Four local candidates disqualified

Four candidates for state House seats in the Flathead Valley have been disqualified from the 2016 election after failing to file campaign finance reports with the Commissioner of Political Practices office by the March 14 deadline.

The disqualified candidates are: Shawn Guymon, a Libertarian candidate in House District 3; Jack Kearns, a Republican candidate in House District 5; George Dickenson, a Democratic candidate in House District 10, and Laura Hartland, a Republican candidate in House District 10.

That leaves incumbent Mark Noland, R-Bigfork, unopposed in his bid for re-election in District 10.

Kearns’ disqualification leaves Whitefish Republican Chet Billi as the de facto nominee to run against Democrat Dave Fern in the general election.

All told, nine House and Senate candidates across the state were four Democrats, four Republicans and one Libertarian.

Commissioner of Political Practices Jon Motl said Wednesday that all of those candidates failed to provide either a C-1 or D-1 form with his office, which formalizes their candidacy and provides the candidates’ financial disclosures, respectively.

“That has to be viewed as a choice on their part, because they were contacted multiple times by either Mary [Baker] or Kim [Trujillo] on our staff,” Motl said Wednesday. “It isn’t an onerous requirement, but a definite requirement that the Legislature has set for candidates in Montana.”

A letter from Motl’s office, sent to each of the disqualified candidates on Tuesday, added that no statewide candidates have been disqualified.

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