Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen admitted to recruiting a primary challenger so that he could use the opponent to increase fundraising results according to a recording of Knudsen made at a fundraiser, the Associated Press reports.
A former Speaker of the state house, Knudsen had no GOP challenger to his incumbency but told the audience at a May 11th fundraiser in Dillon, that he made sure candidate Logan Dillon “filed to run against me simply because under our current campaign finance laws in Montana, it allows me to raise more money. So, he supports me and he’s going to vote for me.”
Montana Democrats filed a lawsuit alleging that Knudsen was taking more than the state-allowed $790 per person limit allowed when a candidate runs unopposed, so rather than return the money, he got Dillon to file against him on the deadline day for candidate applications.