Political attacks came from Romania
Sands files complaint with commissioner of political practices
By TOM LUTEY
Of The Gazette Staff
Republicans, furious about negative campaign phone calls made by Democrats last week in Billings, did everything but label the tactic un-American.
Turns out, they could have.
The calls were made from Romania, according to phone records submitted this week to the state commissioner of political practices.
Jack Sands, a GOP candidate in Senate District 27 and the target of the Oct. 12 calls, filed the complaint alleging that the people making the calls didn't identify who they were calling for. Senate District 27 includes parts of Billings and Yellowstone County. State law prohibits anonymous election material. "They're obviously spending thousands of dollars to defeat me," Sands said. "You'd think the least they could have done was to provide some jobs in Montana instead of exporting jobs to Romania. Maybe they couldn't find Montanans with the stomach to make the calls."
The gist of the calls, according to voters who spoke with The Gazette last week, was that Sands supports drug dealers and wants to keep them out of prison. What they didn't say was that Sands is a criminal defense attorney who represents the accused for a living.
Often, the people making the calls failed to identify with whom they were affiliated, provided unverifiable names or hung up. Voters with caller ID said the source phone number for the negative calls came up 406-000-0000.
Sands hired a detective, Dale Mortensen, to trace the origin of the calls. Mortensen worked with voter Echo Jamieson, who got Bresnan Communications to release its log of incoming and outgoing calls related to her account. The 406-000-0000 calls, of which Jamieson received six in four hours, originated in Romania, according to Bresnan.
Wednesday, Political Practices Commissioner Dennis Unsworth said Sands' complaint against the Montana Democratic Party met the procedural requirements for consideration. The Democrats will be asked to respond to the charge. Afterward, the commissioner will have to decide whether a full investigation is necessary. In the final weeks before the Nov. 4 election, the compliance cases are beginning to pile up at the commissioner's office.
"Our docket sits at 35 complaints," Unsworth said. "Now, that's a lot. On average this office has been receiving six, eight, maybe 10 complaints a year. We've received 12 in the last two weeks."
Not all offenses reach the commissioner's office. Opponents of incumbent Rep. Wanda Grinde attacked the Heights Democrat for having an "environmental extremist" voting record, but it didn't back the charge up by citing Grinde's actual record, as required by law. Grinde represents House District 48.
Both the Republican and Democratic parties have conducted "message testing" in the state Senate race between radio personality Taylor Brown and incumbent Sen. Lane Larson, D-Lockwood. In a nutshell, message testing involves polling about a certain candidate by asking voters if they would be less likely to support the candidate after hearing a few unflattering statements from the caller. In some cases, the statements by surveyors in Larson's Senate District 22 have been misleading and even false. The district includes portions of Yellowstone, Treasure, Custer and Rosebud counties.
Winning Connection, a Washington D.C.-based polling firm, was calling voters in the Brown-Larson race last week suggesting that Brown owned a ranch where hunters were charged for game, which the Republican candidate refutes. Earlier, Republican surveyors were suggesting that Larson voted to double a state tax on cell phones. The tax doesn't exist.
Last week, a Montana Democratic Party spokesman said the party was behind phone calls against Sands. It had earlier sent out a flier stating that "Sands has made a career of defending some of the most notorious criminals in Billings." The ad sported Sands' photo, a dark ski mask, a handgun and handcuffs and was signed by Art Noonan, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party.
Sands is running against Gary Branae, an incumbent Democratic representative trying to cross over to the state Senate.
Democratic Party spokesman Kevin O'Brien said Tuesday that the party had instructed Winning Connections and others calling on its behalf to disclose who they were calling for. He said calls were made from the United States.
While Sands is challenging the calls on disclosure violations, O'Brien said the Republican isn't challenging the truth of what was being said, including the Democratic Party's allegation that as a legislator 21 years ago, Sands sponsored a bill to permanently reduce public school funding.
Sands this week said the bill to which Democrats are referring was drawn up as a law of last resort to help fix a state budget that was in crisis. He was chairman of the House Education Committee, which was prepared to cut education funding if necessary to balance a tight state budget, as required by law. The bill was tabled in committee, Sands said, after it became clear that the cut wasn't needed.
Published on Thursday, October 23, 2008.
