by Jasmine Taylor | Apr 15, 2024 | Energy/Utilities
We’ve talked about Randy Pinocci a lot on this blog. If you aren’t familiar, suffice it to say he’s Northwestern Energy’s bestest pal, and he really loves raising your utility bills. His greatest hits include napping during public meetings, acting like a slumlord, and most recently committing crimes via text message.
Montana Republicans get arrested a lot. So don’t be embarrassed if you need a refresher on Pinocci’s wrap sheet. Pinnoci initially had a dispute with a tenant, and he received disorderly conduct charges. Pinocci failed to appear in court, ultimately resulting in Pinocci being arrested at Home Depot due to an active warrant.
In another keen display of believing he’s above the law, Pinocci then tried to compel a witness (who also appears to have been his tenant) to change their statements to police. Pinocci allegedly refused to refund the witnesses deposit, and even stated in writing that “you’re going to have to recant your testimony with the sheriff’s department.” He got two felony counts of witness tampering for that one, but maybe Pinocci’s onto something here. He can seemingly intimidate witnesses in writing, and the county will drop all but the smallest charges. Despite what appears to be literal written evidence of witness tampering, somehow the county was compelled to “take another look” at the case. Pinocci has to pay a mere $200, and he gets a six-month deferred prosecution agreement. As long as he behaves for six months, then the two felony charges will go away. Maybe being a Public Service Commissioner does come with perks?
Read the full story and see the court documents here: https://dailymontanan.com/2024/04/12/randy-pinocci-pleads-no-contest-to-misdemeanor-felonies-dropped/
by Ken Toole | Jan 28, 2024 | Elections, Energy/Utilities
Legislative Auditors have once again examined the Public Service Commission and, once again, they don’t like what they see. Specifically, the audit found that only 23% of employees at the PSC believed that commissioners behaved with high ethical standards. The auditors found that the shenanigans of various commissioners and consistent promotion of fossil fuels over the last few years have undermined public trust in PSC decision making. Here’s a brief recap of some of the actions of commissioners which led to another bad audit report.
- Commissioner Randy Pinocci was arrested for witness tampering in a private matter. He is currently awaiting trial.
- Commissioners Randy Pinocci and Tony O’Donnell issued a press release saying that there was a frighteningly real possibility of black outs in eastern Montana and called on the legislature to save the coal plants in southeastern Montana. Montana Dakota Utilities said the release was “completely unfounded.”
- Commissioner Jennifer Fielder threatened medical providers in Helena with “political consequences” for refusing to administer a nonclinical remedy for COVID-19.
- Commissioner Randy Pinocci publicly suggested that the City of Missoula be targeted for black outs because he said they do not support coal development.
- Commissioners routinely advocate for coal power even though they are responsible to objectively examine various resources and mechanisms for meeting power needs.
Commission Chairman, James Brown (who just announced he is running for State Auditor https://wtf406.com/2024/01/public-service-commission-chairman-running-for-state-auditor/ ) objected to much of the audit report saying that some steps have been taken to address some of the issues. But clearly many issues remain unresolved.
by Ken Toole | Jan 23, 2024 | Elections, Energy/Utilities
Public Service Commission Chair, James Brown, announced that he is running for State Auditor in the 2024 election cycle. Last cycle he ran unsuccessfully for the Supreme Court in one of the sleaziest campaigns in recent memory. In that race, Brown was dogged by allegations that he repeatedly violated the rules prohibiting partisan endorsements in judicial races. https://montanafreepress.org/2022/05/25/republican-support-stacks-up-in-montana-supreme-court-race/
The court race was not the first time Brown played fast and loose with campaign law. When he ran for PSC in 2020, there were questions raised about his claiming residence in Dillon. Specifically, Brown owned a home and operated a law practice in Helena, which is outside his PSC district. But in his candidate filing, he used a Dillon post office box. In Brown’s candidate filing, he lists a Dillon post office box as his mailing address. In his corporate filing for his law practice, he wrote that his home address was in Helena. He argued that he lived in a house in Dillon with his cousin. But when asked how much time he spent in Dillon by the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, he refused to answer, saying it was not “relevant.”
https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/complaint-filed-against-psc-candidate-disputing-residency/article_b905ad5d-c43e-56b7-b117-115b300681db.html
After winning election to the PSC and being chosen as PSC chair, Brown was caught up in a scandal regarding audit exceptions found at the PSC by legislative auditors. While the allegations in the audit report occurred before Brown was on the commission, he was called to legislative committee hearings to respond to questions from legislators about what was going on at the PSC. He initially refused to provide the name of a fellow commissioner who had booked a $1,400 first class plane ticket to Washington DC. He later identified the commissioner, former chairman Brad Johnson. (Johnson is currently running for US Senate.) https://montanafreepress.org/2021/06/08/psc-rebuked-for-legislative-audit/
In addition to Brown’s adventures in the electoral arena, he has a long history of activity in the world of dark money in politics. He was the attorney for a group called the Western Tradition Partnership. The activities of this group came to light when a box of documents were found in a meth house in Colorado, which detailed a laundry list of political dirty tricks in Montana and was the subject for a PBS documentary titled Dark Money. Brown also served as the lawyer for the Montana Republican Party from 2009 to 2015. (https://www.pbs.org/pov/films/darkmoney/
https://www.propublica.org/article/documents-found-in-meth-house-bare-inner-workings-of-dark-money-group)
For those who think these kinds of things are just politics as usual consider this. Brown was the chair of the Public Service Commission when it approved a 28% rate increase for consumers, siding with NorthWestern Energy over numerous public interest organizations. He now wants the State Auditor’s job regulating the insurance industry in Montana. Elections really do matter.
by WTF 406 Staff | Sep 16, 2023 | Elections, Featured
On Wednesday,Sept 6th, Public Service Commissioner Randy Pinocci was arrested on a warrant for failing to appear in court to respond to a ticket for disorderly conduct he received in an incident on July 5.
Pinocci was issued the citation for “quarreling, challenging to fight, or fighting, namely by getting in (alleged victim’s) face and bumping chests during an argument and yelling.” In typical Pinocci style, he said he was unfairly accused and pointed out that he is too fat to bump chests with anyone, because his belly is too big. (Really! Can’t wait to see if he does a reenactment if he goes to trial.)
Not surprisingly, Pinocci says he did nothing wrong and the whole thing is a big mistake. His lawyer, Ben Reed of Helena, explained that Pinocci failed to appear in court, as requested twice, because he was at scheduled meetings with constituents. KT
For the full story: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/09/12/pinocci-arrested-released-on-misdemeanor-disputes-validity-of-court-warrant/
Randy would like us all to think that he was so busy doing his job that he couldn’t make a court appearance. WTF406.com is well acquainted with how hard Pinocci works. We published this photo of him “representing his constituents” in a hearing before the PSC back in April 2022.
