Molnar says workplace investigation waste of taxpayer resources

Keila Szpaller

(Daily Montanan) The Montana Public Service Commission has hired a management firm and retained a law firm to help investigate President Brad Molnar’s workplace interactions, according to agency documents and responses to questions submitted by the Daily Montanan.

Molnar said Tuesday he was informed roughly one month ago that he was being accused of “unprofessional conduct.”

“I’m probably guilty. I’m a redneck wearing a white shirt,” Molnar said.

However, he said the only specific incidents of which he has been informed are petty and not worth the taxpayer dollars that would be spent on the matter.

The PSC could spend as much as $10,000 on a firm hired to conduct the investigation, according to the contract with CMS, Communications and Management Services.

The PSC also retained a legal firm at a rate of $250 an hour in connection with the investigation, and the PSC confirmed there is no ceiling on the agreement with Christensen & Prezeau.

The Public Service Commission regulates monopoly utilities in Montana.

In recent years, it has been subject to infighting, and it also has been under scrutiny as commissioners approved rate increases for power utilities over significant public protest.

Molnar said he believes the current conflict comes out of his firm stance the PSC remain independent of outside influence, NorthWestern Energy in particular.

For example, he has opposed private meetings between PSC staff and officials from NorthWestern, the largest utility in Montana.

“NorthWestern Energy wants to operate in the dark, and too many of you are helping them do it — to the detriment of the public we all serve,” Molnar said recently in a letter to fellow commissioners.

However, PSC spokesperson Alana Lake said the investigation “has nothing to do with transparency and/or NWE relations.”

Staff also have said the meetings in question are less substantive than procedural, and they do not involved elected commissioners.

“The investigation pertains to Commissioner Molnar’s interactions with others in the workplace,” Lake said in an email.

The PSC declined to offer specifics, citing confidentiality under administrative rules governing workplace investigations.

“It is important to remember that complainants also have a right of privacy that we must respect,” said Chief Legal Counsel Lucas Hamilton in an email to the Daily Montanan.

However, Molnar said legal staff shared a couple of specific examples of problematic incidents with him, albeit ones he does not believe merit an investigation and public resources.

Molnar most recently took office with the PSC in January, but he said when he was first elected in 2004, the head of the commission was described as “chairman.”

He currently holds the top post among the five elected commissioners, and he said the PSC’s new term is “president,” but he offers an embellished version some have found offensive.

“El presidente de la grande mucho macho man Molnar commander of all the forces of the five districts,” he said.

Molnar said he received word he should be more sensitive to women, but he disagrees the title he uses in jest is a slight.

“It’s funny,” Molnar said. “I’m not saying women can’t be de la grande anything. I’m saying (the title) should be chairman.”

He also said he was told something he said at a meeting could have been construed as having sexual innuendo, a conclusion he said would require multiple leaps.

“You can make something out of anything,” he said.

Either way, Molnar said he believes the appropriate way to handle such concerns would be for a PSC staff member to approach him and request he be more sensitive — as a first step.

“You don’t start with a $10,000 investigation,” Molnar said.

Tension between Molnar and Commissioners Annie Bukacek and Jennifer Fielder has been on display at recent PSC meetings, in particular related to the nature of the agency’s relationship with NorthWestern Energy.

Molnar has alleged the behemoth energy utility has undue influence at the agency, and he argues PSC staff should not have private conversations with NorthWestern officials that aren’t available to the public.

PSC Vice President Fielder recently pushed back against the allegations and said the relationships between the agency and utility are appropriate.

Fielder did not respond to a voicemail left for comment for this story.

Bukacek referred the Daily Montanan to remarks PSC spokesperson Lake made at a meeting last week when commissioners took up an effort by Molnar to ensure communications between PSC staff and utility officials were transparent.

Bukacek otherwise declined to answer questions — “I don’t generally talk to reporters” — but also said she was surprised the contract for the investigation was a public record.

“I’m amazed it’s public,” Bukacek said.

Molnar, known as a sort of maverick politician, took office at the PSC in the midst of a couple of significant undertakings at the agency.

Last summer, NorthWestern Energy filed a major rate case that’s under consideration at the PSC and could push up power bills again.

Additionally, the implementation of House Bill 490 is underway; HB 490 requires utilities such as NorthWestern Energy to prepare wildfire mitigation plans and receive PSC approval for them.

In his recent email to all commissioners, Molnar referenced his clash with Bukacek and her emails “attacking” him, but he said he isn’t elected to rubber-stamp NorthWestern’s demands.

“Some want a ‘team player’ who stays quiet while utility bills skyrocket,” Molnar said in the email.

At the meeting last week, Lake said she appreciated Molnar’s concern regarding staff communication with utilities, but she said “no substantiated concerns” over communication had been documented to necessitate new restrictions.

“Staff have always been permitted and expected to engage in appropriate and professional dialogue with utility representatives on procedural matters,” Lake said.

She said PSC staff are committed to transparency, legal counsel has provided “ongoing training” regarding appropriate communication, and the team remains “highly professional and trustworthy.”

Lake also said in May, Molnar had accused “a well-respected employee who has served this agency with distinction of inappropriate discussions with the utility,” but she said the allegation was found to be unsubstantiated.

“Following that matter, I shared my concern that such accusations reflected a level of distrust towards staff that was not supported by evidence,” Lake said.

She said Molnar also expressed a preference that staff cease all in-person meetings with NorthWestern Energy and raised concerns about “undue influence” by the utility on her, but Lake said the team works with professionalism and integrity.

At that meeting, Molnar asked his fellow commissioners to adopt a motion that interactions between PSC staff and NorthWestern related to the current case and bill implementation be either recorded or made electronically in order to ensure transparency.

The motion failed 2-3, with Commissioner Randy Pinocci joining Molnar in support of the effort.

“What kind of commissioners would encourage private meetings?” Pinocci said to the Daily Montanan.

Pinocci said he supported Molnar’s bid for transparency, and he also said he thought the infighting would have ceased with a new commission.

“There always just seems to be some sort of troublemaker,” Pinocci said. “And it amazes me that we’re facing new problems today.”

In a phone call with the Daily Montanan, Molnar said the motion that failed came out of an order he issued to restrict communications with NorthWestern that aren’t recorded.

But he said NorthWestern “went crying to Alana,” she “fired up the other commissioners,” and they asked him to explain.

He said he declined to rescind the order, but he agreed to take it to other commissioners for a decision, and he lost.

Molnar said his interest is in accountability, but Lake “darn near breaks into tears” when he asks questions about NorthWestern — a claim she flatly denied — and Bukacek and the PSC’s chief legal counsel are in the same boat.

“If I ask a question that makes somebody uncomfortable in a regulated case, that’s my job,” Molnar said.

Molnar’s lawyer, Matthew Monforton, has described the investigation as illegal.

However, the law firm retained to advise the PSC said in an email to Monforton, which he shared with the Daily Montanan, the agency has legal authority to investigate conduct under its own rules and policies.

CMS had attempted to conduct an interview with Molnar on Tuesday, but Molnar declined to participate. His lawyer said the inquiry raises due process questions including ones about Molnar’s right to examine evidence and confront his accusers.

PSC Chief Legal Counsel Lucas said if Molnar declines to participate, the investigation will conclude without his input.

The contract with the management firm said a report is expected by the end of August.

Editor’s note: Reporter Jordan Hansen contributed to this story.