Montana Democrats are saying Republican U.S. House candidate Greg Gianforte’s former company ran into tax trouble with Indiana. Republicans say that may be true, but has absolutely nothing to do with Gianforte.
Accusations of financial chicanery are flying in Montana’s U.S. House race.
After operatives hostile to Democratic candidate Rob Quist fed the media information about tax liens, the Billings Gazette reported Saturday Quist has a 16-year history of personal financial troubles. The newspaper reports the musician turned candidate has been sued by a bank for not repaying a loan, turned over to collections, and accused of fraud and deceit by a former band member.
Quist says his debt was spurred by serious and costly medical issues.
Democratic operatives, meanwhile, last week pointed to a $3,600 tax lien issued in 1993 in New Jersey against Quist's Republican opponent, Greg Gianforte. That lien was lifted about three months later.
Montana Democrats pressed the point Monday with a press release saying Gianforte's financial trouble didn't end with that one lien. The party presented documents showing Indiana filed 22 state tax warrants against Gianforte’s former company, RightNow Technologies. Those liens, dated from 2012 to 2015 amounted to over $15,000 in owed taxes.
Gianforte spokesman Shane Scanlon says it’s a phony accusation. That’s because Gianforte did not own the company during the time in question. Computer tech giant Oracle bought RightNow in January of 2012. That's 10 months before Indiana filed its first tax lien against the company. In other words, Scanlon says Indiana’s liens are Oracle’s problem, not Gianforte’s.
Scanlon declined Montana Public Radio’s request for a taped interview saying that would only lend credence to an unfair accusation.
MTPR contacted the Montana Democratic party for clarification, but was told Executive Director Nancy Keenan was unavailable for comment on Monday.
