Cassidy waives prosecution of Roll, council members

Lincoln County Attorney Bernard Cassidy has declined to prosecute Libby Mayor Doug Roll, former City Attorney James Reintsma and five current and former members of the Libby City Council.

Montana’s Commissioner of Political Practices, Jonathan Motl, issued a finding of fact May 12 in which he ruled Roll and Reintsma, along with council members Barbara Desch, Peggy Williams and Bill Bischoff and former council members Robin Benson and Vicky Lawrence violated Montana’s campaign practice laws by improperly using public resources to influence the 2013 Libby mayoral election.

“The City of Libby, Mayor Doug Roll and five members of the 2013 Libby City Council (Robin Benson, Barbara Desch, Vicky Lawrence, Peggy Williams and Bill Bischoff) are also responsible for the campaign practice violation stemming from the complaint,” Motl wrote. “The complaint was filed by the City of Libby through its paid city attorney. The City of Libby is recited as the plaintiff in the first paragraph of the pleading. At no time did the City of Libby, Mayor Roll or any of the five certain City Council members state or indicate that they did not support the complaint.”

Under Montana law, the Commissioner of Political Practices shares jurisdiction over campaign practice violations with the county attorney’s office. In this case, the complaint was forwarded to Cassidy for review. 

Cassidy’s office had a 30-day window in which to review the case and decide whether to prosecute. Cassidy, citing a pressing workload in his office, referred the complaint back to Motl.

“Given your finding justifying civil prosecution, the significance of that finding to the electorate and local government officials statewide and the pressing workload at my office, I would find it difficult to devote the necessary attention to pursue this case,” Cassidy wrote in a letter dated June 5. “Accordingly, pursuant to Section 13-37-124(2), MCA, I waive the right to participate in any action you may bring.”

Commissioner Motl was away from his office and unable to respond before press time, but indicated he would pursue the case against Roll and the council members in a previous interview with The Western News.

The process, Motl said, would be to sit down with the parties involved and attempt to negotiate a settlement. The settlement would likely, he said, involve a monetary penalty and some other sort of “equitable remedy.” That remedy could include resignation from office or a promise not to seek re-election, Motl said.