Today in Helena

Government

Montana's Government Is Under a Cloud — And It's Not Just the Weather

If there's a through-line to this week's political coverage, it's accountability — or the lack of it. The Jason Ellsworth trial opened in Lewis and Clark District Court with dueling portraits of a Senate president who may have abused his office, and that courtroom drama ran parallel to the suspension of Public Service Commissioner Brad Molnar by Gov. Gianforte following misconduct investigations. Meanwhile, a Lewis and Clark County district judge raised serious constitutional questions about whether the Montana Republican Party can require loyalty oaths from elected officials — a ruling that could reshape how party discipline works in Helena for years to come. Throw in the ongoing uncertainty over who replaces Sen. Bankhead if he steps aside, and you have a week in which the machinery of Montana government creaked loudly in nearly every direction at once. For residents, the cumulative picture is one of institutions under stress: a PSC now short a commissioner just as a $15.4 billion NorthWestern merger ruling looms, a Legislature whose own ethics are on trial, and party structures whose legal foundations are being questioned from the bench. The Montana Public Service Commission and the Montana Legislature each appeared repeatedly in this week's coverage, and neither came out looking entirely steady.