Montana’s commissioner of political practices says Missoula County Sheriff candidate T.J. McDermott violated campaign finance laws.
McDermott has a very different interpretation of what that means than does his political opponent, Josh Clark.
Clark filed complaints about McDermott’s campaign practices in August.
Yesterday, state Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl ruled that McDermott, a detective sergeant with the sheriff’s department, failed to adequately account for campaign contributions.
Specifically, Motl says McDermott didn't report nearly $14,000 in in-kind donations from the law firm of Datsopoulos, McDonald and Lind. Motl also says McDermott's campaign wasn’t specific enough when explaining $11,000 it spent at a marketing and advertising firm owned by McDermott's campaign manager.
McDermott says the violation amounts to little more than an accounting error for an isolated event.
"The commissioner also noted that he found no systemic, planned or unreported illegal corporate money scheme. There was an error for one event, which amounts to less than $15,000 of money in a campaign that properly accounted for over $50,000."
Additionally, Motl says the law firm violated five campaign finance laws by exceeding contribution limits, providing and failing to report the in-kind contributions, failing to register as a political action committee, and failing to provide attribution on campaign event invitations. Undersheriff Josh Clark, who filed the complaint in August, is running against McDermott and says he thinks the violations amount to more than simple accounting errors.
"I believe a sheriff should uphold the law and not act like he's above the law," says Clark. "This decision reiterates what my complaint said: that there was illegal activity going on during the primary. To the voters, it's a feather in their cap because it reinforces the fact that voters do have the right to know where the money comes from, and voters put into effect these campaign laws and they want them upheld."
Clark lost to McDermott in June's Missoula County Democratic primary race with 30 percent of the vote. No Republican is running for the sheriff’s office. Current sheriff Carl Ibsen's term ends in January. Last month, Josh Clark announced he’s running a write-in campaign for sheriff. He says his critic's description of his renewed candidacy as "sour-grapes" is way off-base.
"I was also told that I had sour grapes when I filed this complaint," says Clark. "This complaint shows there were law violations. This is my job. I've done this my entire career - standing up for those who can't stand up for themselves and enforcing the law. And you don't enforce the law for some people and then turn a blind eye to others."
McDermott says Missoula voters spoke loud and clear back in June.
"He's crossed off 'Democrat' on his signs and he has a few people from the tea party helping him with his campaign," says McDermott. "If people would have wanted him for sheriff, they would have voted for him in the primary - and they didn't. I received close to two-to-one (the number of) votes than him, and that just tells me the community is interested in my message and interested in a positive change for the sheriff's office."
Political practices commissioner Motl says McDermott and the Missoula law firm must apologize to the community and opposing candidates, and file amended campaign reports. McDermott says his campaign "is open to working with the commissioner to find a resolution."
