U.S. Senate candidates hunting-license citation morphs into full-blown criminal case

[Ptah]

HELENA - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Troy Downing says he didn’t falsely portray himself as a resident when buying in-state hunting licenses for the past half-dozen years – and can’t believe the issue has become a full-scale criminal case in a Bozeman court.

“It’s crazy,” he told MTN News in an interview last week. “My lawyer told me he’s never seen a three-day jury trial on a misdemeanor citation. They have doubled down on it.”

Downing also has said the charges and scope of the case against him are “politically motivated,” noting that he never had a problem until he ran for office.

But state Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials said this week the investigation into Downing’s residency predated his candidacy, and that it began as a fairly routine case, based on information forwarded to the agency from the state Revenue Department.

“The investigator began his investigation long before Mr. Downing was a political candidate,” the department said in a statement Friday.

http://www.kbzk.com/story/38004008/us-senate-candidates-hunting-license-citation-morphs-into-full-blown-criminal-case

Michael Flynn to campaign for Montana Republican:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/21/politics/flynn-montana-downing/index.html