Jake Eaton, an adviser to ….

Jake Eaton, an adviser to the campaign, told Capitolized that Knudsen is “100 percent in compliance with the law and I am confident the Commissioner will dismiss this frivolous complaint.”

Chris Gallus, Montana’s Commissioner of Political Practices, has accepted the complaints and reached out to both campaigns for responses, he told Capitolized.

The complaints also allege Olson, a 2020 University of Montana law school graduate and member of the board of trustees for Scobey Public Schools, is not eligible to serve as attorney general regardless of the alleged campaign finance scheme because he has not been “engaged in the active practice thereof for at least five years before election” as the Montana Constitution requires.

Olson was admitted to the Montana State Bar in September of 2020. In a statement to the Lee newspapers Montana State News Bureau, Olson said he will be eligible to hold the position of attorney general by the general election because of the state Supreme Court’s Student Practice rule, which permits law students to practice in court in certain circumstances.

Olson, who Knudsen said in the recording is planning to vote for him, did not return a request for comment from Capitolized Thursday. Olson has a history with a number of conservative legal causes, including as a university chapter president of the Federalist Society.

Olson doesn’t appear to be actively running a campaign for attorney general. He has no campaign website, has reported no fundraising, and the individual his campaign lists as treasurer is Knudsen’s treasurer, Katie Wenetta.

Wenetta, who commonly works with Republican candidates, told Capitolized that it’s not uncommon for people in her position to work for multiple candidates in the same election.

In 2020, for example, both candidate Greg Gianforte and his Republican primary opponent Al Olszewski — a hardliner unlikely to run just to do a favor for Gianforte — listed Lorna Kuney, another oft-hired GOP-affiliated campaign contractor, as treasurer.

The only item in Olson’s campaign ledger is an unpaid debt to Standard Consulting, a firm linked to conservative lobbyist and consultant Chuck Denowh, labeled “reimbursement for filing fee.”

Denowh, who has donated to Knudsen this year, told Capitolized Thursday that he helps “a lot of candidates.”

“I always encourage people to run, and I think the more choices you have is better for our democracy,” he said.

The complaints from the Democrats ask the state Commissioner of Political Practices to declare Olson’s candidacy invalid and compel Knudsen to reimburse donors for the money he collected above the $790 per-election limit.

Eaton noted that several Democrats have run what appear to be similar, if unavowed, schemes. In 2016, former state lawmaker Bill McChesney ran in the Democratic gubernatorial primary against incumbent Steve Bullock but never raised or spent a cent, according to campaign finance records.

And this year, leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ryan Busse faces a primary opponent in Helena attorney Jim Hunt, who filed to run just a few days before the deadline and has also not raised any money. Hunt previously told Montana Free Press that he donated to Busse’s campaign in 2023 and decided to enter the race to add to the chorus criticizing Gianforte.

“I’m more interested in criticizing our current governor than Ryan Busse,” Hunt said.

A spokesperson for the Busse campaign said Busse did not solicit Hunt to run in the primary.

Assuming Knudsen wins his primary, he’ll face Democratic attorney Ben Alke in the general election. Alke faces his own campaign finance complaint filed by the Montana Republican Party.

The complaint, filed last October, alleges that Alke’s campaign illegally failed to record expenses incurred by a campaign- launch fundraiser and a promotional video in his first campaign finance report.

The campaign responded that Alke had paid out of pocket and that the campaign’s reimbursement of his expenses is reflected in the report filed in the subsequent reporting period because of the time it took to receive invoices. The campaign also amended the first report to reflect payments Alke made for gasoline.

The commissioner’s decision in the Alke matter is pending.