Complaint against Pinocci dismissed

The Montana commissioner of political practices has dismissed a campaign finance complaint against a candidate for the Public Service Commission district that serves north-central and northeastern Montana, ruling that a $3,000 loan Republican Randy Pinocci of Sun River made to his campaign was legitimate,

Pinocci, who is facing Havre Democrat Doug Kaercher in the race for PSC District 1, said Friday that the person who filed the complaint, Montana Democratic Party Executive Director Nancy Keenan, needs to pay back the cost of the investigation to the commissioner's office and to his campaign, and to

make an apology to Elaine O'Donnell for making false accusations.

"She accused her on Democratic letterhead and she should apologize to her on Democratic letterhead," Pinocci said.

Keenan's complaint asked the commissioner's office to investigate a loan Pinocci made to his campaign using a $3,000 cashier's check, three days after Republican Public Service Commissioner Tony O'Donnell of Billings, Elaine O'Donnell's husband, made a loan using a $3,000 cashier's check to Republican legislative candidate Randy Garcia.

Political Practices Commissioner Jeff Mangan ruled the loan to Garcia was illegal.

In her complaint, Keenan wrote that O'Donnell had already shown interest in Pinocci's campaign because both he and his wife had

made maximum contributions to Pinocci's campaign, and asked the office to investigate to make sure it was not an illegal loan.

In his dismissal of the complaint, Mangan said Pinocci provided documentation that the $3,000 cashier's check used to make the loan came from Pinocci's own bank account and records do not indicate a $3,000 deposit was made in the account using money from O'Donnell or any other source to cover the withdrawl.

Pinocci said he thinks the Montana Democrats "made up" the information about the O'Donnells contributing to make a connection and justify the investigation.

Party spokesman Roy Loewenstein said the party thought the loan, coming a few days after O'Donnell's loan to Garcia, was worth investigating.

"We followed the correct process when we notified the COPP of a suspicious loan made by Mr. Pinocci to his campaign," Loewenstein said in an email. "The COPP agreed the loan was suspicious and opened an investigation. To characterize the situation any differently is not only ridiculous, it also represents exactly the kind of partisan political attacks Montanans are sick of. As always, we appreciate the swift and thorough action of Commissioner Mangan and the rest of the COPP staff."

It was a waste of taxpayer money - and of his campaign's money - to make an accusation with no proof, Pinocci said.

He said Keenan owes Elaine O'Donnell a strong apology and should have made certain of the facts before accusing a senior citizen.

He said when a senior citizen does something wrong, most people look the other way, and "this time they didn't and they were wrong."

Instead, Keenan "threw her under the bus and threw her under the bus with false information," Pinocci said.