Nine days before ballots get finalized, Attorney General Austin Knudsen issued a legal opinion that, in practice, would disqualify Republican Reps. Llew Jones and Steve Fitzpatrick from their races.
Fitzpatrick, the current House Majority Leader, said this is all partisan aggression.
“The Senate President is just trying to steal an election and the Attorney General is trying to help him." Fitzpatrick said. "That's all this is. This is just naked, pure political maneuvering, and there's nothing fair or just about this, this is just an attempt to steal an election.”
Knudsen’s opinion is that of the state Constitution’s term limit statute, which says a candidate can only serve in a chamber for eight years in a 16-year period. Since former Attorney General Steve Bullock made an opinion on the matter in 2012, candidates have been able to hop between chambers immediately after their eight years are up.
But Knudsen’s interpretation says a candidate must wait two more years if they want to run again.
His opinion came at the request of Senate President Matt Regier, a Republican from Kalispell. Regier asked Knudsen to specifically evaluate the candidacy of Republican Rep. Llew Jones of Conrad, who’s running for Senate after eight years in the House.
He’s a more moderate lawmaker who has held a lot of power in the Legislature since his first term in 2009.
This all comes as infighting boils over in the Montana GOP. The party shunned its more moderate members during the primary and passed new bylaws that give leadership the power to boot members that stray from party values.
Jones and Fitzpatrick took the AG’s decision to district court, where, last Friday, Judge Mike Abbott ruled in favor of the duo and issued a restraining order on Knudsen’s opinion.
During the trial, attorneys for the AG said this wasn’t about specific candidates, only making sure that lawmakers weren’t abusing the system.
In a statement to MTPR, Knudsen’s office said they plan to ask the Montana Supreme Court to pause the restraining order.
