Montana Gov. and Senate candidate Steve Bullock is accused by the Green Party of corrupt tactics. | equalpay.mt.gov/
Montana Gov. and Senate candidate Steve Bullock is accused by the Green Party of corrupt tactics. | equalpay.mt.gov/
Wendie Fredrickson, the Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate, alleged that the Democratic Party and Gov. Steve Bullock are engaging in corrupt attempts to silence her candidacy, according to an opinion piece published in the Helena Independent Record on July 8.
“I have been the subject of character attacks and had questions regarding my integrity and motives that are not just inaccurate, but flat out insulting," she wrote. "Recently these smear efforts culminated in a lawsuit filed by the Montana Democratic Party to try and have me removed from the ballot. “As the party that claims to promote equality, inclusion and acceptance, their efforts have been no less than shameful.”
Fredrickson said she is running to bring truth and transparency to state government.
“I refuse to be silenced, like so many others have, through either bullying or non-disclosure agreements,” she wrote. “In fact, my resolve to run for U.S. Senate has only been strengthened by Democrats’ attempts to remove me from the ballot. I will continue to use my voice to fight for greater transparency in our government. The same transparency that I saw deteriorate before my eyes when I worked for the Bullock administration.”
Bullock is the Democratic candidate for Senate, trying to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. Steve Daines.
Frederickson was a state auditor until 2014 when she left her position due to what she said was bullying by state officials. She spoke up about potentially fraudulent payments made to undocumented welfare recipients on Fort Belknap Native American reservation.
She also supports efforts to strengthen rural fire departments and ambulances, the sale of health insurance across state lines, and investigations of why Medicare and Medicaid allow different procedures based on a patient’s home location.
“Before being forced into retirement in 2014, I was a proud government employee for 20 years at Montana’s Department of Health and Human Services," she wrote in the Record. "I enjoyed the job and ended up spending more than two decades analyzing the state’s financial books. However, I ran into a few experiences during my time that gave me pause, beginning with the state’s handling of potential fraudulent businesses.”
She said that she’s not the only state auditor who ran into trouble when they raised concerns about matters they regarded as red flags.
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