HELENA — Gov. Greg Gianforte has ruled there’s no need to suspend Montana Public Service Commissioner Brad Molnar from office until an investigation against him is completed.
Gianforte declined a request from Commissioner Jennifer Fielder, on behalf of the Public Service Commission’s “response team,” to temporarily remove Molnar while the investigation continues.
“With what appears to be adequate measures within PSC policy for the Team and Commission to navigate this matter, and with the investigation moving forward, I have determined not to exercise my authority at this time,” he wrote in a letter to Molnar and Fielder last week.
Molnar announced in July, while serving as PSC president, that he was under investigation for allegations of unprofessional workplace conduct. He refused to cooperate with the investigation, arguing the claims against him were politically motivated.
Fielder then signed off on a complaint to Gianforte from the “response team,” which handles reports of retaliation, harassment or other policy violations within the PSC. The complaint accused Molnar of interfering with the investigation and threatening employees involved with it, and said temporarily suspending him would allow the investigation to continue without obstruction.
In October, commissioners voted 3-2 to remove Molnar as president, replacing him with Commissioner Jeff Welborn. Molnar’s attorney argued that meant the request to suspend Molnar should be moot, but the attorney representing Fielder disagreed.
In his letter, Gianforte said state law gives him the power to temporarily suspend a PSC member, but not simply as an equivalent of administrative leave in other workplace settings. Instead, he said, it requires “good cause” – and that threshold hasn’t been met for now.
“When the complaint was submitted, it appeared that then-President Molnar’s troubling conduct had the effect of stalling the underlying investigation,” Gianforte wrote. “Now, the Team’s most recent response indicates that since Commissioner Molnar’s removal as president, the Team has been able to move forward with the investigation and expects to receive a report of the findings of the investigation this month, with any recommended action presented to the full Commission as soon as January 2026—the process contemplated under the revised PSC policy.”
Gianforte said his decision was not a judgment on any actual alleged conduct by Molnar.
A spokesperson for the PSC told MTN this week that the response team “plans to meet early in the new year to determine next steps” on the investigation.
“Until that time, the matter remains under internal review,” they said.
