Political documents now in hands of feds
Stolen papers purportedly linked ATP to campaign coordination
A state judge’s Dec. 17 order that the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices hand over documents belonging to a conservative political group was stymied by federal action one day earlier.
Park County District Court Judge Nels Swandal told the commissioner he would take custody of documents that allegedly show coordination between American Tradition Partnership and political candidates in violation of Montana election law.
The documents made their way to the commissioner in 2010 after they were found in a car stolen in Colorado, stored in a meth house near Denver and then given to a Colorado state senator. Their contents were featured in an Oct. 30 PBS Frontline and ProPublica television documentary about Montana’s election finance laws.
Commissioner of Political Practices Jim Murry responded Dec. 20 by telling Swandal that the Colorado documents and some others had been handed over to the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana following a grand jury subpoena.
Christian LeFer, a political consultant in Livingston, had filed a lawsuit in state court requesting the Colorado documents be returned to him. The documents had allegedly showed an illegal campaign coordination between ATP, LeFer, a printing business owned by LeFer’s wife and several Montana legislative candidates.
Swandal’s order said he would take custody of the documents to make sure they were not stolen, lost or disclosed to the public. He cited a suspected break-in at the commissioner’s office and the commissioner’s offer at one time to allow reporters to view the documents. Many of the documents have now been scanned and are available for online viewing on the commissioner’s Web site.
ATP executive director Donald Ferguson issued a statement on Dec. 20 lauding Swandal’s order. He noted that Swandal had ruled that the Colorado documents were stolen property and evidence in a criminal investigation. He also noted that ATP had contacted the FBI about the matter.
“This is going to end very badly for Steve Bullock, Jim Murry and Colorado State Senator Gail Schwartz,” Ferguson said. “ATP has contacted the FBI. This is how Nixon got impeached along with 48 government cronies convicted of crimes. People don’t like it when corrupt politicians interfere with criminal investigations and conspire with criminals to evade law enforcement.”
Ferguson said ATP didn’t know the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices had the stolen documents, including bank records, for two years.
“I’m no legal expert, but intentionally hiding stolen property that is evidence in a criminal investigation reeks of a felony,” Ferguson said.
He noted that the commissioner’s office “looked at all the materials, found absolutely no wrongdoing to act on, and instead of returning them, secretly held them for nearly two years so they could coordinate an election-eve attack.”