HELENA — Emotions ran high Thursday afternoon on the Montana Senate floor, as members approved a motion that would delay the Senate Ethics Committee’s investigation into a former Senate president.

By a 27-22 vote, senators approved a request by Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, to refer the allegations against Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, to the Montana Department of Justice. The motion also suspended for now the Ethics Committee’s investigation, which had been set to begin hearings as soon as next week.

Ellsworth has been accused of not following the proper procedure when approving a $170,000 state contract late last year, and a Legislative Audit Division report said his handling of the contract had demonstrated “abuse and waste.” Ellsworth and his attorney have pushed back against those findings.

Flowers’ motion was supported by all 18 Senate Democrats and by the nine Republicans – including Ellsworth – who have broken with their party leadership on several rules votes since the start of the session. It came after Senate GOP leaders announced they would hold a vote Friday on whether to remove Ellsworth from the Senate Finance and Claims Committee.

Flowers said the ethics process within the Senate had become too politicized and that, since the accusations against Ellsworth have included potential criminal conduct, it was proper for a prosecutor to look into them.

Republicans who opposed the motion said this was not the proper role for the Department of Justice. After the vote, a number of them delivered speeches, saying they were angry and embarrassed by a decision they argued would sweep ethics concerns under the rug.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice told MTN Thursday that they will review the referral from the Senate when they receive it, to see if there are possible steps for DOJ to take, but that it’s too soon to comment further now.