Unpacking criticism of Sheehy's blind trust pledge

MISSOULA, Mont. — With Montana Senate candidate Tim Sheehy out as CEO of his company, Bridger Aerospace, the Montana Democratic Party is highlighting the fact that Sheehy has not committed to divesting from his company.

Sheehy, the Republican candidate, released an ethics pledge last fall in which he committed to putting financial assets into a blind trust, if elected. Montana Democrats argue this is not far enough and not divesting would create “conflicts of interest.”

For some clarity on the matter NBC Montana spoke with Stephen Nelson, an associate professor of political science at Northwestern University.

“The strongest thing you could do is to divest, right,” Nelson said. “Divest holdings of assets that might be connected to a policy position that you could have some influence over.”

With a blind trust, there is a period of time when the officeholder would know what's in there, Nelson explained. However, he also acknowledged that from a candidate’s perspective, divesting could be financially risky.

Sheehy has nearly 10.4 million shares of Bridger Aerospace stock, according to an April SEC filing. These shares are worth more than $32 million dollars as of midday Tuesday.

Bridger Aerospace does benefit from federal contracts. The company has two aircraft under a 5-year contract with the federal government, specifically the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs, according to a February press release.

This includes two contracts up to $24 million each in addition to a contract up to $20 million relating to surveillance and intelligence operations.

Sheehy selling off all of his shares in Bridger would drive the price down and cause him to take a serious economic hit, Nelson said.

“I can see the argument for ‘Look, that perhaps stronger signal that I want to create this firewall . . . you’re holding me to kind of an unreasonable standard, so this is the next best option,’” he told NBC Montana.

In terms of optics -- the blind trust provides Sheehy some financial ambiguity, Nelson said. Whereas, for Sheehy’s Democratic opponents, there is a political incentive to have Bridger’s former CEO sell off his assets and have an exact figure of how rich Sheehy is.

NBC Montana reached out to Sheehy's campaign about the calls to divest. The campaign was also asked to explain the decision for a blind trust instead of divestment.

A Sheehy campaign spokesperson provided the following statement:

“Tim is proud of the Montana success story he created alongside Montana veterans at Bridger Aerospace, who fight wildfires, protect our public lands, and lead with service, sacrifice, and accountability at the center of their mission. As a former Navy SEAL and successful businessman, Tim Sheehy cannot be bought and signed an ethics pledge last year to eliminate any conflict of interests and raise the bar for ethical responsibility in D.C. While Tim will honor his ethics pledge because he keeps his word, the liberal media glosses over the fact that the #1 recipient of lobbyist cash—Jon Tester—has gotten six times richer in office and repeatedly broken his ethics pledge promises to get rich as a career politician back in D.C.”