(This is an updated version of a story published earlier Wednesday.)
Montana lawmakers and other members of the state’s Environmental Quality Council are asking Governor Steve Bullock for a formal explanation for his dismissal of the former head of the State Parks and Recreation Board. The governor says it was due to a disagreement about legislation.
The State Parks and Recreation Board consists of five people appointed by the governor.
The EQC voted 9-6 mostly along party lines Wednesday to send a letter to the governor asking why Tom Towe was fired last month from his position as chair of the state parks board.
In August, the governor’s office announced new members and leadership on the State Parks and Recreation Board, which is in charge of setting policy for Montana’s 54 state parks.
Those new appointments coincided with an order from the governor requesting that the state parks board and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks focus on a long-term vision for state parks, in an initiative the governor’s office is calling "Parks in Focus."
During the EQC’s meeting Wednesday, Republican Representative Kerry White from Bozeman requested the council look into the details of the governor’s recent action.
White, all the Republicans on the council, and Democrat Representative Bradley Hamlett from Cascade voted in favor of a sending a letter to the governor asking for Bullock to cite the reason for Towe’s dismissal.
Representative Hamlett says if disagreements between the governor’s office and members of state parks board resulted in a change in leadership, it should be out in the open to the public.
“I don’t want the citizens of Montana to think that if they voluntarily give their time to decide issues of importance for the state that they’re going to be terminated without cause," Hamlett said. "There has to be cause.”
Other Democrats on the EQC questioned the council's authority to demand information from the governor about his appointments.
Today the governor’s office released a letter his chief legal counsel sent Towe in August, saying he was fired because he disagreed with Governor Bullock on the best way to run the administration of Montana state parks.
The letter says that Towe contradicted Bullock’s wishes in supporting a bill during the last legislative session - one that passed both chambers, and that Bullock eventually vetoed.
The bill, sponsored by Hamlett, aimed to give Montana State Parks more autonomy from the Fish, Wildlife and Parks agency.
A spokesperson from the governor’s office says Bullock has immense respect for Towe, and looks forward to working with him in the future.
Towe, who is an attorney from Billings, told Montana Public Radio that he is still in talks with the governor’s office and didn’t want to comment on this issue at this time.
