Montana lawmaker seeks to dismantle political practices office

[TexasTowelie]

HELENA — A Montana lawmaker is proposing to dismantle the independent office that oversees the state’s ethics, lobbying and campaign laws and turn those duties over to elected officials.

Republican Rep. Derek Skees said Friday the Office of the Commissioner of Political Practices has “totalitarian powers” that allows the commissioner to be prosecutor, judge and jury over allegations of campaign violations. He wants to transfer campaign reporting oversight to the secretary of state’s office and enforcement of campaign and ethics laws to the attorney general.

Both the secretary of state and attorney general are elected officials who are subject to the laws they would oversee.

Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl says his office does not consider political party when considering campaign or ethics complaints.

Read more: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/03/montana-lawmaker-seeks-dismantle-political-practices-office/97461950/

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Is this not 'Bob' from those Enzyte boner commercials?

[TexasTowelie]

3. I contemplated putting the Enzyte jingle as the ringer on my cellphone

so that I would attract legions of adoring fans.

[flygal]

2. they just lie and lie

from article:

Skees said Motl is the best example of what is wrong with the office. Skees said Motl, who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, only goes after Republicans and has never settled a fine or filed a case against a Democrat for a campaign violation.

Motl denied that partisan politics enters into his or his staff’s work. “You do your best to apply the law to the facts that are given you and you don’t look at partisanship, you don’t look at the party,” Motl said.

It’s untrue that Motl’s office only goes after Republicans, he said. Between 2013 and 2015, Motl ruled for the Republican candidate over Democrat in eight of 10 cases when members of both parties were involved in a complaint.

The commissioner also ruled twice against Democratic candidates in complaints brought by an independent party and twice more against Democrats in which a complaint was brought by another Democrat.