Minority report: GOP conspired with Governor’s Office to ‘hack’ judiciary records

Misty Ann Giles, head of the Montana Department of Administration, was in “constant communication with the Governor’s Office” about a legislative subpoena before it was issued — the subpoena quickly quashed by the Montana Supreme Court — and the acting director of the DOA was eager to produce records “with no privacy review,” according to a scathing memo Democrats released Monday, “The Minority Report on Judicial Transparency and Accountability.”

The report issued to the 67th Montana Legislature from minority Democrats alleges a Republican-led select committee on judicial transparency is part of a “coordinated effort to attack and smear the independent judiciary” because the GOP has been told bills it wants to pass violate the Montana Constitution...