Did Shady Sheehy Skirt the Law Using Company Resources to Boost His Campaign?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 20, 2023

CONTACT
rehm@mtdems.org

Ethics experts: Sheehy flouting FEC rules and liberal use of company resources “preview of some of the ethics issues that may arise”
 

Helena, MT – Mitch McConnell recruit Tim Sheehy is once again facing scrutiny over conflicts of interest. New reporting by The Messenger revealed the extent to which Sheehy is using Bridger Aerospace’s resources to campaign – including using footage of his company property in campaign ads and flying company planes to fundraising events. 

The Messenger also revealed that Sheehy “weighed his candidacy for five months before going public with his campaign, flouting the FEC’s ‘testing the waters’ rules.” Read more:

The Messenger: Montana Senate Candidate’s Company Is Tightly Intertwined with His Campaign
Matt Holt
November 19, 2023

• Sheehy appears to be mingling business and politics in questionable ways as he seeks the GOP nomination.

• He has used his company plane to travel to campaign events and fundraiser and even rented space at his company’s headquarters for his campaign, according to a Messenger analysis of his most recent Federal Election Commission filing.

• The fundraising disclosure also showed that he weighed his candidacy for five months before going public with his campaign, flouting the FEC’s “testing the waters” rules. 

• Bridger Aerospace’s revenue is heavily dependent on federal contracts, and it went public in 2023 through a special-acquisition company (SPAC) meant to minimize its tax bill. The company is featured prominently in Sheehy’s campaign ads – including his campaign launch video.

• As recently as October, Sheehy took a Washington Free Beacon reporter on a Bridger airplane and sat for an interview at the company’s headquarters. His campaign has paid Bridger over $9,000 for rent, described in the campaign’s most recent FEC report as office space, conference rooms, and administrative labor. 

• The travels of a plane registered to his company mirrored his fundraising itinerary on at least one trip. He also used the company plane to travel to a Trump rally in South Dakota and a campaign event and fundraiser in North Dakota.

• “Relevant questions to assessing the legality of the arrangement would be (a) whether Bridger is getting paid on time, and (b) whether it is being paid enough. The FEC reports, unfortunately, don’t provide answers to those questions."

• “More broadly, it does show how closely tied the candidate is to this business that depends on government largesse,” Fischer told The Messenger. “And if he were elected it could indicate, or be a preview of some of the ethics issues that may arise.” 

• “Because if they pay above market value, and they’re potentially converting campaign funds to personal use, they’re enriching the candidate’s business. And if they pay below market value that results in a contribution from the business to the campaign, because they’re getting more than what they’re paying for, and typically that would result in a prohibited corporate contribution,” he told The Messenger. “But in this instance, because it’s a publicly traded corporation, there would also be a violation of the contractor contribution ban on government contractors making contributions.” 

• The FEC has outlined certain activities that it considers to indicate whether a candidate is or isn’t seeking office. But once a candidate either raises or spends more than $5,000 and decides to run for office, then that candidate must file a statement of candidacy with the FEC [...] Sheehy’s latest campaign finance report reveals that he was weighing a Senate candidacy for five months before he launched his campaign. 

• Sheehy’s in-kind contributions where he paid a fleet of communications consultants and pollsters almost five months before he actually launched his bid, totaling over $130,000 dollars. He paid Delve LLC $6,000 for research services on February 9, 2023 and GOP pollster Moore Information Group $44,600 for survey research on March 31, 2023.

• He also paid for communications consulting and research services to Big Dog Strategies LLC and “That does raise questions about whether he had become a candidate before actually declaring his candidacy and filing paperwork with the FEC,” Fischer said.

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