Montana’s oath of office:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, protect and defend the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Montana, and that I will discharge the duties of my office with fidelity (so help me God).”
But discharging the duties of office with fidelity apparently does not include observing and enforcing constitutionally passed laws of the state for one Austin Knudsen, Montana’s Attorney General.
According to the Daily Montanan,
“At a Saturday night campaign event billed as a ‘conservative cookout,’ Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen told a crowd that he had put a friend and fellow Republican up to running against him in his bid for re-election in order to raise more money and because he believes state law is ‘ridiculous,’ according to a recording that captured part of his remarks and was obtained by the Daily Montanan.”
Knudsen went on:
“I do technically have a primary. However, he is a young man who I asked to run against me, because our campaign laws are ridiculous. So, he’s a young man from my part of the state. His name is Logan Olson. He’s not running. He filed to run against me simply because under our current campaign finance laws in Montana, it allows me to raise more money.”
The Montanan story goes on to mention the specific campaign law in question, MCA 13-37-216 that talks about campaign contribution limits, and how if there is an uncontested primary there is only one election overall to contribute to, namely the general. So in effect by recruiting a bogus primary opponent, Knudsen is flouting the intent of the law and making it possible for his campaign contributors to give twice as much as the law’s authors intended.
But there’s more. The Montanan also reports that MCA 13-35-207 on Deceptive Campaign Practices “prohibits falsely filing for office or making a false oath or affidavit, which are often required for candidates running for office” which would seem to apply to the recruited stooge, and mentions MCA 13-35-221 on “Improper Nominations” where subsection 1) proscribes anyone from recruiting someone else to run for office for promise of “valuable consideration” whatever that may be, and subsection 2 stipulates
“(2) A person, in consideration of any gift, loan, offer, promise, or agreement, as mentioned in subsection (1), may not:
(a) be nominated or refuse to be nominated as a candidate at an election;
(b) become, individually or in combination with any other person or persons, a candidate for the purpose of defeating the nomination or election of any other person, without a bona fide intent to obtain the office”.
Noting that there’s no evidence (so far) that Knudsen offered the stooge anything valuable. But is obvious our state’s highest law enforcement official thinks nothing of the laws he is sworn to uphold, if they inconvenience him personally in the least.
And the story just gets better. It seems Knudsen and his sham competitor apparently care so little for the law they put up a candidate who doesn’t meet the practicing attorney requirements of the office. And then to top it all off went ahead and filed a form with SOS office affirming he was qualified.
From the follow-up Daily Montanan story:
“To qualify to run, attorneys have to be in good standing, admitted to practice law in Montana and have actively practiced for five years before election. Olson would be about nine months shy of qualifying if he were to assume office. Candidates also must be at least 25 years-old, a U.S. citizen and Montana resident for at least two years.”
“Montana candidates also sign an oath of candidacy affirming they ‘possess, or will possess within constitutional and statutory deadlines, the qualifications prescribed by the Constitution and laws of the United States and the State of Montana.'”
Republicans: The party of “law and order”. Unless they personally think the law is “ridiculous” and especially if there’s money on the line. Then they brag about breaking the law. More like, “Laws for thee but not for me.”