Montana GOP, Busse file campaign finance complaints • Daily Montanan

The Montana GOP said the Democratic candidate for governor is illegally spending money on his wife’s communications company — but Democrat Ryan Busse, challenging the Republican incumbent, alleges Gov. Greg Gianforte improperly funneled $1 million to his campaign manager’s companies.

Both candidates deny the allegations in the respective complaints filed this month with the Commissioner of Political Practices.

Busse claims Gianforte paid campaign manager Jake Eaton and other staff affiliated with the campaign more than $1 million through Eaton’s companies. The payments are disclosed in financial reports, but the Busse campaign says they violate the law against “secret pass-through payments.”

Gianforte campaign spokesperson Anna Marian Block said in a statement Friday the campaign is in full compliance with the law.

“This complaint is nothing more than a desperate attempt to distract voters from the fact that Ryan Busse is trailing in the polls by 21%,” Block said.

Meanwhile, the Montana Republican Party alleges the Busse campaign allocated several thousand dollars to his wife’s communications company in violation of a law prohibiting surplus funds going to candidates for “personal benefit,” which includes family members.

In a response filed Friday, Busse’s campaign called the complaint “utterly meritless” and said contrary to the allegations, the communications work is being done by an experienced professional and legally must be compensated.

Busse: Gianforte isn’t disclosing payments to staff for campaign work

Eaton owns consulting firm The Political Company as well as political sign printing shop and marketing firm Ultra Graphics, both in Billings. The Busse campaign’s complaint, filed Friday, lists more than 25 payments from Gianforte’s campaigns to both companies between March and June of this year. The campaign says Gianforte should have made those payments to Eaton personally, instead of through his companies, for his consulting work.

Eaton noted in his email Friday political parties can submit expenditures for campaigns and noted the Montana Republican State Central Committee report is where the expenses for staff are listed, including his own. The committee’s report for the first quarter of the year notes The Political Company was paid three installments of $12,500, as well as salaries for staff listed in the complaint.

The complaint, authored by Busse staffer Emily Harris, said the Gianforte campaign has previously this election cycle tried to sidestep accountability for including false information about immigration in an ad. After taking the ad down, the campaign told Montana’s ABC/Fox affiliate the ad was done by an “outside contractor”and the campaign decided to remove it. Busse’s camp is claiming the ad was created by Eaton’s company, basing that off the time of the ad and when it was published.

Busse’s complaint also claims it is…