Court dismisses lawsuit against Sen. Fielder

A case against State Senator Jennifer Fielder regarding an open records request has been dismissed after nearly two years.

Sen. Fielder (R-Thompson Falls) released a statement Monday saying the case was permanently dismissed and no further action will be taken. In February 2017, the Campaign for Accountability (CFA) filed the lawsuit against the state’s Legislative Services Division and Fielder claiming that Sen. Fielder failed to release records requested under the Montana Open Records Act. The case was dismissed with prejudice, which means each party waives the right to appeal. “The matters raised in the petition have been fully resolved on the merits,” Assistant Attorney General Kirsten Madsen wrote in the Jan. 2 dismissal.

The lawsuit filed in February 2017 alleged that CFA requested copies of Fielder’s “transactions of legislative business since January 1, 2013 related to federal lands, oil, gas, coal, mining, mineral products, timber, forestry, Utah State Representative Ken Ivory, ALC, Americans for Prosperity, the American Legislative Exchange Council and Federalism in Action.” The group also asked for records related to office and travel expenses of Fielder and her staff. According to court documents filed in Montana First Judicial District Court, CFA made a follow-up request in November 2016 before filing the complaint in February 2017.

Fielder said that gathering all of the information requested took time.

“Given the volume of communications I encounter on an annual basis, and the number of computers and email accounts I have used over the last five years, it was a very time-consuming process to gather everything up and see if it matched the subjects they had requested information on,” Sen. Fielder said in a statement. “Most of the work was done by the state Attorney General’s office and our Internet Technology staff, and they did a great job. But ultimately I had to review every single document to be sure no personal or confidential information was included.

Fielder said that Montana’s legislators are given the flexibility to use state email accounts for official and personal communication, as well as personal email accounts. “It took a lot of time and effort to compile, filter and produce accurate, comprehensive results for a search as broad as this one was,” Fielder noted.

“Political opponents were behind the lawsuit,” Fielder said. “I am sure the whole thing had a lot to do with them wanting to generate negative headlines to hinder my re-election. They got their headlines, but the voters of Northwest Montana stuck with me. I always knew there was no real problem and I am glad most of my constituents seemed to see this for what it was.”