Sandy Welch of Whitefish has filed a complaint with the state Commissioner of Political Practices against Scott Davis alleging that the Quiet Skies group violated state laws.

Quiet Skies is a citizens group led by Davis that opposed the proposed expansion of the Kalispell City Airport and has asked the city to consider closing or relocating the airport. That group and a political action committee called Repeal Kalispell City Airport Expansion were successful in persuading city voters to reject the airport expansion in the Nov. 5 election.

Welch, a small business consultant and former educator who narrowly lost her bid last year for state Superintendent of Public Instruction, was active with Save the Kalispell City Airport, a political action committee that supported the airport upgrade.

The complaint outlines four separate alleged violations by Quiet Skies.

First, Quiet skies has not filed as a ballot committee, even though there were expenditures for yard signs, Welch said. She quoted the commissioner’s accounting and reporting manual for political committees, which states “a ballot issue committee must certify the name of its treasurer and properly file a statement of organization within five days after it makes an expenditure.”

Welch further alleges the yard sign disclaimer, which stated “Paid for by Quiet Skies members of Kalispell,” didn’t meet state rules that require including the name of the committee treasurer and mailing address of either the committee or its treasurer.

The complaint also alleges the treasurer of Quiet Skies has not been certified and the yard signs weren’t paid for in accordance with state law.

Davis said he checked with the Commissioner of Political Practices office more than a year ago and again two months ago to make sure he was following the rules and was told both times he was not violating any state laws.

“The only statement I have is she should have done her homework before she filed such an erroneous complaint,” Davis said. “It’s sad they have to do this. It’s called being poor losers.”

Davis said he will file a response to the complaint.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.