Big Sky Times

Montana Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney (D), who is running for state governor in November, was recently fined $1,000 after being accused of breaking ethics laws. 

According to the Montana Republican Party (MRP), the complaint against Cooney was filed by Spenser Merwin, who is the executive director of the MRP. Merwin alleged that Cooney improperly made use of a number of state facilities, including the Lt. Gov.’s Capitol office, from which he conducted a conference call with the Democratic Governors Association concerning his candidacy. 

This use of government facilities was in violation of Montana Code Ann. § 2-2-121(3)(a).

“As a career politician with 44 years in government, Lt. Gov, Cooney should understand the obligations of public office better than anyone; instead, he is now facing the maximum penalty for the illegal use of government property to advance his own political career,” Merwin told the Montana Republican Party. “When Lt. Gov. Cooney was supposed to be working for the people of Montana, he was using taxpayer resources to strategize with the out-of-state liberals that are bankrolling his campaign. [He] simply cannot be trusted to put the interests of Montanans ahead of his own.”  

Jim Buterbaugh, Republican candidate for Senate District 38 who hails from Whitehall, corresponded with Big Sky Times about the scandal. 

“Mike has been in government long enough to know better, but this is a little thing,” Buterbaugh told Big Sky Times. “Besides, as the Democrat Governors Association replied, ‘This is a small price to pay to get a Democrat governor elected.’ That to me, is a bigger issue. The fact that they didn't care about the rules.”

Buterbaugh said that this increasing lack of respect for the rules is originating more and more often in the Democratic party. 

According to Missoula Current, Cooney admitted to making use of the facilities for his own purposes back in May 2020.