I tried asking Sheehy questions. He kicked me to the curb.

In the business world, CEOs have to answer to their shareholders about the successes and failures of their company. You can’t dodge questions you don’t like in the boardroom, and you can’t hide from the people you were hired to serve. 

Running for elected office shouldn’t be any different. Any individual seeking to represent Montana has an obligation to, at the very least, show up and answer basic questions from voters about who they are and who they claim to be. 

But Tim Sheehy thinks he can play by a different set of rules in his campaign for Montana’s U.S. Senate seat. 

I’m a Montana voter who recently tried to attend one of Sheehy’s public events to ask him simple questions about his failing business and his financial obligations to Gallatin County. Instead of looking me in the eyes and answering my questions like a man, Sheehy ordered his political attack-dogs to forcibly remove me from the venue. 

Sheehy’s move to dodge questions from the Montana constituents he is running to represent is part of a larger, well-documented effort to avoid having to answer for his shady business record. 

CNN recently reported that Sheehy “rarely grants interviews to local or national press, while his campaign doesn’t discuss his schedule or provide information about his events, which tend to be closed affairs.” Sheehy is running scared from both the press and the people. 

This all raises the question: what is Sheehy trying to hide? 

Well, as a financial expert it is obvious to me that Sheehy is afraid to answer questions. The simple fact is that Sheehy’s company has more than $200 million in debt. So here are three questions that I would have asked Sheehy in person had he given me the chance:

- How could Bridger possibly pay back its enormous debt – especially when the company has lost more than $150 million under your leadership in the past four years? 

- What is the risk to Gallatin County if your company defaults on its bond, and how do we know taxpayers won’t be strapped with the bill? 

- Why won’t you take accountability for running Bridger into the financial red? If you won’t tell the truth about your failing business, and you won’t answer questions from voters, how can Montanans trust you to represent us in the Senate?

These three questions should be easy for Sheehy to answer. And if we were in the boardroom, he would have nowhere to hide. But Sheehy is trying to run out the clock on the campaign trail and fool Montana voters into buying what he’s selling. 

Marc Cohodes is an investor and financial expert who has also rooted out financial fraud. He lives in Gallatin County.