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Montana Department of Commerce Director Tony Preite Announces His Retirement

Governor Brian Schweitzer today announced that Director Tony Preite has retired at 72 after serving more than 5 years as Director.

“I want to thank Tony Preite for his service and commitment to the state and the people of Montana,” said Governor Schweitzer. “I wish him well in his retirement.”

“It has been a great honor for me to serve as Director of the Department of Commerce http://commerce.mt.gov/ for the past five years,’ said Tony Preite. “The staff are some of the most talented and dedicated folks in state government. At age 72, it was time for me to hang up my hat.”

His retirement is effective August 1st.

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Montana’s commerce director retires at 72, after serving more than 5 years

His department was at the flashpoint of a controversy in March when longtime official David Cole accused the Schweitzer administration of forcing him to quit March 5 because he had responded to a Republican senator’s inquiry about $3.5 million in local government grants that were being stalled.

Cole, administrator of Commerce’s Community Development Division, had been planning to retire as of March 31, but said he was ordered to pen a hasty handwritten letter and quit March 5 to end a 37-year state government career. Cole said Preite and Marty Tuttle, the agency’s chief lawyer, told him they “had direction from the governor’s office that I was to tender my resignation immediately.”

Schweitzer denied engineering Cole’s ouster. Preite also disputed Cole’s version, saying Cole came in that day with a resignation letter, saying he decided to retire immediately. In response to a question by Lee Newspapers about what kind of an employee Cole was, Preite said, “David Cole was a good employee.”

Preite has had a long career in economic development at the federal, state and local levels.

By CHARLES S. JOHNSON IR State Bureau

Full Story: http://helenair.com/news/article_728d8964-85a1-11df-aca0-001cc4c002e0.html

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