Election complaints remain unresolved

LAKE COUNTY — The Nov. 2 election has come and passed, but two complaints filed in relation to the sheriff’s race have yet to be resolved and may not be for quite some time, Commissioner of Political Practices Dennis Unsworth said last week.

“We’re a very small staff, but we’re working through the complaints,” he said. “It’s just a question of when they come up on our work priority list. Each one ends up being quite a major effort.”

The two complaints, VanMeter v. asksheriffluckylarson.com and Scott v. Doyle, are Nos. 23 and 48 on a complaint list of 55, Unsworth said. A recently completed investigation’s results contained 55 pages, Unsworth said, noting each investigation “is quite thorough.” A small staff makes it all the more overwhelming though, he said.

“There’s lots of legal research but occasionally they are short,” he said. “We just haven’t gotten into them enough to know yet, but both have been accepted.”

The VanMeter case has begun, Unsworth said, “because of the unusual nature of the case.” The office did not know who ran the website in question, so they investigated to find out that information.

In the case, Lanny VanMeter, treasurer for sheriff-elect Jay Doyle’s campaign, alleged that Terry Leonard, the man now known to run the website in question, was participating in illegal anonymous campaigning.

The allegations, made originally by VanMeter on April 13, claim that a group called Concerned Citizens of Lake County was actively campaigning against Republican candidate Doyle in conjunction with Steve Kendley, an Independent candidate for the sheriff’s position. The issue, VanMeter said, is that the group claims they were not involved in the sheriff’s race. Rather, he said, the group, headed by Terry Leonard, who runs the website www.asksheriffluckylarson.com, was working with Kendley but not disclosing campaign finance or following other rules of disclosure required by state law. The allegations, VanMeter believes, are verified by documents he sent to Commissioner Unsworth on Aug. 30. The website in question is no longer accessible as of Monday evening. Leonard was unavailable for comment as of press time.

“Unsworth said the investigation is progressing as far as he is concerned but he’s behind quite a bit,” VanMeter said. “What we want to do is prevent this from happening in future elections. I mean, it shouldn’t have happened.”

In the case against Doyle, Ken Scott, of St. Ignatius, filed a complaint stating that Doyle’s selection of an undersheriff, in this case Karey Reynolds, indirectly influenced and swayed potential voters in an illegal manner.

“I think it needs to be followed through,” Scott said, noting he ran for sheriff in the early 1990s. “They’re complaining what Terry did is illegal. If you’re going to start making accusations then everybody should play fair. Everybody needs to toe the same mark, regardless of if you’re running for county commissioner or sheriff or whatever it may be.”

Unsworth said that though the election is complete, each complaint is still considered and could still affect the election. His six-year term ends at the end of this year, so Unsworth said a decision would most likely be made by his successor on both cases.

“There is a provision in the law that if someone’s found to have violated the campaign law, a judge can undo the results of an election,” he said. “It’s probably a rare instance where that would come into play; the law has never been used in the state of Montana.”

Unsworth admitted that at first glance, neither of these cases seem like they would affect the results of the election, but it’s worth following their results, which will be released as soon as the respective investigations are complete.