HELENA — Republican U.S. House candidate Ryan Zinke of Whitefish said Tuesday that he learned a lesson after being cited for lapses of judgment in a Navy evaluation.

“I learned a valuable lesson that I still hold today that you are always accountable for your actions,” Zinke wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

The 1999 report released by the former Navy SEAL’s campaign Monday a Zinke declining marks in two areas related to travel expenses. Zinke greatly exceeded performance standards in four other areas.

Zinke said the travel disputes occurred because his commanding officer disagreed with his belief that Montana should be used for SEAL training.

“I conducted site surveys to Washington and Montana,” he said of trips taken in the 1990s. “My commander disagreed with my assessment, which was his right.”

Zinke said one of the two travel discrepancies shown in the report involved reimbursement of a $211 plane ticket to Montana that he paid back. The other dispute involved Zinke traveling from training in Washington state to his Whitefish home, and it didn’t require reimbursement, Zinke campaign spokeswoman Shelby DeMars said.

The two issues arose from a related seven-year audit of his travel expenses, Zinke said.

Zinke’s evaluator also wrote in the 1999 report that he was confident Zinke now understood his responsibility in setting an example and called him “dynamic, decisive, and intelligent.”

Retired Navy SEAL Capt. Larry Bailey has questioned Zinke’s character over the travel disputes. Bailey, who was the commanding officer of the Naval Special Warfare Center where Zinke trained, said that although Zinke had a fine career, this report killed any chance for promotion to the highest ranks of captain or admiral.

“That moral lapse killed his career,” Bailey said. “He would have been an admiral without that without any question in my mind.”

Zinke’s military reports from the years before and after 1999 show him exceeding performance standards in nearly all areas. Evaluators said he was a must for early promotion, even in the 1999 report, and said he was “widely acclaimed as a top-notch leader.”

Zinke left SEAL Team 6 after 1999 and was eventually promoted to the rank of commander, documents show.

Democrat John Lewis, Zinke’s opponent, has largely stayed mum about Zinke’s military records. Lewis said last week that while he believes in transparency, whether Zinke releases his full military records is a decision that should be left to him.

Montana Democrats, however, have been calling for Zinke to release all his military records since this summer, especially the 1999 report.

Zinke, who served 23 years in the Navy, requested copies of his full military record Sept. 1 and received full copies of all his performance evaluations on Monday. Zinke’s campaign is expecting to receive and release the remainder of the records midweek, according to campaign staff.

Lewis campaign spokeswoman Kathy Weber said Tuesday that Zinke has shown a lapse of judgment throughout the campaign.

“Whether it’s hiding the ball about his past or flip-flopping on important issues, Zinke’s character absolutely should be called into question,” Weber said. “He’s not shooting straight with Montanans.”

Zinke, a former state senator, faces Lewis, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, and Libertarian Mike Fellows in the Nov. 4 election for Montana’s lone House seat.