When sniffing out corruption, is it safe to assume that where there’s smoke, there’s fire?

The decision this past June by the Montana Department of Commerce’s Office of Tourism to award a $7 million annual tourism-marketing contract to a Wisconsin-based company is cause for great concern for local governments across the state. Tax revenue generated from Montana’s tourism industry funds much needed services at all levels of government, and inadequate marketing of our state could jeopardize valuable public resources.

But what’s more concerning than the decision to outsource the state’s tourism-marketing efforts is the strong stench of a corrupt selection process — and I want answers.

I recently sent a letter to Gov. Steve Bullock asking for an explanation for his administration’s questionable decision to hire an out-of-state marketing firm to convince tourists to “Choose Montana.” In the letter, I highlighted the suspicious nature surrounding the selection process used to award the contract to a company from Wisconsin. My primary concerns include the following:

• The head of the state tourism office has a cousin who works for the firm that received the contract. This is a clear conflict of interest, and the state employee should have recused herself from the contract selection committee, which she did not.

• The agency itself admitted that the firm that won the contract had little to no experience in destination and tourism marketing.

• The agency unexpectedly changed the deadline for proposal submissions just hours before it was set to close. This action undoubtedly affected the outcome of the bidding process, and may have provided the Wisconsin firm an unfair advantage over Montana firms bidding for the same contract.

• Montana firms vying for the contract submitted highly competitive proposals, at lower cost to taxpayers, and the Wisconsin firm was still awarded the contract.

Tourism is one of the leading industries in Montana, generating approximately $3.6 billion in economic activity statewide in 2015 alone. The tax revenue generated by our state’s tourism industry is essential to communities across Montana, with such revenue being particularly important to a tourism-heavy area like Flathead County.

To ensure that we maximize our state’s tourism potential, Montana’s tourism office must employ a marketing firm that has an adequate understanding of our state, and we believe such a task is best left up to a Montana-based company. But while the choice to hire an out-of-state firm to market Montana concerns us, what’s most disturbing about the Department of Commerce’s recent decision is the undeniable sense of a crooked selection process.

Maintaining the integrity of Montana’s solicitations for tax-funded contracts is essential to avoiding corruption within state government. In this situation, I can’t help but hold the opinion that the Department of Commerce, and through it the Governor’s Office, have fallen far short of that vital standard.

I remain hopeful that Gov. Bullock can ensure the people of Montana that corruption does not exist within his administration, and I have provided him an opportunity to do so by responding to my inquiry. But for now, the facts of the situation speak for themselves, and I have no choice but to assume the worst.

Mitchell, a Whitefish Republican, is a Flathead County commissioner.