Great Falls, Montana News, Politics, & Commentary
At this point, most everyone knows: Canadian company Friesen Foods wants to bring the largest meat processing plant to Montana — just outside of Great Falls.
Are you in favor of this project or not?
Better yet, tell us why in the comments!
[poll id=”7″]
Holy sh*t.
What else can really be said about the stunning news of Republican Congressional candidate Greg Gianforte allegedly body-slamming a reporter, the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs, today in Bozeman? The audio, which you can listen to here, doesn’t sound good for Gianforte.
After an hour or so, Gianforte’s press secretary, Shane Scanlon, offered the following statement:
“Tonight, as Greg was giving a separate interview in a private office, The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs entered the office without permission, aggressively shoved a recorder in Greg’s face, and began asking badgering questions,” Scanlon said. “Jacobs was asked to leave. After asking Jacobs to lower the recorder, Jacobs declined. Greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face. Jacobs grabbed Greg’s wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground. It’s unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer BBQ.”
According to a Fox News team, though, the Gianforte statement is hogwash, and the Republican nominee actually choke-slammed and then punched Jacobs:
At that point, Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him. Faith, Keith and I watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the reporter. As Gianforte moved on top of Jacobs, he began yelling something to the effect of, “I’m sick and tired of this!”
The report continues:
To be clear, at no point did any of us who witnessed this assault see Jacobs show any form of physical aggression toward Gianforte, who left the area after giving statements to local sheriff’s deputies.
You can read the whole thing here.
Again, this first-hand report is not from Buzzfeed, the New York Times, or the HuffPo — it’s from Fox News.
While this likely happened too late to change the election’s outcome, it will be ironic if the outcome does change — after the state GOP blocked a mail-only ballot that would have all but ensured no impact for exactly this type of situation.
Unbelievable.
(The featured image is attributable to Rowebotz under the Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.)
On April 20, the filing period opened for Great Falls Mayoral and City Commission candidates. Despite an otherwise quiet municipal electoral landscape, we were recently alerted to the online presence of one Commission candidate, Tyson Habein. You can follow his campaign on Facebook here.
While he doesn’t seem to possess particularly high name ID, Habein’s could make for an interesting candidacy. He’s young, and has worked as Regional Field Organizer for the Montana Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. If Habein proves himself to be a savvy campaigner who is willing to work hard — by utilizing Democratic lists and data to send up a friendly flag to voting liberals — he could be competitive.
Though City elections are officially non-partisan, the left-leaning triumvirate of Bob Kelly, Bill Bronson, and Tracy Houck swept the 2015 contests.
Mayor Kelly, Commissioner Bob Jones, and Commissioner Fred Burow are all up for re-election this year.
The last day to file for office is June 19. For the requirements to seek and hold public office, read the City’s election brochure.
Two weeks from today, Montana voters will choose a new Congressional representative.
From the looks of things here in River City, our local school district — that’s right, Great Falls Public Schools — is putting its fingers on the scale for Democrat Rob Quist.
In clear violations of the law, someone has placed Quist’s campaign signs on properties owned by GFPS. There is a flock of them at Paris Gibson Square, the partially taxpayer-funded non-profit which leases its space from the District. Quist is holding a campaign event there this evening:
There is also Quist paraphernalia on a property GFPS purchased last year to get into the rental business:
On this point, Montana law is unambiguous:
“18.6.246 POLITICAL SIGNS
(1) Signs promoting political candidates or issues shall be placed on private property only [emphasis added] and cannot be placed without the permission of the property owner. Political signs must comply with sign standards found in 75-15-113, MCA, and ARM 18.6.231, unless otherwise specified in this rule.
(2) Political signs must not:
(a) be placed on or allow any portion to intrude in the public right-of-way or on public property [emphasis added]; and…”
Our tax dollars at work!
As more details emerge about conflicts of interest surrounding the City and CDBG funds, the more it has become increasingly clear that staff, and City Attorney Sara Sexe in particular, have done an admirable job of sorting out a messy situation. As Gregg Smith noted, Paris Gibson Square, as an organization, has every right to raise questions about an alleged conflict on the CDC in that way that it did (via Executive Director Tracy Houck, and on PGS letterhead). Meanwhile, it is also clear that Houck, both through City emails and at the March 20 work session meeting, and in her capacity as a City Commissioner, participated in discussions concerning CDBG funding.
City Attorney Sexe even-handedly addressed both of these issues when she hand delivered a letter to Houck on March 20.
One commenter on the E-City Beat Facebook page took a personal swipe at Sexe (while also praising City Commissioner Fred Burow). Such attacks are unfair. Sexe acted thoughtfully, fairly, and in the best interests of the City. The efforts of Sexe and Burow were not leveled in opposition to the other. Both Sexe and Burow proactively addressed conflicts of interest; they both deserve praise.
Moreover, the totality of a recent records request (thanks, Ron Gessaman) reveals dozens of emails zipping back and forth between staffers in the Planning and Community Development department — all working considerable hours to meticulously and dispassionately administer CDBG monies. P&CD Director Craig Raymond and the City’s CDBG Coordinator, Maria Porter, are honest, hard-working professionals who are simply trying their best to comply with the substantial CDBG guidelines enumerated by HUD, not pick and choose winners and losers.
It is easy for the public to be frustrated by this process, but no one should find fault with City staff. They’re the ones ensuring that everyone plays by the rules.