Sands files complaint with commissioner of political practices
By TOM LUTEY
Of The Gazette Staff
Republicans, furious about negative campaign phone calls made by Democrats last week in Billings, did everything but label the tactic un-American.
Turns out, they could have.
The calls were made from Romania, according to phone records submitted this week to the state commissioner of political practices.
Jack Sands, a GOP candidate in Senate District 27 and the target of the Oct. 12 calls, filed the complaint alleging that the people making the calls didn't identify who they were calling for. Senate District 27 includes parts of Billings and Yellowstone County. State law prohibits anonymous election material. "They're obviously spending thousands of dollars to defeat me," Sands said. "You'd think the least they could have done was to provide some jobs in Montana instead of exporting jobs to Romania. Maybe they couldn't find Montanans with the stomach to make the calls."
The gist of the calls, according to voters who spoke with The Gazette last week, was that Sands supports drug dealers and wants to keep them out of prison. What they didn't say was that Sands is a criminal defense attorney who represents the accused for a living.
Often, the people making the calls failed to identify with whom they were affiliated, provided unverifiable names or hung up. Voters with caller ID said the source phone number for the negative calls came up 406-000-0000.
Sands hired a detective, Dale Mortensen, to trace the origin of the calls. Mortensen worked with voter Echo Jamieson, who got Bresnan Communications to release its log of incoming and outgoing calls related to her account. The 406-000-0000 calls, of which Jamieson received six in four hours, originated in Romania, according to Bresnan.
Wednesday, Political Practices Commissioner Dennis Unsworth said Sands' complaint against the Montana Democratic Party met the procedural requirements for consideration. The Democrats will be asked to respond to the charge. Afterward, the commissioner will have to decide whether a full investigation is necessary. In the final weeks before the Nov. 4 election, the compliance cases are beginning to pile up at the commissioner's office.
"Our docket sits at 35 complaints," Unsworth said. "Now, that's a lot. On average this office has been receiving six, eight, maybe 10 complaints a year. We've received 12 in the last two weeks."
Not all offenses reach the commissioner's office. Opponents of incumbent Rep. Wanda Grinde attacked the Heights Democrat for having an "environmental extremist" voting record, but it didn't back the charge up by citing Grinde's actual record, as required by law. Grinde represents House District 48.
Both the Republican and Democratic parties have conducted "message testing" in the state Senate race between radio personality Taylor Brown and incumbent Sen. Lane Larson, D-Lockwood. In a nutshell, message testing involves polling about a certain candidate by asking voters if they would be less likely to support the candidate after hearing a few unflattering statements from the caller. In some cases, the statements by surveyors in Larson's Senate District 22 have been misleading and even false. The district includes portions of Yellowstone, Treasure, Custer and Rosebud counties.
Winning Connection, a Washington D.C.-based polling firm, was calling voters in the Brown-Larson race last week suggesting that Brown owned a ranch where hunters were charged for game, which the Republican candidate refutes. Earlier, Republican surveyors were suggesting that Larson voted to double a state tax on cell phones. The tax doesn't exist.
Last week, a Montana Democratic Party spokesman said the party was behind phone calls against Sands. It had earlier sent out a flier stating that "Sands has made a career of defending some of the most notorious criminals in Billings." The ad sported Sands' photo, a dark ski mask, a handgun and handcuffs and was signed by Art Noonan, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party.
Sands is running against Gary Branae, an incumbent Democratic representative trying to cross over to the state Senate.
Democratic Party spokesman Kevin O'Brien said Tuesday that the party had instructed Winning Connections and others calling on its behalf to disclose who they were calling for. He said calls were made from the United States.
While Sands is challenging the calls on disclosure violations, O'Brien said the Republican isn't challenging the truth of what was being said, including the Democratic Party's allegation that as a legislator 21 years ago, Sands sponsored a bill to permanently reduce public school funding.
Sands this week said the bill to which Democrats are referring was drawn up as a law of last resort to help fix a state budget that was in crisis. He was chairman of the House Education Committee, which was prepared to cut education funding if necessary to balance a tight state budget, as required by law. The bill was tabled in committee, Sands said, after it became clear that the cut wasn't needed.
Published on Thursday, October 23, 2008.
