Schweitzer trashed Army report on Walsh probe

Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) said he dismissed an Army independent investigator’s report on then-Adjudant General John Walsh, now the state’s lieutenant governor and Democratic Senate candidate.

“I treated it with the respect it deserved,” Schweitzer told the Helena Independent Record. “I put it in the round file.”

{mosads}The Army’s inspector general concluded in 2010 that Walsh had improperly used his position for personal gain by pressuring some Montana National Guard troops into joining the National Guard Association of the United States, a private organization that advocates for more equipment for the National Guard which Walsh was a board member of.

Schweitzer, who appointed Walsh as Montana’s adjudant general and director of military affairs, derides the report as “much ado about nothing” and “a completely partisan end run in the National Guard attempting to embarrass [Walsh].”

The report surfaced late last week and could be problematic for Walsh in his campaign to replace Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.). Baucus is retiring and has been nominated by President Obama to be the next ambassador to China.

But Schweitzer doesn’t see any value in the report.

“I might have said I don’t give a damn what the Department of Defense thinks. It would certainly not be the only (federal) agency that I had a run-in with,” he said.

Schweitzer hasn’t endorsed anyone in the Democratic primary to succeed Baucus — his own former lieutenant governor is Walsh’s opponent. Republicans have coalesced around Rep. Steve Daines (R-Mont.).