Candidates get all paperwork up to date

With the last candidate getting paperwork in order with the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices the full slate of local legislative races is complete.

Bob Sivertsen, an independent candidate for House District 28 that basically encompasses Havre, had been late in filing his candidacy statement with the commissioner.

“I’m working with her. I’ve been going back and forth with her, trying to do everything that’s required,” Sivertsen said Tuesday. “End of story.”

His statement of candidacy, which had been missing, was registered on the Commissioner of Political Practices website this morning, with the record saying it was filed Wednesday.

Sivertsen, who served as a Republican in the Legislature, 1974-82, filed with the Montana Secretary of State’s office May 30 as an independent candidate.

The other candidates who filed in HD 28 are Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, and Havre Libertarian candidate Conor Burns, under the name of Thomas C. Burns.

Other local candidates on record with the secretary of state and commissioner of political practices include Senate District 14 incumbent Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, and his opponent, Democrat Paul Tuss of Havre.

SD14 includes HD 28 as well as House District 27, which stretches from Liberty County to the edge of Havre and from the Canadian border to just north of Great Falls.

In that district, Republican Joshua Kassmier and Democrat Dan Nelson, both of Fort Benton, have filed with the secretary of state and commissioner of political practices.

Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, and Republican Gilbert Bruce Meyers, who are competing for House District 32 that encompasses parts of Blaine, Chouteau, Hill and Phillips counties including Rocky Boy’s and Fort Belknap Indian reservations, are up-to-date with their filings, as is Rep. Casey Knudsen, R-Malta, who is unopposed in his bid for re-election in House District 33 that includes parts of Hill, Blaine, Phillips and Valley counties.

Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan said Tuesday that Sivertsen missed one deadline June 20, but had until August at the latest to file the documents, which he filed Wednesday.

Mangan said candidates with missing documents risk formal complaints or an order of noncompliance, or even risk being held off the general election ballot.

These documents are important in creating more transparency of candidates for the voters, Mangan said.

He added that some requirements were added by the Montana Disclosure Act being signed into law by Gov. Steve Bullock April 22, 2015.