Libby officials challenge election ruling

Libby Mayor Doug Roll and five current and former members of the Libby City Council are challenging a 2015 decision by Montana’s chief campaign regulator that found they violated campaign practice law during the city’s 2013 mayoral election.

In a Jan. 19 petition to Lincoln County District Court, Roll, current council members Peggy Williams and Barb Desch and former members Vicky Lawrence, Bill Bischoff and Robin Benson asked for a judicial review of Jonathan Motl’s decision.

Motl is Montana commissioner of political practices.

In May 2015, Motl found that then-City Attorney James Reintsma, Roll and the City Council had violated campaign law during the 2013 municipal general election.

He determined that they had improperly used public resources to oppose the election of Allen Olsen, a City Council member who in 2013 ran against incumbent Mayor Doug Roll.

Less than two weeks before election day, Reintsma filed a lawsuit on behalf of the city of Libby that challenged whether Olsen’s residency qualified him to hold office on the council and run for mayor.

Olsen ultimately lost the election to Roll by 14 votes.

In his decision, Motl wrote that the city attorney’s time used to file the suit was a use of public money and that the lawsuit constituted “express advocacy,” meaning it qualified as an expenditure under Montana’s campaign practice laws.

In November 2014, the city of Libby reached a settlement with Olsen, in which it agreed to pay him $49,500 in legal fees stemming from the residency lawsuit.

The petition now in Lincoln County District Court, filed by Helena attorney James Brown, asserts that Motl misinterpreted the state’s campaign finance laws well as precedents set by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“This whole suit by Motl is a claim that by trying to enforce the residency requirements for elected office, that the city of Libby somehow violated campaign finance law, became a political committee and has to register as a political committee,” Brown said in an interview Monday. “It’s just bizarre.”

He said that contrary to Motl’s findings, the city did not cross the legal line into “express advocacy” and was not acting as a political committee.

“The City Council didn’t vote to approve this,” Brown added. “The city attorney did this on his own.”

In his decision, Motl held that while Reintsma’s action was not subject to a vote, he sent a memo to Roll and the six council members announcing his intention to file the complaint. Motl wrote that only Olsen formally objected to the suit, and that the other members’ failure to do made them responsible.

In an interview Monday, Motl agreed that the matter should be brought before a court, but said he would attempt to have the case moved to district court in Lewis and Clark County.

“The venue for this sort of complaint is the court in Lewis and Clark County, not somewhere else,” he said.

Last week, Motl cleared the backlog of election complaints before the Montana commissioner of political practices for the first time since 1998. But Motl said his work on those decisions is far from over.

“Having issued 144 decisions since Jan. 10, 2013, we now have to take the portion of those decisions that found [violations] and resolve them,” he said. “If you can’t settle them, you have to take them to court.”

The Lincoln County Clerk of District Court said Monday that no hearing date has been set for the case.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.