Legislative leaders remove Sen. Windy Boy from interim committees

The Montana Legislature’s Committee on Committees at its May 4 meeting unanimously voted to remove Democratic Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy from two interim committees at the request of Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, and Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Bozeman.

Windy Boy, one of the longest-serving members of the legislature, has been called on to resign his seat from the Legislature after the Montana Democratic Party chairperson Shannon O’Brien announced last month the party had learned of allegations of sexual abuse. Windy Boy suspended his candidacy for a U.S. congressional seat the day the allegations were publicly reported citing health reasons. He has not publicly responded to the allegations of sexual abuse.

Windy Boy did not respond to phone calls or text messages on Monday.

His interim appointments included the Senate Finance and Claims and Section E Interim Budget Committee and the State-Tribal Relations Interim Committee.

In the short meeting, Sen. John Esp brought the motion to change the committee assignments.

Helena Democratic Sen. Laura Smith will take his place on the finance and budget committees, while Sen. Jacinda Morigeau, D-Arlee will fill his seat on State-Tribal Relations. The Committee on Committee is only responsible for assigning lawmakers to their standing and interim posts.

“I think whoever comes back will be dealing with this issue probably when you get back, but this at least clears the deck for the rest of the interim so that we don’t have this hanging over the interim work,” said Esp, a Republican from Big Timber who is termed out of office at the end of this year.

Regier, with the support of Flowers, also rescinded Windy Boy’s appointment to the School Funding Interim Commission and appointed Sen. Dave Fern, D-Whitefish, to the seat.

“We’re taking the steps within our authority to hold Senator Windy Boy accountable for his actions and protect the integrity of the Montana Senate, including stripping him of all appointed responsibilities for the remainder of the current legislative cycle,” Regier and Flowers said in a joint statement. “Sen. Windy Boy still needs to do the right thing and completely resign from public office.”

The allegations against Windy Boy were first made public by the Montana Democratic Party on April 16, when party officials said they had learned of “serious sexual abuse” allegations against the lawmaker.

According to reporting by the Montana Free Press, the allegations include Windy Boy sending sexually explicit photos and messages to underage girls in 2002.

Helena attorney Brian Miller, who is running for the Democratic nomination for the eastern congressional seat, as was Windy Boy, has confirmed to the Daily Montanan he is representing the alleged victim and her mother, Brenda Russell, who began posting to social media in February and March allegations that Windy Boy had propositioned her underage daughter and sent explicit photos more than two decades ago.

Windy Boy had faced separate sexual harassment allegations in 2018 while serving in the Legislature that led to an investigative report by Legislative Services and were covered by The Associated Press. The report detailed inappropriate text messages Windy Boy sent to a female colleague in the Legislature and concluded that “the situation is likely to repeat itself and it should not go unchecked.”

Windy Boy resigned from his committee assignments at the time.

In their joint statement, Regier and Flowers reiterated their calls for Windy Boy to resign from the Senate because of his pattern of repeated sexual harassment, “with known instances and credible allegations dating back over two decades, including sexually explicit and harassing communication to minors and to legislative staff.”

Between legislative sessions, a lawmaker can be removed from office through a voter-initiated recall election, but cannot be removed by the Legislature.