BUTTE — Montana's Commissioner for Political Practices found that a candidate for the Butte-Silver Bow Sheriff’s Office and a local security firm failed to report campaign financing in the form of political ads in violation of state law.
Candidate Mike Gage and Immanuel Security did not report nearly $9,000 in local radio ads supporting Gage’s run for office, according to the ruling. Gage told MTN News it was a simple oversight.
“You know, we’re new at this. It’s the first time we’ve ever run an election and we thought it had to be something somebody was doing in conjunction with our campaign and this wasn’t, so we didn’t think we needed to report it,” said Gage.
Gage’s opponent, incumbent Sheriff Ed Lester filed the complaint last month.
“I’ve waited for the fifth report to come in to see if they were actually going to comply with the finance law and they didn’t, so that’s when I filed the complaint,” said Lester.
Commissioner Chris Gallus will refer this to Butte’s County Attorney’s Office to take any necessary further action.
“We’ll get it corrected and well go forward and we’re just ready for the election,” said Gage.
Lester added, “This isn’t something a sheriff’s candidate should be doing. They should be going out of their way to comply with the law.”
The campaign for Butte Sheriff has been contentious with plenty of mudslinging on social media.
“I don’t need his supporters coming on my page and saying things about the people who support me and, likewise, I don’t need my supporters going on his page saying things about his supporters,” said Gage. “That part of it’s gotten out of control and I wasn’t expecting that and I do hope that comes to an end quick.”
Lester said, “This isn’t something that I enjoy either, this campaign should be about issues and your accomplishments and your training and what you’ve achieved throughout your career and what you bring to the table. Not about all this other nonsense.”
Immanuel Security had no comment on this story.
