Montana

Democrat Senate campaign org fires employee accused of ‘tampering’ with Montana ballot box

Published

1 year ago

October 23, 2024

Democrat Senate campaign org fires employee accused of ‘tampering’ with Montana ballot box

The main campaign committee for Senate Democrats has fired an employee who was accused of “tampering” with a ballot box in Montana, a must-win state for the party to keep its majority in the upper chamber.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) canned Laszlo Gendler after he was recorded walking up to a ballot box in Glacier County Sunday, shaking it briefly and then leaving the scene, according to an alarming video obtained by Fox News.

In the video, a young man, later identified by the office of Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen as Gendler, approaches the box and tries to move it slightly with both hands before giving up and taking out his cell phone. He then seemingly takes a picture or video of the location.

“Poll observers are instructed not to touch ballot boxes. This individual was attempting to ensure a new ballot box was secured to the wall, neither the ballot box nor ballots were affected,” said DSCC spokesman David Bergstein in a statement to Fox. “Their actions were not in accordance with our procedures and out of an abundance of caution they will no longer be doing this work moving forward.”

The DSCC paid Gendler $42,909.20 in salary and travel expenses between Sept. 15, 2023, and Aug. 30, 2024, per Federal Election Commission filings.

The most recent salary payment of $1,824.60 was made to Gendler on Sept. 13, the latest monthly filing shows.

“The suspect and details were turned over to Glacier County law enforcement,” Richie Melby, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office told The Post. “Our elections director was pleased that the individual was not able to remove the ballot box from the wall, although, as the election administrator signified in her email, the activity was certainly highly suspicious and concerning.”

Glacier county election administrator Crystal Cole had flagged the video to the secretary of state’s office, citing concerns that Gendler — and by extension the state’s Democratic Party — was “tampering” with the box.

“Laslo [sic] with the MT Dem Party was on camera tampering with the Box [sic],” she wrote in a Monday email to election officials. “I did call him to ask what his reasoning was, he stated ‘they’ sent him to the location to see how secure the box was.”

Cole said state Democrats hadn’t given her office a heads-up about Gendler’s visit or separate plans to contact a local college “to see if voters can park in their parking lot.”

“The MT Dem party did not reach out to me in any way to ask for their assistance in this matter,” she added. “(I informed Laslo that I was already in the process of talking to the college for this very same matter, and that I would be contacting the [Secretary of State] as this seems like a situation that could get me in trouble as the administrator, as I believe I cannot accept their assistance lawfully).”

Republican Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, is polling well ahead of Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in the Treasure State and is currently expected to triumph over the seven-fingered dirt farmer this November.

“This video is incredibly damning,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Maggie Abboud claimed in a statement. “Jon Tester and Senate Democrats know they are losing to Tim Sheehy, so it appears they are trying to cheat in the election.”

A Sheehy win would give Republicans a one-seat majority in the upper chamber, so long as GOP West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice replaces retiring independent Sen. Joe Manchin and no incumbents unexpectedly lose their seats.

Incumbent GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke is running for re-election in Montana’s First Congressional District, which includes Glacier County.

His race against Democrat Monica Tranel is also ranked “lean Republican” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

The Post has reached out to Gendler, Bergstein, the Montana Democrat Party and the office of Glacier County Sheriff Maurice Redhorn for comment.

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Montana

Missoula and Western Montana neighbors: Obituaries for March 11

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8 hours ago

March 11, 2026

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Missoula and Western Montana neighbors: Obituaries for March 11

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Montana

Montana AG letter alleges Helena violates law banning ‘sanctuary cities’

Published

21 hours ago

March 10, 2026

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Montana AG letter alleges Helena violates law banning ‘sanctuary cities’

HELENA — On Monday, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen sent a letter to the City of Helena claiming the municipality is not in compliance with the state’s law banning “sanctuary cities.” The letter comes just under a month after the State of Montana launched an investigation into a city resolution on Helena Police policy and Helena’s involvement in federal immigration enforcement.

In the letter, Knudsen laid out the ways he believes the city’s resolution violated state law. The attorney general gave Helena 15 days to respond or reverse the policy. If the city does not comply, his office will pursue legal action.

“Helena’s resolution appears to contain blatant violations of this law,” wrote Knudsen.

MTN News

On January 26, 2026, the City of Helena adopted a resolution clarifying when and how the Helena Police Department will cooperate with federal immigration officials. The vote was 4 to 1. The Helena commission seats and the mayor are elected in non-partisan races.

In the letter, Knudsen alleges the resolution established “a broad sanctuary city policy” that seeks to protect every illegal immigrant, regardless of whether the individual had committed a serious crime or not. The state further claims the resolution gives illegal immigrants “special privileges” in plea deals and establishes a “free-for-all policy” where a police officer can request the unmasking of Department of Homeland Security and ICE officers.

Knudsen has requested that the City of Helena, in their response, specifically describe in detail how the resolution complies with Montana law, provide emails and correspondence from city staff and the commission regarding the resolution.

Helena City manager Alana Lake told MTN in a statement: “The City of Helena is aware of the issues being raised by the Attorney General’s Office and is reviewing the matter. While we cannot discuss the details of a potential legal issue, the City is committed to transparency and compliance with the law. The City takes these matters seriously and will continue to cooperate with the appropriate authorities while remaining focused on serving our community.”

Passed in 2021, Montana House Bill 200 prohibits a state agency or local government from implementing any policy that prevents employees or departments from communicating with federal agencies regarding immigration or citizenship status for lawful purposes. It also states governments must comply with immigration detainer requests if they are lawfully made.

HB 200 was backed by Republicans and passed with only Republican votes. Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the legislation into law on March 31, 2021.

Passage of the resolution by the Helena City Commission has drawn ire from conservative voices in Montana politics and on the national level.

