#MTGov Daily Rundown: Bullock's Trio of Lies, Part 3: Steve Bullock Hides His True Record on Equal Pay

Governor Steve Bullock currently has three ads on the air. Each one makes its own variety of false claims. Part 3 dissects Bullock's ad on equal pay.

CLAIM: "But it’s 2016, and women are still paid less than men for the same job… So my dad Steve Bullock is working to fix it."

• FACT: Montana Ranks 46^th in Gender Pay Gap Nationwide Under Steve Bullock
• 2015: Overall, women in Montana earn just 67.5 percent of what men earn, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. For full-time workers, women in the state earn 75 percent of what men earn, compared with 78 percent nationwide. That’s a larger pay gap than all but five states in the country (Billings Gazette, 8/24/15).

CLAIM: "…Because he knows equal opportunity should always come with equal pay"

• FACT: As Attorney General, Steve Bullock Paid Women 72% what Men were paid
• While Bullock touts the work of the Equal Pay Task Force, a Media Trackers study of 2012 employee salary data from the Montana Department of Justice (MDOJ) — which Bullock headed as Attorney General from 2009 until 2013 — maintained a substantial pay gap between men and women in Bullock’s final year of leadership (Media Trackers, 12/12/13)
• According to the data, MDOJ had 790 employees in 2012. Just over 44  percent were women.Female employees made on average about $18/hr, while male employees made on average about $25/hr, meaning that women who worked for Bullock earned a mere 72 percent of the earnings of their male colleagues in 2012.
• Even though women comprised only 44 percent of MDOJ employees in 2012, the data showed that over 70 percent of the department’s 300 lowest-paid employees were women. Of the 100 highest-paid employees at MDOJ, Media Trackers found that fewer than 30 were women.