Burns ex-Finance Co-Chair Charged

Pat Davison, the co-chairman of the re-election finance committee of Senator Conrad Burn’s until July 27, 2006, has been accused of securities law violations, including selling securities without a license and engaging in dishonest and unethical practices. Davison is currently under investigation by the Montana State Auditor’s office and the FBI, and has been sued by investors who alleged he set up fake accounts and bilked them out of more than $1 million dollars in retirement savings. As a Republican candidate in the 2004 Montana gubernatorial primary, Davison ran campaign advertisements saying that, if elected, he would “take Montana back from radical environmentalists.” When pressed to describe what he meant, what environmental issues he was concerned about, which groups he was referring to and why he considered this a campaign issue, Davison failed to provide examples, and failed to win his primary election. As a partner with Mike Gustafson andWesco Resources, Davison’s priority was the development of the Otter Creek Coal Tracts, which benefited from a 2003 Legislative appropriation that provided $300,000 to prepare the tracts for private development. Billings-based Davison was a leader in the Yellowstone Republican Party and the Montana Republican Party. His campaign contributions of $9,575 to Burns, $6,350 to Congressman Dennis Rehberg, $1,028 to Sen. Max Baucus and $230 to the Montana Republican Party were returned or donated to charity by each of the recipients when Davison’s securities fraud travails were revealed. Mike Gustafson also reported that as of early August, Davison was no longer associated with Wesco. To learn more about Davison and his own connections to the coal industry and Senator Burns, read “The Davison Debacle” in the Missoula Independent’s 8/31 edition by George Ochenski.