Commissioner's campaign complaint dismissed

A complaint brought by former Flathead County Commissioner Joe Brenneman against the property rights group American Dream Montana was dismissed last week by the state Commissioner of Political Practices.

Brenneman's complaint alleged the group misrepresented him in a full-page advertisement during the 2010 election. The ad showed Brenneman's photo and asserted Brenneman had said property rights are "silly" during a legislative hearing in 2007.

Commissioner of Political Practices David Gallik ruled there was insufficient evidence to find that America Dream Montana violated any state laws. He also ruled that the group was not a political action committee or an incidental committee under state law.

American Dream Montana president Russ Crowder said he expected the state to rule in his favor.

"There's nothing surprising in the findings to us," he said. "It's more or less as we expected. We try to be pretty careful on these things."

Brenneman, who lost his re-election bid last fall, said he doesn't plan to further pursue his allegations.

"It's too bad people can get away with saying all kinds of lies," he said. "You can listen to the transcript of the Senate Local Government Committee hearing to know that what Crowder said wasn't the truth."

Crowder had instructed the Daily Inter Lake not to run the ad one day before it mistakenly was published, a point acknowledged in Gallik's ruling.