Missoula mayoral candidate Lisa Triepke violated Montana’s campaign laws by filing incomplete and inaccurate campaign finance reports.

So says a report issued on Friday by Montana Political Practices Commissioner Jeff Mangan, stemming from a complaint filed in September by Democrat state legislator Ellie Hill-Smith.

In the affidavit, Mangan wrote that ‘the Triepke campaign failed to properly report campaign expenditures, obligations and debt with the detail required by Montana law’.

In a conversation with KGVO News after the decision was released, Mangan said his office is waiting to see how quickly Triepke’s campaign can resolve the issues reported in the complaint.

“Once they get that corrected, assuming it gets kicked back to us (from the Lewis and Clark County Attorney), we’ll work on getting this settled civilly,” Mangan said. “But I assume there will be a fine or some kind of additional action that will happen, but at this point we certainly want them to get their current campaign finance report up to date and complete as best they can based on all their expenditures to date.”

Mangan said he did not believe that the Triepke campaign reached out to his office for guidance on how to properly file reports.

“I don’t know, I don’t believe they did,” he said. “But, we’ve been working with them. I spoke to the campaign this afternoon and again reiterated that our staff is more than willing to assist and get this where it needs to be.”

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