Local man files two campaign complaints

An outspoken Flathead Valley conservative has filed an ethics complaint against Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Dave Gallik and the teachers’ union, MEA-MFT, alleging violations of state campaign finance law.

Ed Berry, a Bigfork physicist who often challenges man-caused climate change theories, contends in his filing that Gallik cannot be an impartial arbiter of campaign finance complaints because he is “still the Treasurer of the Democratic Legislators Alumni Association” political action committee.

Gallik, a former Democratic state senator from Helena, has an equally straightforward response: “He contended that I’m still the treasurer and I’m not. I resigned prior to taking this position.”

After some controversy, Gallik was appointed commissioner of political practices by Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer in May.

Since Berry’s complaint was filed with his office, Gallik said he will recuse himself and appoint a deputy to investigate Berry’s complaint.

“Because I’ve been named personally, I’m going to stay away from it,” Gallik said.

But Berry questions Gallik’s ability to be impartial on often partisan-driven political finance and ethics complaints overall because of his history as a Democrat.

In a recent interview, Berry expressed doubt for instance that he would get a favorable ruling from Gallik in regard to his other, more complicated complaint against the MEA-MFT Committee On Political Education (COPE).

The complaint alleges that in reporting its political action income from donors last year, the union failed to list contributors during each of four reporting periods.

A Jan. 19 C-6 document, for instance, reported $29,843 in contributions from unidentified sources, and Berry calculates that amount would involve 856 individual contributors if they all gave under the $35 threshhold for reporting names.

The complaint alleges that as a political committee, however, MEA-MFT COPE is still required to record and report the identities of those who contribute less than $35.

Gallik said that he has not had an opportunity to review the complaint yet and declined to comment on it.

Berry’s complaint goes on to allege that the union disburses its contributions from unidentified sources to other political action committees and organizations that mostly have Democratic affiliations. The complaint’s supporting documentation for the 2010 election year cites tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to entities such as the Democratic Legislator Alumni Association, the Montana Democratic Party, the Montana Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, Montana Conservation Voters, the Mansfield-Metcalf Dinner and the North Valley PAC (political action committee) that has been active in Flathead Valley elections.

Berry’s complaint describes the disbursement of political contributions from unidentified sources as “money laundering ... with the intent to go beyond the maximum allowable candidate contributions.”

Berry said he doesn’t have high expectations for the complaint if it is reviewed by Gallik, and he believes Gallik should recuse himself from being the deciding official because of his ties to the Democratic Party.

“I just filed it and whatever they do, they do,” he said. “I would expect he should take himself out of the  process and let somebody else, presumably a third party, make that decision.”

Erik Burke, executive director of MEA-MFT, did not respond to the Inter Lake for comment or rebuttal to Berry’s complaint.