Judge confirms PSC commissioner will remain suspended 

Brad Molnar will serve out a suspension for one year from the Montana Public Service Commission, a district court judge ordered.

“The balance of the equities and the public interest require a functioning Public Service Commission free from sexual harassment and retaliation,” said Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Mike Menahan.

Gov. Greg Gianforte suspended Molnar in July after an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation.

Molnar was elected in November 2024 to serve for four years. He is fighting the suspension, which runs through July 8, 2027.

Monday, his lawyer, Matthew Monforton, said he has appealed the judge’s denial of the request for a preliminary injunction.

“The judge held that an elected official can be removed from office for a year, without pay, on the strength of reports no one was ever permitted to test — no hearing before, and none after,” Monforton said.

Molnar likely ‘engaged in unlawful retaliation,’ judge says

The Montana PSC is made up of five commissioners elected by district, but it serves as part of the executive branch, under the supervision of the governor.

In July, Gianforte took a step he and Molnar both described as “unprecedented” by instating a suspension of one year without pay for Molnar.

He issued the suspension after reports that Molnar, former PSC president, harassed staff and retaliated against those who reported his actions.

The PSC voted 3-2 to ask the governor for the suspension, with Molnar and Commissioner Randy Pinocci in opposition.

In a news conference in July 2025, Molnar announced he was under investigation for professional misconduct, but he admitted only to being unpolished.

However, in the order Friday, Menahan said “Molnar did not dispute the factual allegations” against him.

The order said complaints about his conduct included allegations he planned to “take out” those who filed reports against him.

The order said one complaint alleged that he called a staff member’s personal phone, told the employee he knew where she lived, and said he could take photographs of her sleeping children at night.

Molnar argued he had been denied due process, claimed his actions were protected speech, and said the governor had a conflict of interest.

Menahan said his order was limited to whether the governor lacked “good cause” to suspend Molnar and whether the governor failed to provide Molnar with adequate due process before his decision.

The order said Molnar likely engaged in unlawful retaliation, which the PSC policy “expressly prohibits,” and his actions constitute “good cause for suspension.”

“The PSC has a ‘legitimate business reason’ to protect its employees from sexual harassment and retaliation,” the order said.

The judge also said due process is flexible, and doesn’t require Molnar to have the chance to cross examine every witness, as he wanted.

It said Gianforte gave Molnar a chance to respond to the allegations against him, but Molnar didn’t take the opportunity.

“Allowing Molnar to return to the PSC while litigation remains ongoing would invite further dysfunction at the commission and would invite the potential for further retaliation against PSC staff and commissioners,” the order said.

PSC vice president says Molnar ‘made matters worse’

In a statement, PSC Vice President Jennifer Fielder said the commission’s goal was to help Molnar avoid “the very problems he now faces.”

But she said he failed to correct his behavior and “in fact, even made matters worse.”

“No employee — at the PSC, anywhere in state government, or in the private sector — should ever have to answer to a superior who harasses or retaliates against them like that without remorse and without corrective action,” Fielder said in a statement.

Molnar also asked the judge to stop Gianforte from appointing a temporary commissioner to serve while he is out of office and to stop the PSC from seating that individual.

But Menahan said because he found the suspension will remain in place, the question about whether a temporary commissioner can be seated is moot.

Last week, Gianforte announced Kirk Bushman, a Republican who had served on the PSC from 2013 to 2016, would serve in place of Molnar.

The other elected Public Service Commissioners also are Republican, as is Gianforte.

PSC spokesperson Michael Turner said Monday that Bushman took an oath of office before a notary public last Thursday. He will serve through July 8, 2027.

Merger between NorthWestern Energy, Black Hills, still pending

The PSC is handling a number of significant cases, including the proposed multibillion dollar merger between NorthWestern Energy and Black Hills Corp.

In May, with Molnar still in office, the PSC held an exhaustive hearing on the proposed merger.

A separate court complaint filed earlier this month argues it would not be fair to ratepayers or groups that participated in the hearing for the PSC to make a decision on the merger without Molnar.

The case was filed by 350 Montana and the Montana Farmers Union, which participated in the merger hearing.

They said Molnar asked important questions in the case and has insight about witnesses and their credibility that a new commissioner would not have.

The complaint is pending in Lewis and Clark County District Court.

The plaintiffs argue the PSC doesn’t have a firm deadline by which it must vote on the merger.

NorthWestern has said it anticipates the merger will be concluded before the end of 2026, and the South Dakota Searchlight reported Montana is the only state that still needs to vote on it.