Get an insider’s look into what’s happening in and around the halls of power with expert reporting, analysis and insight from the editors and reporters of Montana Free Press. Sign up to get the free Capitolized newsletter delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

---

January 18, 2024

Public Service Commission President James Brown is running for Montana state auditor in 2024, he announced Thursday.

Brown, a Republican, previously told Capitolized he was considering a run for the office if the incumbent auditor, Troy Downing, entered the race for Montana’s eastern district seat in Congress. Downing, indeed, is now seeking to succeed Republican Congressman Matt Rosendale, who is widely expected to run against declared Republican candidate Tim Sheehy for a chance to seek the Senate seat currently held by Jon Tester (who is running to retain it). 

No other candidate has yet announced a campaign for auditor. The filing deadline is March 11.

Brown, a Helena attorney originally from Dillon, told Capitolized he has been debating whether to run for re-election to the PSC, run for auditor, or make a second bid for Montana Supreme Court — he unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Justice Ingrid Gustafson in 2022. But when he saw “the deck chairs moving around on the Titanic” consequent to Rosendale’s interest in the Senate, he decided to opt for auditor. He also said he feels there’s an adequate array of candidates for the two open seats on the Montana Supreme Court this cycle. 

The state auditor, who also serves as Montana’s commissioner of securities and insurance, regulates the state’s insurance industry, investigates fraud and has a seat on the state land board. 

Brown said his experience as leader of the PSC, which regulates Montana’s monopoly utilities, will carry over to the auditor’s office. He also holds an insurance producer license, he said, so he understands the industries the auditor regulates. 

“I know the work that’s being done at that agency,” he said. 

Brown was elected to the PSC in 2020. When he began his term, the commission was in a state of disarray and under heightened public scrutiny amid intra-staff litigation, infighting and a blistering legislative audit that highlighted “an unhealthy organizational culture and ineffective leadership.”

A 2023 audit credited the agency for making progress on many of those fronts. 

“One of the reasons I ran for PSC was because I felt I had the skill set and personal relationships to turn this agency around,” Brown said. “In the three years I’ve served as the commission president, I really feel the work I’ve done has put the agency in a much better place. But is there still work to be done at the agency? Absolutely.” 

The state auditor’s office has frequently been employed as a launch pad toward higher-profile statewide or federal offices. Rosendale, who held the auditor’s seat from 2017 to 2021, is a prominent recent example. And Brown is transparent about the opportunistic optics of cherry-picking an office to target this election cycle. His motivation to run, he said, is unrelated to money or ambition. 

“If I was just looking for a state paycheck, I would just run for re-election to the PSC,” he told Capitolized. “I have an interest in serving the public and I have a skill set that serves the public interest well. And as a fourth-generation Montanan, I want to give back to the citizens of Montana.”

Brown said he’s especially interested in increasing public awareness about the traditionally low-public-profile auditor’s office and its duties, attracting new insurers to Montana, and ensuring that Montanans living in areas subject to high wildfire risk can obtain insurance as insurers nationally increasingly decline to underwrite such coverage. 

Brown’s public announcement of his campaign for auditor comes as the Legislative Audit Committee is set to present another PSC audit in its meeting next week. The new audit credits the PSC with some improvements, but also recommends the adoption of a formal code of conduct and steps to improve employee retention.

—Arren Kimbel-Sannit

---

Dem Leader Doubts Constitutionality of Commerce Appointment

Gov. Greg Gianforte’s recent appointment of Republican lawmaker Paul Green as director of the Montana Department of Commerce last week has raised some hackles among readers and at least one prominent Democrat who think Green may be prohibited from taking the job under the Montana Constitution. 

Article V, Section 9 of the state Constitution says, in part, that “no member of the legislature shall, during the term for which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil office under the state.” 

Green, a freshman lawmaker from Hardin, was first elected to the state House of Representatives in 2022, and “the term for which he shall have been elected” ends at the beginning of 2025. 

The Constitution isn’t explicit about whether the so-called disqualification provision, designed to discourage a revolving door between different political offices that could facilitate improper lobbying or vote trading, applies when a legislator resigns to take a civil office with the state. But House Minority Leader Kim Abbott, D-Helena, told Capitolized Thursday it’s her understanding that the purpose of the provision is precisely to prevent lawmakers from doing what Green did. (Abbott, to be clear, is not a lawyer). 

“I think the plain language makes [the appointment] unconstitutional,” she said in response to Capitolized’s question. “Paul’s a nice guy, I don’t know much about his background or qualifications, but I don’t think that’s the point.”

The governor’s office, in response to the same question, maintained that Green’s appointment passes constitutional muster, but did not support its analysis with specifics. 

“Before the governor appointed Paul Green to serve as director of the Department of Commerce, the governor’s office carefully reviewed the Constitution and statute, and is certain his appointment is in accordance with the law,” Gianforte spokesperson Kaitlin Price told Capitolized this week. 

It’s not currently clear whether Democrats or some other entity will attempt to establish standing and challenge that assessment in court. 

Green was appointed to direct the commerce department following the resignation of Scott Osterman in December. Osterman resigned in the wake of an internal audit that alleged he racked up more than $26,000 in disallowed government expenses in possible violation of state law and policy. No charges have been filed regarding those potential violations.

—Arren Kimbel-Sannit

---

Sales on the Move

Montana Lottery Director Scott Sales will resign effective March 11, he told the Montana State News Bureau this week.

He told the outlet he’s resigning primarily because he is getting older and wants to spend more time with family. But he said he’s also looking at a return to the Legislature. He has served as lottery director since 2021.

Sales, 63, a Republican representing Bozeman, was speaker of the state House of Representatives from 2007 to 2008 and Senate president from 2017 to 2020. He told Lee reporter Victoria Eavis he’s interested in running for House District 68, a seat created in the recent redistricting cycle that covers part of the Gallatin Valley. That seat is already poised to feature a potentially bruising Republican primary between incumbent Reps. Caleb Hinkle and Jennifer Carlson. 

—Arren Kimbel-Sannit

---

On Background

Republican support colors Montana Supreme Court race: Montana Free Press reporting on the 2022 race for Montana Supreme Court has plenty of background about James Brown and his history in state Republican politics.

Commerce Department director resigns after probe into travel expenses: As MTFP first reported, Scott Osterman resigned as director of the Department of Commerce in the fallout of an internal audit that questioned his travel expenditures as director. 

Scott Sales to resign as state lottery director: Lee newspapers’ State News Bureau was the first to report Scott Sales’ resignation this week.

The post James Brown: From audited to auditor? appeared first on Montana Free Press.