HELENA — Former Montana Senate President Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, is set to go to trial on a charge of official misconduct next month. This week, a state judge in Helena rejected Ellsworth’s request to dismiss the case – though he did lift Ellsworth’s suspension from the Senate.
(Watch the video for a closer look at the judge's ruling.)
State prosecutors charged Ellsworth with misconduct last year, in connection with his handling of a state contract while serving as president. Ellsworth signed off on a $170,000 contract with a former business associate to track a series of judicial reform bills. Prosecutors claim he didn’t follow proper requirements when taking bids for a state contract, and that the original decision to split the $170,000 contract into two smaller contracts appeared to be a way to get around state procurement requirements.
Ellsworth has denied any wrongdoing. He also argued that, because his actions were part of his job as Senate president, they should fall under his legislative privilege – a constitutional provision that protects lawmakers from prosecution for legislative acts.
District Judge Chris Abbott ruled that legislative privilege doesn’t apply because selecting a contractor is an administrative act – like hiring or firing an employee – rather than a legislative act.
“While legislative immunity is robust by design, it does not protect everything a legislator does, even if the conduct relates in some way to legislative functions,” he wrote.
However, Abbott also determined there was no longer a need to suspend Ellsworth from his seat in the Senate. State law says a judge may suspend a public official while they’re facing an official misconduct charge, and District Judge Kathy Seeley ordered Ellsworth’s suspension while she was handling the case last year.
Ellsworth had challenged the judge’s authority to suspend him, arguing that the Montana Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in the Legislature to take any disciplinary action against a lawmaker.
Abbott said Ellsworth “raises a serious question” about the constitutionality of the suspension procedure, but that there was no need to rule on that question yet because there would be no significant harm from lifting the suspension. He noted that the Senate already removed Ellsworth from his committees over these allegations, and he no longer had any authority over contracts.
“There is no public protection rationale from depriving the voters of Senate District 43 of their chosen representative until this matter is resolved,” Abbott wrote. “And the ‘gravity’ of the alleged offense cannot be an independent justification for suspension because Ellsworth retains his presumption of innocence.”
The Senate’s disciplinary actions against Ellsworth, including banning him from the chamber floor for life and stripping him of committee assignments, will not be affected by the end of his suspension.
Ellsworth sent a statement to MTN after Abbott’s decision.
“With judge Abbott lifting my suspension I think it demonstrates that he is aware this [is] a political witch hunt,” Ellsworth wrote. “I don't agree with his denying the motion to dismiss so we will weigh our options and I will confer with my council.”
Ellsworth’s trial is scheduled to begin in Helena on July 14.
Regardless of the outcome of this case, Ellsworth’s tenure in the Legislature will be ending soon. His second term in the Senate will be ending in January; he was termed out and not eligible to run again this year. He ran for House in eastern Montana instead, but was defeated in last week’s primary by Rep. Jerry Schillinger, R-Circle.
