Senate Ethics Committee reconvenes, schedules first hearing on Ellsworth ethics allegations

Yahoo

25-02-2025

Senator Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, watches a vote during the Senate Floor Session on Wednesday, February 12, 2025. (Nathaniel Bailey for the Daily Montanan)
The Senate Ethics Committee is back in action after a brief hiatus when the criminal and ethical investigations into the actions of Sen. Jason Ellsworth were referred to the Department of Justice for clarity.
Last week, Attorney General Austin Knudsen said his office was opening a criminal investigation into a contract Ellsworth signed with a business associate late last year, but said that the ethical questions were outside his office's purview.
As a result, the Ethics Committee chairperson announced last week it would resume its own review, and it met on Monday morning, the first meeting after a coalition of Senate Democrats and nine Republican Senators voted to pause the internal probe and send the matter to DOJ.
During Monday's meeting, committee members reviewed a list of potential witnesses, voted to subpoena records, and set an initial hearing for March 7.
The allegations against Ellsworth by the Ethics Committee were based on findings in a memorandum from the Legislative Auditor in January that found Ellsworth's actions in securing the $170,100 contract for Bryce Eggleston was an abuse of his power as Senate President at the time, and wasted government resources.
Due to the concurrent DOJ criminal investigation, the committee is limiting its work to the ethical allegations, citing potential violations of section 2-2-112(3) of Montana Code Annotated, which lays out the ethical requirements for legislators. The specific charge is that Ellsworth failed to disclose a conflict of interest that 'would directly give rise to an appearance of impropriety regarding the legislator's influence, benefit or detriment.'
Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, hired attorney Adam Duerk to represent the GOP majority leadership and assist the Ethics Committee. Duerk told the committee the criminal allegations had been removed from the scope of the internal investigation and laid out the existing scope of the matter.
Duerk emphasized the need to afford due process to Sen. Ellsworth in the case — the basis for the earlier vote by the Senate to pause the Ethics Committee and send the investigation to an outside entity — and urged the committee to select a date to begin its adjudicatory hearing.
'To make it very clear, this is not a criminal matter. This is not a termination hearing either,' Duerk said. 'Our challenge here is to find the appropriate amount of due process.'
The committee discussed holding its first hearing on March 7, the last day of the Legislature before the transmittal break.
The two Democrats on the committee, Sens. Laura Smith, D-Helena, and Chris Pope, D-Bozeman, argued that a hearing at that time would come after several days where Senate floor sessions might extend late into the day as all introduced bills must be transmitted to the House by March 7 in order to continue the legislative process. They said trying to hold a hearing during the final transmittal day might be distracting and detrimental to the committee's work.
'I understand your concern,' Committee Chair Forrest Mandeville, R-Columbus, said. 'We've been dealing with this now for longer than I can remember. … Part of the reason I'd like to move sooner rather than later… is that we had this set up and ready to go roughly a month ago.'
Committee members ultimately voted to hold their first adjudicatory hearing on March 7.
During the meeting, Ellsworth's attorney, Joan Mell, asked the committee to pause its work, given the DOJ's pending criminal investigation.
'The existence of a pending criminal investigation implicates fundamental due process rights as well as the rights against self incrimination,' Mell said. She added that it would be 'impossible' to continue with an ethics investigation without 'implicating Sen. Ellsworth's rights to a meaningful defense in this action.'
The committee also reviewed the list of potential witnesses who may be called to appear before the committee.
Among the witnesses listed are staff with the Legislative Audit Division, Legislative Services Division, and the Department of Administration — which approved the sole-source contract Ellsworth ultimately entered into — Senate President Matt Regier, Sens. Ken Bogner, Barry Usher and Greg Hertz; Eggleston, and lobbyist Scott Boulanger.
One new name was added to the witness list — Bowen Greenwood, clerk of the Montana Supreme Court, who Ellsworth approached last year about creating a new position for which he told Greenwood that Eggleston would be well-suited.
The committee also voted to subpoena records from the Motor Vehicle Division and Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to obtain lists of individuals living at two addresses in Stevensville, where Eggleston resides.
The Senate Ethics Committee will next meet on Feb. 28.