HELENA, Mont. – The Montana Republican Party today filed an official ethics complaint against Governor Steve Bullock alleging Bullock illegally used his state government resources during his failed campaign for President. Executive Director Spenser Merwin filed the complaint with the state’s Commissioner of Political Practices, who is charged with enforcing state ethics laws. The complaint alleges, and provides evidence, that Bullock illegally used multiple official state government social media accounts to campaign for office. Using state resources to further a political campaign is illegal in Montana. “Governor Bullock spent years using state personnel, time, and resources to build up his official @GovernorBullock social media accounts, then turned around and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars using those same accounts in his embarrassing presidential campaign,” Merwin said. “This is an egregious abuse of Montana’s ethics laws, and Bullock needs to be held accountable for once again using taxpayer resources to campaign.” “Now that Governor Bullock is flip-flopping on his word and readying yet another ill-advised campaign, COPP needs to act immediately to prevent the Governor from continuing to use taxpayer resources to advance his personal political ambitions,” Merwin continued. “Bullock needs to immediately cease and desist from illegally using his @GovernorBullock social media accounts to campaign, and COPP needs to hold him accountable and treat him the same as other elected officials. The Governor does not get a pass when it comes to Montana’s ethics laws.” Detailed analysis of Bullock’s ethics violations and photo evidence of his law-breaking is available in the official ethics complaint. Background: Bullock has a long history of abusing taxpayer dollars – and getting caught. KULR8: Governor Bullock accused of wrongly spending taxpayer dollars (07/15/2019) Great Falls Tribune: Governor to pay some security costs in presidential bid (07/15/2019) KTVQ: Two Highway Patrol officers accompanied Bullock on his initial presidential campaign swing through Iowa last week, and the costs of that “executive protection” are borne by state taxpayers (05/22/2019) KULR8: Governor Bullock settles complaint tied to misuse of state plane (09/05/2017) Billings Gazette: Gov. Bullock settles campaign violation over state airplane for $3,000 (09/05/2017) AP: Bullock took too long to report state plane use during campaign, top political cop says (06/29/2017) Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Political watchdog faults Bullock for state plane reports (06/29/2017) |
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