The resolution said the commission supported the Helena Police Department avoiding “committing its resources to federal action for which it has no authority,” such as entering into an agreement with the federal government to directly enforce immigration laws. Under federal law, immigration enforcement is conducted by federal agencies under the Department of Homeland Security. However, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, state and local governments can voluntarily enter into 287 (g) agreements with the federal government that allow them to enforce immigration laws.

The commission further supported HPD’s policy not to stop, detain, or arrest a person solely on suspected violations of immigration law, including assisting other agencies in an arrest based solely on immigration law.

DEEPER LOOK: Helena has seen a growing debate over ICE and local police involvement

In the resolution, the commission also supported an HPD officer, using their own discretion, requesting the identification and unmasking of a Department of Homeland Security Officer if the HPD officer “feels it will not be interfering with the actions of federal officers exercising their jurisdiction.”

“This adversarial relationship by local law enforcement toward federal officers itself undermines public safety and forces immigration officers to fear for their safety when they are simply carrying out their lawful duties,” wrote Knudsen.

The resolution further supports the City of Helena’s policy not to consider immigration consequences in a plea agreement with a defendant.

The commission also supports the City of Helena not disclosing any sensitive information about any person – including immigration status, sexual orientation, or social security number – except as required by law.

“This is a restriction that directly conflicts with Montana’s prohibition on sanctuary jurisdictions, specifically ‘sending to, receiving from, exchanging with, or maintaining for a federal, state, or local government entity information regarding a person’s citizenship or immigration status for a lawful purpose,’” the attorney general wrote.

If a government is found to be violating Montana’s law banning “sanctuary cities”, the state could fine them $10,000 every five days, prevent them from receiving new grants from the state, and have their projects with the state re-prioritized. A government in violation can avoid penalties by becoming compliant with the law within 14 days of being notified of the violation.

Read the full letter from the Montana Attorney General to the City of Helena:

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Montana

Dispatches from the Wild: Montana’s wild inheritance at risk | Explore Big Sky

Published

1 day ago

March 10, 2026

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Dispatches from the Wild: Montana’s wild inheritance at risk | Explore Big Sky

Steve Pearce and the future of the BLM

By Benjamin Alva Polley EBS COLUMNIST

If you care about hunting elk in crisp October air, floating a clear-running river for cutthroat trout, or simply taking your kids camping beneath a sky unspoiled by drill rigs, you should be outraged that Steve Pearce was ever considered to run the Bureau of Land Management.

The BLM is the largest landlord in the West. It oversees nearly 245 million acres of public land—millions of those acres in and around Montana’s most cherished places. This land is the backbone of our elk and mule deer herds, our sage grouse leks, our pronghorn migration routes and our blue-ribbon trout streams. It’s also the stage on which Montana’s hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation economy plays out.

Putting someone with Steve Pearce’s environmental record in charge of that land is like handing your cabin keys to the arsonist who’s always hated it. In the four months since Pearce was first nominated, it emerged that, if confirmed, he and his wife would divest from more than 1,000 oil and gas leases in Oklahoma to address potential conflicts of interest. While some senators strongly support his “active forest management” approach, he still faces opposition from groups alarmed by his record on public land transfers. On March 4, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 11-9 to advance his nomination, despite concerns from conservation groups.

Pearce’s track record is no mystery. He has consistently sided with extractive industries at the expense of wildlife, habitat and public access. He has supported opening more public lands to oil and gas drilling, weakening bedrock environmental safeguards and undermining science-based management. His votes and public statements have signaled again and again that he sees wild country as an obstacle to be overcome, not a legacy to be stewarded.

For Montana, that posture is an existential threat. Our big-game herds rely on intact winter range and unfragmented migration corridors across BLM lands. Aggressive drilling, poorly planned roads and relaxed reclamation standards shred those habitats. Once you carve up a landscape with pads, pipelines and traffic, you don’t get solitude—or mature bull elk—back with the stroke of a pen.

Anglers should be just as alarmed. Headwater streams and riparian corridors on BLM ground are the life support system for native bull trout, cutthroat and wild trout. A BLM director hostile to environmental safeguards is far more likely to greenlight development that increases sediment, degrades water quality and depletes the cold, clean flows our rivers depend on.

If Pearce takes office, outdoor recreation—and the rural economies built around it—will not be spared. In Montana, hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation pump billions of dollars into local businesses, guiding operations, gear shops and main-street cafes. People travel here precisely because of the open space, healthy herds and functioning ecosystems that BLM lands help sustain. When those landscapes are sacrificed to short-term profit, we don’t just lose scenery; we lose jobs, identity and a way of life.

This is not a partisan issue, especially in Montana. Public lands are one of the few things we truly share: ranchers who graze allotments, tribal communities with cultural ties to these places, hunters and anglers who’ve long defended habitat, and families who just want a place to pitch a tent. A BLM director should be a careful, science-driven steward accountable to all Americans—not a politician with a history of dismissing environmental protections as red tape.

Montanans know what’s at stake. We’ve fought bad ideas before—land transfers, giveaway leases, rollbacks to bedrock conservation laws—and we’ve won when we stood together. Steve Pearce’s nomination should have been dead on arrival. The fact that he was even on the list tells us how vigilant we must remain.

Our outrage must translate into action: calling elected officials, packing public hearings, writing letters and voting as if our public lands are on the line. Truly, they are. The BLM needs a director who sees these landscapes the way Montanans do: as sacred ground, not a balance sheet.

Anything less is a betrayal of the wild inheritance we’re supposed to pass on.

Benjamin Alva Polley is a place-based storyteller. His words have been published in Rolling Stone, Esquire, Field & Stream, The Guardian, Men’s Journal, Outside, Popular Science, Sierra, and WWF, among other notable outlets, and are available on his website.