Auditor clears Regier of all ‘waste, fraud and abuse' allegations

Yahoo

27-03-2025

Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, testifies in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, February 12, 2025. (Nathaniel Bailey for the Daily Montanan)
Montana Senate President Matt Regier hired legal counsel in accordance with state statutes and procurement rules, and in close and 'ongoing' consultation with legislative services staff, contrary to allegations of waste and abuse, according to a memo published by the Legislative Audit Division and released Wednesday.
The audit division examined six allegations leveled against Regier and for all six found that the 'allegation of fraud, waste and abuse to be not substantiated.'
Regier had previously called the allegations a 'witch hunt,' and said every action he took was '100% legal and business as normal.'
On Wednesday, Regier told the Daily Montanan the audit report found exactly what he expected — nothing. He spoke to reporters at a press conference later that afternoon.
'I'm glad to see the Legislative Audit Report fully bring to light all the false allegations that have been thrown,' Regier said.
'I sleep well at night. Everything, everything was up and up,' he added. This was the second time the legislative auditor investigated a sitting senator. A January audit memo found former Senate President Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, committed waste and abuse while procuring a $170,100 contract for a close friend and business associate, while skirting standard procurement rules.
Sen. Shelly Vance, R-Belgrade, brought forth the allegations against Regier during a March 6 floor session just before transmittal break. She originally requested the Senate convene an ethics committee to investigate her claims, but a substitute motion was made to send it to the audit division, following the same pathway as Ellsworth's allegations.
Vance, an ally of Ellsworth, cited an article by the Montana Free Press published earlier this month, which laid out a series of actions current Senate President Regier, R-Kalispell, took during the 2023 session and interim period when he hired a lawyer using taxpayer funds — appropriately, according to the memo released Wednesday.
Friday, the Montana Republican Party released a statement condemning the article and calling for retraction. During his press conference, Regier called MTFP's story 'full of unsourced, untrue, legal conclusions, inaccuracies, contradictional claims and baseless innuendo,' and said he had made his own request for corrections and retractions.
MTFP Editor-in-Chief John Adams said the Free Press stands by its reporting, did not allege misconduct by anyone, and the auditor's findings 'confirm the accuracy of our original reporting.'
'Our March 5 report raised timely and legitimate questions about public spending, contracting procedures, and legislative accountability,' Adams said in a written statement.
The audit memo investigated the six allegations Vance brought forth predicated on the Free Press article, including whether the president tried to evade the law in hiring an attorney; engaged in waste, fraud and abuse in hiring a lawyer; unlawfully used state resources related to a private matter; and failed to disclose a conflict of interest, among other allegations the report could not substantiate.
The auditor's memo, authored by Legislative Auditor legal counsel Ken Varns, said the audit division examined the article, and conducted interviews with Regier, Deputy Director of Legislative Services Division Legal Services Jaret Coles, and Angie Carter, financial manager for LSD.
The report also examined legal contracts and invoices submitted by Abby Moscatel of Blacktail Law Group, the attorney Regier hired. The audit investigation found Regier properly hired legal staff, that contracts were executed using authorized funding, and that contracts had proper signatories.
The investigation further found that the allegation of waste, fraud and abuse, when Regier hired Moscatel for tasks routinely done by legislative staff, were unsubstantiated.
'President Regier consulted with and obtained approval from Legislative Services when engaging outside counsel,' the memo states.
'Legislative leadership has authority to obtain outside counsel for legal services, which can include tasks typically performed by nonpartisan legislative staff,' the memo continues. 'Because existing legal authority allows for these activities and due to President Regier's ongoing reliance on Legislative Service's guidance relating to these contracts, we find the allegations of fraud, waste and abuse set forth in the second allegation to be not substantiated.
The allegation that Regier hired Moscatel for work related to two constitutional initiatives in 2024 using state funds was also unfounded, according to the memo.
In its call for retractions to the MTFP article, the state GOP stated that the party had paid for legal services related to those lawsuits.
The investigation further found that Regier did not engage in any attempts to artificially deflate expenses to evade spending limits — an allegation that was leveled against Ellsworth and identified as problematic by the Legislative Audit Division.
The memo states that the cumulative value of work done by Moscatel was $22,980, which even were it not broken down between multiple, specific contracts, would not require the contracts to undergo a competitive bidding process according to state procurement laws. It further stated that all legal and financial staff 'made appropriate decisions or recommendations' throughout the contracting process.
Another question about Regier's failure to disclose a conflict of interest in a Senate Bill 352, brought to offer immunity to legislative staff, had 'no clear linkage' to the work Moscatel was hired to do.
'It is difficult to discern a conflict of interest in this scenario,' the memo states.
On Wednesday afternoon, Vance said she had not yet read the memo, but when told all six allegations were considered 'not substantiated,' she declined to comment.
Ellsworth, who has been on the opposite side of an intra-party division as Regier that has roiled the Senate this session, said he had read parts of the memo and that they are 'totally inaccurate.' He said he would still like to see the matter referred to the Ethics Committee.
'I trusted that the Auditor would do his job. I verified that the Auditor has not done his job,' Ellsworth said, also taking issue with the fact that the auditor released findings on Ellsworth after just one week, while Regier's investigation took three.
The Legislative Audit Division said it is not typical practice to publish findings on unsubstantiated reports to its fraud hotline, but the public nature of the current investigation — stemming from a vote on the Senate floor — led to a public document.
'Accordingly, although we will not be making any further public comments on this matter or releasing our investigative documents, we believe the enclosed memo is a public document and can be disclosed by Senate leadership,' said Legislative Auditor Angus Maciver said.
At the press conference, Regier called for apologies from the Free Press and Sen. Vance, not for himself, but for 'victims of their actions,' including legislative staff and Moscatel, a private citizen. He also said he remains committed to making legislative and budget appropriations processes as transparent as possible, even in the face of misinformation.
'I remain committed to rooting out corruption and unethical behavior at the Legislature and also in this state government, and I'm going to continue to do that no matter what the retaliation or false allegations are to anyone that tries to shoot me next time,' Regier said.
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