Billings Gazette Slams Dem Gov Steve Bullock On Lack of Credibility, Trust and Transparency

As more details are released on why Montana Governor Steve Bullock’s lieutenant governor quit suddenly under mysterious circumstances, the Billings Gazette today highlights the emerging pattern displayed by Governor Bullock: a lack of credibility, trust and transparency. Montana voters deserve a leader they can count on to be honest with them, but Governor Bullock has instead proven time and time again he is incapable of practicing what he preaches.

Editorial: What’s really going on in Montana governor’s office?
Billings Gazette; 12/15/2015

Let’s add up the events:

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock strong-armed his lieutenant governor as his pick for an open U.S. Senate seat. When media (including The Billings Gazette) chided the governor for his closed-door, darkhorse pick, Bullock insisted Walsh was a great choice. Just months later, Bullock and the rest of Montana were embarrassed to learn Walsh had plagiarized much of his research paper at the War College. His Senate re-election campaign was in shambles, and his legacy is one of a lame duck and seat warmer until Steve Daines took the position with a comfortable win.

With Bullock’s next choice for lieutenant governor, Angela McLean, he feigned surprise that she was leaving. He insisted there’d not been much discussion about her future as part of his administration. It was an odd move for McLean, jumping from the second-highest executive in state government to a leadership position in a different state department.

And, when pressed more than a week ago for documents about the abrupt departure, Bullock’s office couldn’t produce the public records for some media organizations, but gave them to another Friday. Lee Newspapers received a large number of documents on Monday.

Trust and transparency

The issue, though, isn’t just about releasing public documents. And, it’s not just about a personality clash that seemed to fester between McLean and Bullock. Instead, we’d suggest there may be a pattern here worth considering.

In both cases, Bullock tried to play off concerns, only to have those things be legitimized. It boils down to a matter of trust and transparency.

In the case of Walsh, Bullock insisted that concerns about Walsh’s past and his ability to fill former Sen. Max Baucus’ seat were poo-poohed. Folks wanted a more public, open process. Citizens were concerned that an appointment to the U.S. Senate, while Bullock’s to make, needed voter confidence. Bullock insisted he knew better, but it was obvious he didn’t know enough when plagiarism cost Bullock credibility and his party a Senate seat.

In the case of McLean, he simply tried to pass off the move, as if she had a checklist when she came to Helena and it had been completed. Instead of being honest about the poor relationship, which appears to have deteriorated enough for his administration to lock McLean out of a Twitter account, he tried to spin it as more benign.

What’s worse is that his office couldn’t even be transparent about emails and documents which media throughout the state had requested (more about that in a moment). The Gazette was part of the media gaggle trying to peer deeper into what is an odd, troubling pattern of folks exiting the Bullock administration. You’d think Bullock and his administration would understand: The more they fight and stonewall public information, the more headlines, stories and prolonged attention there will be. From a sheer political strategy point, Bullock’s administration would seem to be ham-handed again.

Montana media investigating

It’s also telling that many different organizations, including the Associated Press, the MTN television network and Lee Newspapers throughout Montana were all after the same documents. Why? The answer to that may suggest there’s plenty of rumors, speculation and discord. In other words, where there’s smoke, there’s almost always fire.

These two high-profile departures may both be coincidental or even understandable. For example, Bullock may not have known exactly what the working relationship with McLean was going to be.

But, as with so many things, the issue isn’t the mistake, it’s what happened after. Bullock’s handling of both Walsh and McLean were mistakes. To us, it boils down to trust. How can we trust the Bullock administration to appoint good leaders, and how can we have faith that the answers given aren’t just spin? We have to trust our governor, and this most recent episode should leave Montanans yearning to rebuild credibility, trust and transparency.