Rob Quist’s 16-year legacy of financial troubles
The Billings Gazette released a shocking account of Democratic candidate Rob Quist’s 16-year history of financial woes – from three tax liens to failing to respond to court summons to being sued for fraud and deceit. Furthermore, a contractor who did work on Quist’s property and failed to receive payment on time describes Quist as having a “sense of arrogance” and wanting “special treatment” because he was a musician.
Quist’s history of seeming to only pay his bills when legal action is taken reveals a pattern of fiscal irresponsibility that can’t be ignored. The last thing Montanans want is a member of Congress who can’t get his finances in order and believes he deserves special treatment.
Excerpts are below and you can read the full article here.
Quist has 16-year debt trail, records show
The Billings Gazette
By Tom Lutey
http://billingsgazette.com/news/government-and-politics/quist-has–year-debt-trail-records-show/article_a660f016-9229-5e3c-9114-f831a0ba012f.html
Rob Quist, Montana’s Democratic candidate for U.S. House, has a 16-year legacy of financial troubles that go beyond the property tax liens reported earlier this week by the Associated Press.
Flathead County court and property records indicate the popular musician turned politician has been turned over to collections, sued by a bank after not repaying a loan and accused of fraud and deceit by a former member of Mission Mountain Wood Band, the group that vaulted Quist to Montana stardom in the 1970s.
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The oldest case involves Kraig Trippel, a Kalispell excavator who did $5,960 worth of work for Rob and Bonni Quist in the spring of 2001, but had to file a lien for payment after most of the bill went unpaid.
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Trippel’s impression of Quist was that the musician was in good health and working in 2001. The contractor told The Billings Gazette Friday the Quists hired him to excavate and landscape an area for a stage and dance floor behind their barn and that work had to be done quickly because the space was going to be put to use.
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Trippel expected to be paid promptly. He said the Quists seemed to want special treatment.
“Both of them, they definitely had a sense of arrogance about them, because he was doing concerts and he was a singer and yada, yada, yada,” Trippel said. “And I don’t care. He’s just another dude to me.”
Two months after the work and Trippel’s attempts to collect, the Quists wrote him a check for $1,000. As September came to an end, the contractor filed a lien, which stayed on the property until January 2002.
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In 2007, the Quists didn’t pay their property taxes. The Montana Department of Revenue filed a lien against the Quists in 2015 for $8,189.38 for unpaid taxes and fees related to the 2007 delinquency. Court records show that In May 2016, the debt was paid off.
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In 2011, Flathead County Justice Court ordered the Quists to pay $1,380.17 to Collection Bureau Services Inc., a debt collector in Missoula. The Quists were summoned to court, but didn’t respond, according to the lawsuit’s case history. Collection Bureau Services declined to discuss the debt when contacted by The Gazette last week. The debt was paid in September 2011, roughly 10 months after the lawsuit was filed.
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The Quists’ 2011 property taxes weren’t paid in full. The Montana Department of Revenue filed a lien for 2011 taxes and fees totaling $2,911.13 in 2015. The Quists paid the debt in May 2016.
In 2012, the Quists had problems paying their property taxes again. The Montana Department of Revenue filed a lien for 2012 taxes and fees totaling $4,624.19. The debt was satisfied by May 2016.
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In 2013, the Quists were sued by Mission Mountain Wood Band bassist Steve Riddle. In the lawsuit, Riddle accused the Quists and unnamed others of using a legally dissolved corporation to produce the Mission Mountain Wood Band “Private Stash” box set collection. It was 2012, The company used to produce the box set, Wood Band Music LLC, had been dissolved in 2007 with the understanding that it was never to produce further product.
Riddle, in the lawsuit, said he learned of the “Private Stash” box set two years after its production from Mission Mountain Wood Band’s mastering engineer, Jeff Ader. Riddle had received no royalties. After failing to collect, he sued Quist for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, deceit and fraud.