Montana’s special election to replace Ryan Zinke has made national headlines, including this amusing piece from Breitbart yesterday.
Enjoy the juxtaposition; on one hand, the analytical, nuts-and-bolts Greg Gianforte, and on the other, well, Rob Quist:
The Republican nominee answered a question about climate change and the Clean Power Plan saying, “Everyone believes that the climate is changing.” However, he added, “Using EPA’s data calculated by the Cato Institute; they said if we shut down every coal-fired plant in North America our environment would be two-hundredths of a degree cooler a hundred years from now…for that we are willing to give up 7,000 jobs in Montana and $1.5 billion in annual revenue? That’s not a smart business decision.”
Quist responded to Gianforte. Rather than refuting the Republican nominee’s argument, he encouraged climate skeptics to consider ending their lives. He said, “To me this a cumulative thing, you cannot just say closing one plant or not is going to make a difference. This is something that the entire world needs to address and you know what, if any of you that feel like this is not a problem, I challenge you to go into your car in your garage, start your car and see what happens there.”
Say what you will about Gianforte (and we have), but the idea of Quist making laws for our nation does not exactly inspire confidence.
Mercifully, there is only twenty-three more days until Election Day.
We know you haven’t heard from us in some time. Some of you wondered (hoped?) if we were simply going to go away. The truth is, we have been in transition. Effective today, founding Editor Kelly Parks has resigned, and Phil Faccenda will be taking her place.
“Kelly deserves tremendous credit for getting this project off the ground, and it’s important to keep up the momentum now. With so many issues here in Great Falls and with City elections upon us, this is an exciting time for local news,” Faccenda said.
Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.
On a Facebook post sharing Phil Faccenda’s excellent piece from yesterday, Angry Reader Dennis Granlie really let us have it.
He writes, “You really need to change the name of this blog to “Sore Losers’ Page.” You simply must accept that Rick lost the election and stop trying to litigate it time and time again! When you’re in a hole, the smart thing to do is quit digging.”
As further — actually, any — research on Granlie’s part would indicate, Faccenda’s column did not “litigate” the Rick Tryon/Tracy Houck/campaign finance fiasco or Tryon’s election loss. In fact, we have not written a single word about it in any of our other posts, nor will we. Granlie’s right; Houck won, Tryon lost, and that’s that.
But because Granlie’s post was so mean-spirited (not to mention inaccurate), we will indulge him this: for the next day, E-City Beat will be renamed, “Sore Losers’ Page.”
Maybe Granlie will be a little less angry.
Great Falls City Commissioner Tracy Houck, a partisan Democrat from Pennyslvania, wrote an amusing letter-to-the-editor, slamming Republican Greg Gianforte for allegedly not representing “Montanan” values.
Supporting Rob Quist, Houck writes in today’s Tribune:
We have seen him understand our values, our needs and our experiences and turn them into song.
While one’s ability to fashion values into song is undoubtedly an important qualification for any member of Congress, we — along with the nearly dozen readers who emailed us about this — couldn’t help but chuckle at Houck’s rampant nativism:
Support Montanan values, support a Montanan [emphasis added], support Rob Quist.
Like Gianforte, Houck (a Pennsylvanian) is from the East Coast. Mayor Bob Kelly is also an out-of-stater. City Commissioner Bill Bronson is from Havre. All of the above, however, have lived in Montana (and in the case of the latter three, Great Falls) for decades. Why should one’s birthplace matter? Are politicians like Houck, Kelly, and Bronson any less qualified to serve the public because, despite moving and settling here, they weren’t born here?
We thought a recent letter in the Tribune from Robert Reynolds, seen below, demonstrated a measured, more thoughtful line of opposition to Gianforte.
Stop “othering” Gianforte
Fellow Democrats,
Stop attacking Republican Congressional candidate Greg Gianforte for being from New Jersey. Our party advocates for a broad definition of “us” and a more welcoming, less insular Montana and America. “Othering” Mr. Gianforte is hypocritical.
Based on his policy positions, I believe electing Mr. Gianforte would be a substantial step backwards for our home. However, he is as much a Montanan as you and me.
—Robert Reynolds
Miles City
Please stop “othering” Mr. Gianforte for not being from Montana, Commissioner Houck. It’s not just illiberal and intolerant; it’s hypocritical.
Say what you will about the School Trustees, but a majority of them seem to be very tuned in to public sentiment.
Last night, the School Board rejected a $1.2 million elementary levy by a 4-2 vote, with only Bob Moretti and big government liberal Don Ryan dissenting. Ryan is currently up for re-election.
As the tide seemed to turn against a $1 million technology levy, Cyndi Baker (you read that right) urged the Board to still float a tech levy, but to halve the amount. That’s exactly what happened, and the motion passed unanimously.
From KRTV:
Baker said, ‘I think a million dollar ask was going to be a lot, but I think half a million people could relate to. I think people understand the need for technology, and feel lost without it, so we need to have our students prepared properly and we need to give them the tools.’
It’s heartening to see Baker and the trustees work together on a comprise, one that invests in our kids’ future while at the same time respects taxpayers. This technology levy would “increase the taxation on a $150,000 home in Great Falls by $13.97 a year – or about $1.16 a month,” according to the Tribune.
This levy is an easy one to support.
Hats off to Baker and the School Board!
