HELENA, Montana — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is currently under fire. He's accused of potentially subverting campaign finance laws.
It stems from an audio recording from a fundraising event in which he says, “Technically, he has the right to run in a primary, but he's a young man, and I asked him to run against me because our election laws are ridiculous…”
The “young man” in question was Daniels County Attorney Logan Olson, whose legal fees were paid for by a longtime donor to Attorney General Knudsen.
Knudsen then continued in the recording that there was an agreement to have this person run so that the Attorney General could raise more money for his campaign, implying that his opponent would eventually drop out of the race and support the Attorney General.
The records show this is all being done to raise more money for Attorney General Knudsen's campaign. State campaign finance law limits individual contributions to $790 in unopposed primary elections. The Montana Political Action Committee, Montana's campaign finance watchdog, is investigating a complaint filed by the Montana Democratic Party alleging there was an agreement between the two.
Nonstop Local's Bradley Warren also reached out to the Attorney General's team, and a senior counsel said they are 100% following the law and are confident the commissioner will dismiss this “baseless” complaint. Knudsen's campaign manager also said the complaint itself should be dismissed.
