Zinke says lesson learned in travel expense audit

U.S. House candidate Ryan Zinke addressed declining marks in two areas related to travel expenses in his recently released military records.

“I learned a valuable lesson that I still hold today, that you are always accountable for your actions,” the Whitefish Republican wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Zinke, a former state senator, faces Democrat John Lewis, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, and Libertarian Mike Fellows in the Nov. 4 election for Montana’s lone House seat.

The former Navy SEAL requested copies of his full military record Sept. 1 and received full copies of all his performance evaluations on Oct. 27, and his campaign released the 1999 report.

Zinke said the travel disputes occurred because his commanding officer disagreed with Zinke’s belief that Montana should be used for SEAL training.

“I conducted site surveys to Washington and Montana,” he said of trips taken in the 1990s. “My commander disagreed with my assessment, which was his right.”

The two issues arose from a related seven-year audit of his travel expenses, Zinke said. One travel discrepancy involved reimbursement of a $211 plane ticket to Montana that Zinke said he paid back.

The second involved Zinke traveling from training in Washington state to his Whitefish home and didn’t require reimbursement, Zinke campaign spokeswoman Shelby DeMars said.

Zinke’s evaluator also wrote in the 1999 report that he was confident Zinke now understood his responsibility in setting an example and called him “dynamic, decisive and intelligent.”

Retired Navy SEAL officer has questioned Zinke’s character over the travel disputes. Capt. Larry Bailey, the commanding officer of the Naval Special Warfare Center where Zinke trained, said that although Zinke had a fine career, this report killed any chance for promotion to the highest ranks of captain or admiral.

“That moral lapse killed his career,” Bailey said. “He would have been an admiral without that, without any question in my mind.”

Zinke’s military reports from the years before and after 1999 show him exceeding performance standards in nearly all areas. Evaluators said he was a must for early promotion, even in the 1999 report, and said he was “widely acclaimed as a top notch leader.”

Zinke, who served 23 years in the Navy, left SEAL Team 6 after 1999 and was eventually promoted to the rank of commander, documents show.

While Lewis mostly has kept silent about Zinke’s military records, Montana Democrats have been calling for Zinke to release all his military records since this summer, especially the 1999 report.

Lewis’ campaign spokeswoman, Kathy Weber, said Oct. 28 that Zinke has shown a lapse of judgment throughout the campaign.

“Whether it’s hiding the ball about his past or flip-flopping on important issues, Zinke’s character absolutely should be called into question,” Weber said. “He’s not shooting straight with Montanans.”