today, Medicaid Expansion is over a $1 billion program in addition to the traditional Montana Medicaid program funding of about $2.5 billion). That 2015 Medicaid Expansion bill was carried by Representative Ed Buttery, R-Great Falls. The following year Rep. Buttrey got a position on the board of directors at one of Montana’s biggest hospitals. In 2019 the program was up for reauthorization by the legislature and once again Rep. Buttery carried the bill. He is the vice chair of the hospital board that has received millions in supplemental government payments over the four years the program has been implemented. When should ethical considerations come into play?
Now, just in the past few months, the Montana Hospital Association has hired current sitting legislator, state Rep. Buttery to run its organization; an organization that, according to the Commissioner of Political Practice’s files, has spent $346,873 since the beginning of Medicaid Expansion to lobby state legislators. Also, the MHA has spent over $7 million on ballot issues as well as giving over $200,000 to political candidates. From the perspective of the MHA, it is a great move to hire a sitting legislator to be in charge of such political spending and influence. What an inside advantage! At what point does this become an ethical conflict? In Montana there is a law legislators have to wait two years after leaving office before they can be a lobbyist. It seems even worse to have a current legislator in control of an association with a very large lobby budget and influence. A recent Montana Free Press article rightly stated that the hospital legislation benefited from Ed Buttery’s legislative influence, “The legislation … also benefited from the … sponsorship from Rep. Ed Buttrey, a Great Falls Republican allied with major health care industry groups. (Shortly after the Legislature adjourned, the Montana Hospital Association announced it had tapped Buttrey to be its next president and CEO.)”
The question and concern for all the taxpayers of Montana is where does the practice of lobbying organizations paying large salaries to sitting legislators end? According to MHA’s tax form 990, the CEO was paid $442,087 a year. This practice will allow a sitting legislator, getting almost a half million dollars a year, to manage highly paid lobbyists on legislation he is voting on. This is really starting to smell like a Minnesota Somali daycare.
Carl Glimm is a Republican state senator from Kila.