Media groups sue over House GOP meeting
More than 20 media groups, including the Associated Press, Daily Inter Lake and Bigfork Eagle, have filed a motion in the First Judicial District Court in Helena asking that the state House Republican Caucus be held in contempt for holding an unpublicized meeting in apparent violation of state open-meetings law.
About 50 Republican lawmakers met Thursday night, Nov. 13, in the basement of a Helena hotel to talk about the 2015 legislative session. Newly elected House Majority Leader Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, said the sole purpose of the meeting was to hand out questionnaires.
The questionnaires sought opinions on the transfer of federal lands to the state, on Gov. Steve Bullock’s priorities, including Medicaid expansion and preschool, and on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes water rights compact.
Mike Meloy, the Helena attorney representing the media groups, filed the motion on Nov. 20. The motion argues that secret meetings appear “to be an ongoing effort to avoid the requirements of this court’s 1998 judgment and will be repeated during the upcoming session unless the court takes some action to assure compliance with the law.”
The media groups are seeking a contempt finding and an order to give public notice of future caucus meetings. District Judge Kathy Seeley of Helena has set a hearing for Dec. 9 in the matter.
Montana courts ruled in 1998 that Montana party caucus meetings must be open to the public because caucuses were public bodies that must comply with the public’s constitutional right to know what government is doing. News organizations, including the Associated Press, sued over the matter in 1995.
A caucus is a meeting of a legislative chamber’s party members. Generally, caucus meetings are announced publicly and held in public meeting rooms.
Sen. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, who was elected to the House on Nov. 4, said the Nov. 13 gathering was not subject to the meetings law because lawmakers weren’t making legislative decisions.
Joining the motion filed Nov. 20 were the Billings Gazette, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Montana Standard, Great Falls Tribune, Havre Daily News, Helena Independent Record, Livingston Enterprise, Miles City Star, Missoulian, News Montana, Inc., Ravalli Republic, KECI-TV, KFBB-TV, KXLF-TV, KTVQ-TV and KULR-TV, along with the Montana Newspaper Association and the Montana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.