Hi-Line Women's Coalition violates campaign finance laws

The Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, in a decision reached earlier this week, found that the Hi-Line Women’s Coalition violated campaign finance rules by not registering as a political committee before paying for ads supporting Democrat Paul Tuss in his successful race against incumbent Republican Ed Hill for Montana House District 28.

The complaint that precipitated the decision was filed by Hill County Republican Central Committee Chair Andrew Brekke, who said he just wants to see everyone in the political sphere following the law.

The coalition’s board responded to the complaint by registering as a political committee and thanking Brekke for pointing out the error the organization, which formed earlier this year in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, had made.

“We want to thank Mr. Brekke, the complainant, for filing the complaint and alerting us to this missing and pivotal step,” said the statement submitted to COP after the complaint was made. “We are a new organization and the failure to report was very much our error, we sincerely apologize.”

The statement said they were filing the required paperwork and registrations to correct this error, which they have since done and again thanked Brekke for bringing the matter to their attention.

Coalition Co-Chair Morgaine Lomayesva said Wednesday that they are still waiting on a decision regarding the penalty for the infraction, which she’s given to understand will probably be a fine, which she said they are happy to pay.

Lomayesva said the mistake was unfortunate, but ultimately they’d rather know about the mistake and correct it sooner rather than later.

She said the rules governing campaign and political spending are there for very good reasons and they are happy to have fixed the issue as soon as possible, so they’re actually pleased about the outcome.

“It’s kind of a mixed blessing,” she said.