Anti-Hansen leaflet irks Helena conservatives

A campaign flyer sent via mail and Facebook urging voters to “Vote no on Kris Hansen” is creating a stir in Helena.

Titled “Montana Families Can’t Trust Kris Hansen,” the leaflet appeared in some Facebook newsfeeds Friday and in mailboxes over the weekend. The leaflet came from Montanans for Responsible Leadership and listed Ken Mosoros of Great Falls as treasurer.

“In a quarter century in Montana politics, I’ve never seen anything this bad,” said Joe Balyeat, executive director of Americans for Prosperity-Montana, a Helena-based arm of the national organization, about the leaflet.

Hansen is now a state representative and is generally seen as being from the party’s more conservative faction. She is opposing Carl Mattson of Chester in Tuesday’s Republican primary for state Senate in the newly drawn 14th district that includes all or parts of Liberty, Chouteau, Hill and Cascade counties. The winner will face Democratic state Sen. Greg Jergeson in the fall election.

The leaflet slams Hansen for opposing a proposal to increase aid to public schools and to cap property taxes. She was also criticized for voting to give “Gov. (Steve) Bullock the power to spend the (oil and gas tax revenues) as he pleases.”

But Balyeat was most upset about a comment that charges Hansen failed to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. AFP-MT asked candidates their views on several issues. Balyeat said that although Hansen’s responses were in line with his thinking on most issues, she said she wouldn’t sign the pledge.

The wording made it sound like AFP-MT sponsored the leaflet, he said, and was being critical of Hansen.

In fact, Hansen was the only one of three candidates in her district to respond to AFP-MT’s survey, Balyeat said.

Balyeat, a former Republican state senator from Bozeman, said his group does not endorse candidates and, as a nonprofit, does not coordinate any of its activities with candidates.

The controversial leaflet said Hansen was backed by “dark money groups that operate in secret and face numerous investigations for illegal campaign contributions.”

But Balyeat said Montanans for Responsible Leadership is also a “dark money group.”

“It’s so hypocritical,” he said.

AFP is funded by billionaire brothers Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch, staunch libertarians. It supports conservative and libertarian causes around the country.

The Associated Press reports that Montanans for Responsible Leadership filed reports saying it has received $20,000 from another PAC, Montana Business Advocates for Responsible Elections, which was formed in 2012 by several Republican legislators in response to election attacks by conservative outside groups. The new PAC also received $17,100 from individual donors. Advertising has apparently been concentrated on criticism of more conservative legislators.

Mosoros, contacted at his Great Falls home on Tuesday, acknowledged being treasurer of Montanans for Responsible Leadership, but said he was unaware of the anti-Hansen flyer.

“I don’t think I know her,” he said of Hansen.

He said he would have other officials of his organization call the Havre Daily News, but as of deadline this morning, they had not.

Hansen said she doesn’t not take pledges on any issues, though she pointed out that she carried a bill that would have vastly simplified Montana’s tax code last year.

“I don’t make campaign promises,” she said, explaining that she only tells voters what her opinions are and what she will work for.

“She said she was not overly upset with the flyer that attacked her, noting that similar attack ads have popped up in her previous two campaign.

“I wish it weren’t this way, but it is,” she said. “I just shrugged my shoulders.”

She speculated that there is more concern about such ads this time around because many candidates who have never had strong opponents face vigorous competition in the primary. She has faced tough competition from Democrats in her previous two campaigns and was on the receiving end of attack ads.