43 Committees Fail To File With Political Practices Properly, Commissioner Warns Of Upcoming Deadline

The first deadline for Political Committees to file independent expenditures this election cycle has passed, but Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, Johnathan Motl says he doesn’t want to release the names of those who failed to file yet.

“The concern isn’t so much about what they haven’t filed now, it’s that it’s time for political committees to recognize the expectations that the public justifiably have, and the press is going to justifiably have,” says Motl. “They are going to expect that every political committee engaged in independent expenditures is going to have filed the report with the commissioner’s office.”

The next deadline is in early May and Motl says if committees haven’t filed by then, the hammer will drop.

“There are going to be independent expenditures and there is going to be interest in those and you do not want to file that one late,” says Motl. “There will be complaints against you if you do that. Anybody who fails to file on time, electronically on that date, as a political committee, will be in trouble."

So far, of the 124 listed independent committees, 43 haven’t filed.