Montana Democrat Busse releases tax returns as he seeks a debate with Gov. Gianforte

BILLINGS (AP) — Montana Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ryan Busse provided 10 years of income tax records on Tuesday as he sought to goad Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte into debating him ahead of the November election.

The release of the tax records to The Associated Press comes after Gianforte last week dismissed Busse as not a "serious candidate" and suggested he wouldn't debate him since the Democrat had not released his tax returns.

"It's a complete charade," Busse told AP after providing his returns. "If this is the singular reason why Gianforte will not debate, I'm not going to let him have that excuse."

With the election just over two months away, Busse's campaign is scrambling to gain traction in a Republican-dominated state that elected Gianforte by a 13 percentage point margin in 2020.

Gianforte campaign manager Jake Eaton said Tuesday that the governor welcomed Busse "joining him on the transparency train."

"As the governor made clear, now that Mr. Busse, after repeated prodding, released his tax returns, he welcomes a debate," Eaton wrote in a statement.

Last week, Eaton had said in a memo to reporters that his boss was prepared to debate a credible candidate but suggested that was not Busse, who won the June primary with 71% of the vote.

"The first step to getting a debate is we need a serious candidate who releases his tax returns just like every other candidate has done, and then we can talk about scheduling a debate," Gianforte said in an Aug. 28 interview with KECI-TV in Missoula.

Busse is a former gun company executive who said he left the industry after becoming alienated over its aggressive marketing of military-style assault rifles. His tax returns for 2014-2023 show he and wife Sara Swan-Busse earned about $260,000 annually over the past decade.

Their main source of income prior to 2020 was firearms company Kimber Manufacturing, where Busse served as vice president. The bulk of their income in recent years came from Aspen Communications, a public relations firm run by Swan-Busse.

Busse said he had earlier declined to release his tax returns for privacy reasons, but had nothing to hide and that he reconsidered after Gianforte's campaign alleged he wasn't being transparent.

Gianforte obtained massive wealth though the 2011 sale of his Bozeman, Montana-based software company, RightNow Technologies, to Oracle Corp. His income over the past decade primarily came from profits on investments and averaged more than $6 million annually, according to his returns. He is paid about $120,000 a year for being governor.

Gianforte spent more than $6 million of his own money on a failed bid for governor in 2016 and $7.5 million of his money on his successful 2020 campaign.

Busse outraised Gianforte during the most recent financial reporting period, yet still trailed the incumbent overall with about $234,000 in cash remaining, versus $746,000 for Gianforte, according to campaign filings.