Public Service Commissioner Brad Molnar filed the complaint, dated Wednesday, with the Commissioner of Political Practices, which monitors and enforces ethical standards for public officers.
In the complaint, Molnar, recently ousted as president, asks the Commissioner of Political Practices to estimate the money Bukacek owes ratepayers for her alleged abuse of state resources and levy penalties accordingly. Bukacek is a licensed physician based in Kalispell, according to the Montana Board of Medical Examiners. She is on the Logan Health Medical Center receptionist directory.
In the complaint, Molnar said he has observed Bukacek “dragging a valise or an even larger suitcase” into the PSC office building after returning from her home in Kalispell.
At the office, Molnar said he often couldn’t use the copier because Bukacek was using it “for long periods of time.” One night, looking for a document he thought he might have thrown out, Molnar discovered “the first tranche of evidence” under fax cover sheets, the complaint said.
In a phone call, Molnar said the cover sheets largely show correspondence to Logan Health from other medical offices, such as Walmart Pharmacy or the Deer Lodge Medical Center.
“It became obvious the suitcases contained her business documents so she could perform her business functions while at the PSC offices,” the complaint said.
Until last week, Molnar served as president of the Public Service Commission. The PSC regulates public utilities and has five commissioners elected by district.
Molnar was ousted as president after his colleagues alleged he repeatedly interfered with an internal investigation into professional misconduct, and the PSC needed a reset.
Molnar himself announced the investigation in July and has admitted only to being unpolished. Molnar said he was still president when he first discovered the medical printouts sometime the first week of April.
“I’ve got hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of these,” Molnar said.
He said he didn’t want bad publicity under his watch, and Bukacek had refused to talk with him, so he asked Commissioner Jennifer Fielder, vice president, to talk with her.
But he said Bukacek continued the practice.
In a phone call, Fielder said she recalls Molnar pointing out “a stack of trash” to her, but she believed Bukacek had been cleaning out her office.
Fielder said she doesn’t recall asking Bukacek directly about whether she was using state equipment for personal business, but she has in general offered that guidance to all her colleagues.
Fielder also said Molnar himself was free to talk with Bukacek himself or send her an email.
In state law, rules of conduct for officers state that they may not “use public time, facilities, equipment, state letterhead, supplies, personnel, or funds for the officer’s or employee’s private business purposes.”
Molnar himself was found to have violated that ethics law multiple times by using public facilities and equipment in his first stretch as a member of the Public Service Commissioner, according to a 2010 decision by the Commissioner of Political Practices.
In the current complaint, Molnar said Bukacek “dragging her bags of business documents has diminished” since the legislative session adjourned.
However, Bukacek still “uses the copy rooms exponentially far more often than I,” even though as president, Molnar said he needed more copies than most commissioners on most days, the complaint said.
“Apparently, she’s short on toner where she works,” Molnar said.
Molnar said “it’s not like I’m a dumpster diver,” but the bins can be overflowing with cover sheets, and he has collected a stack of them that’s as thick as a ream of paper.
Just a couple of days ago, Molnar said he went to throw away some bad copies, but the waste basket was overflowing, and he realized it had more medical facility cover sheets.
He said he believes Bukacek is copying the records, tossing out the cover sheets, and keeping many more pages of documents that are printed with them — on state equipment and taxpayer time, he said.
“You can hear the printing machines whirring for a frickin’ hour in there,” Molnar said....
He said he believes some of the documents include private patient information, potentially in violation of HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, because some cover sheets state, “Confidential,” and some include prescription information or reference EKGs, for example.
In response to a voicemail requesting comment, Bukacek sent a text message directing the Daily Montanan to the PSC executive director.
Bukacek did not answer a follow-up text message asking if she used equipment in the PSC office for private medical business.
Fielder, however, said she believes Molnar is disgruntled with his ouster, and the allegations against Bukacek are motivated by his dissatisfaction....