In his private life, Smilie has been a motorcycle enthusiast and active in the leading national motorcycle organization.
It was reported Wednesday that Smilie has been the subject of an investigation by the American Motorcyclist Association for allegedly inflating travel reimbursement claims. He was a member of the association’s board for 25 years, including serving as board chairman, before resigning in November.
The decision to retire was Smilie’s own, said Sheryl Olson, deputy director of the Department of Administration.
“There was no action on our part,” she said. “He decided it was the right time to go ahead and retire.”
Smilie said he has 31 years of credit in the state retirement system and had been talking with his boss about retiring for the past two months.
“I guess with that story out there, I didn’t figure I could carry out my work effectively,” he said.
Olson said Smilie will use up remaining leave time until March 31. It will begin advertising for his replacement, Olson said.
Last weekend, the American Motorcyclist Association issued a news release over what it called Smilie’s “unsubstantiated expense reimbursements.” The association had hired an independent accounting firm to review the travel records and voted Feb. 16 to turn over the firm’s report to “appropriate law enforcement authorities.”
Cycle News, an independent publication covering the motorcycle industry placed the disputed amount of Smilie’s travel expenses at “well into six figures.”
Earlier this week, Smilie expressed surprise at the announcement by the association.
“I’ve been a volunteer for that organization for a long time,” he said. “We had a dispute over what travel was authorized. We had an ongoing discussion. I thought it was well on its way to being worked out amicably late last week.”
Olson said earlier this week that Department of Administration officials were “astonished” by the allegations.
The department has undertaken its own review of Smilie’s state travel expense reimbursements going back five years, Olson said. She said the department had found no discrepancies in the first two years it had reviewed as of Friday.
Smilie, a member of the national Motorcycle Hall of Fame, in his private time has been a leader in successfully fighting legislative attempts to require motorcycle drivers and passengers to wear helmets. Montana has never passed such a law.
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