Far Left Great Falls Dem Takes Down Ignorant Tweet

ECB Staff on June 2, 2021

In our continuing series exposing local politicians who talk and behave one way during campaign season and a different way when they think the spotlight isn’t on them, we once again return to Democrat Barabara Bessette, a former Great Falls state Representative.

Bessette was an incumbent who lost to GOP newcomer Steven Galloway in Cascade County’s HD 24 in 2020, although she has indicated her intention to run again in 2022.

An alert reader sent us this screenshot of one her recent Tweets.

In what world is it appropriate to re-Tweet a sickening attack calling our Montana Superintendent of Public Schools a “racist piece of shit” for commemorating Memorial Day at a veterans cemetery?

And what kind of ignorance does it take for Bessette to actually accuse Superintendent Arntzen of wanting to change the name of the Battle of the Little Bighorn to Custer’s Last Stand when Arntzen very clearly refers to it as the “Little Bighorn Battlefield…” in her post?

We checked and Bessette has removed this tweet from her Twitter page. We can certainly understand why given the irresponsible, inaccurate and inappropriate content of Bessette’s kooky, far left screed and personal assault against Arntzen.

How does a phony like Bessette ever get elected to a legislative post from Great Falls? She apparently fooled a few voters back in 2018 when she was elected but we aren’t going to allow that to happen again.

We will continue to remind voters about the actual character and political kookery of the charlatans who think no one is paying attention.

Does Jasmine Taylor Get To Decide Whether Or Not You’re A Racist?

ECB Staff on April 14, 2021

Continuing our series on the revealing social media posts of local and state candidates/politicians, today we feature Democrat Jasmine Taylor.

Taylor lost to GOP incumbent Lola Galloway in Cascade County’s HD 22 in 2020. She also came in dead last out of a field of 6 candidates, losing in the 2019 Great Falls City Commission race.

Apparently, she is still running for the seat she failed to win last year because her Facebook profile is Jasmine Taylor for HD22.

Here are a couple of screenshots from that Facebook page which were sent to E-City Beat this week.

So, if you ‘argue’ with Jasmine Taylor about whether or not ALL lives matter, you’re a racist.

All law enforcement, which includes Great Falls law enforcement, is ‘entombed in racism and white supremacy’?

If you call for calm and peaceful protests rather than violence, arson and looting, well then you’re a racist. Jasmine Taylor says so.

And if you complain about property damage, like your life dreams as represented in the business or home you built, being burnt to the ground by ‘protesters’ then of course Jasmine Taylor declares you a racist.

No wonder Ms. Taylor lost so badly both times she ran for public office. No doubt she will lose again if this is how she rolls.

Failed Great Falls Dem Bessette Shows Nasty True Colors

ECB Staff on March 22, 2021

This is the second in our series of articles with screenshots from local and state public officials’ and political candidate social media pages.

Last time we featured the not-so-nice 2020 Montana gubernatorial candidate Mike Cooney.

Today we’re highlighting Democrat Barabara Bessette, a former Great Falls Representative incumbent who lost to GOP newcomer Steven Galloway in Cascade County’s HD 24 in 2020.

Here’s what Ms. Bessette thinks about the will of Montana voters in the 2020 election:

And here’s another example of Bessette’s lack of civility and grace in the wake of her own defeat and rejection by Great Falls voters last November in the GOP Montana election tsunami, arrogantly mocking and belittling a young man and pointing out his racial profile in this ugly display of sour grapes:

We noticed Bessette’s Twitter tag is @bessette4mt. For Montana? Really?

E-City Beat will continue to make sure as many voters as possible get to know the true colors of candidates, like Bessette, who portray themselves one way during campaign season and a different way when they think voters aren’t paying as much attention.

Post Election Cooney Not As Nice Or ‘Moderate’ As Pre Election Cooney

ECB Staff on March 5, 2021

Recently we have been getting emails from readers with screenshots from local and state public officials’ and political candidate social media pages.

And there are some very, very interesting examples which we will be highlighting in the coming weeks.

So let’s start with former Montana Lt. Governor and 2020 Democrat gubernatorial candidate Mike Cooney.

Many readers will recall the Cooney campaign ads portraying him as a really nice, good old Montana guy who, gosh darn it, just wanted to be a middle-of-the-road, common sense kind of governor.

Here’s an example dated October 5, 2020 from his CooneyforMT Twitter page, in a video lip-syncing to Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’, apparently hoping to get some air play by pitching Ocean Spray:

But since losing to Greg Gianforte by 12 points in the November election, a red tsunami, Cooney’s true colors are showing.

Here he is just a couple of days ago calling Senator Daines a Qanon nut and a ‘traitor’. By the way, Daines beat Cooney’s old boss Bullock for the Senate by 10 points.

Here’s another from his Mike Cooney (@LtGovMikeCooney) / Twitter page (does someone need to remind Mike that he is no longer Lt. Governor?) referring to Trump, who won Montana in a 16 point landslide, as a ‘criminal/delusional dictator wannabe’.

We could go on. On his various Twitter pages Cooney slams his former opponent, Gianforte. He lashes out at Representative Rosendale in viciousness and hatred repeatedly. His bitterness and bile is unleashed relentlessly against GOP state legislators, Trump voters, and pretty much anyone and everyone who is not one of his or Bullock’s sycophants.

Of course all of this is post election.

Because Mike Cooney is a phony and a very sore loser.

How appropriate and good for Montana that Cooney has been far more successful at exposing himself as a partisan hack and mean-spirited loser than he was at running for governor.

Mr. President, Concede The Election But Not The Fight

Rick Tryon on December 14, 2020

I suspect that those who are in favor of doing away with the Electoral College haven’t really thought it through.

Come on, man! If we abolish the Electoral College where will future generations of electricians go to learn how to fix our wiring?

All kidding aside, today state electors in all 50 states and the District of Columbia made the final determination of the 2020 election: Joe Biden is now officially the President-elect.

That doesn’t mean that everyone has to personally like, or even accept, the result.

We all know that there are still some folks who still haven’t accepted the fact that Donald Trump is currently the duly elected POTUS – and President Trump will continue to be President Trump until January 20, 2021.

It also doesn’t mean that there wasn’t election malfeasance and fraud. There was. No doubt.

What the decision by the Electoral College today means is that the Constitutional process for deciding who our nation’s President will be for the next four years (starting January 20, 2021) is now over.

President Trump should begin the transition period and he should do so with grace and respect for our system of governance, even though the ‘other side’ refused to do that when Trump was elected.

The President has an opportunity here to be an example of how to do it right, something the Democrats and the previous administration did not do and have not done.

He fought the good fight and exercised his rights to contest the election results. He lost.

Now it’s time for the President and his supporters to focus on the next chapter, which is going to be monumentally important for the future of our country, from outside the White House and the Office of President.

Trump should use his remaining days in office to do everything he can to continue helping our country move forward.

He should concede the election.

But he should never concede the battle to expose corruption and fight the forces that are trying to “fundamentally change America”. And neither should any of us.

Montana Voters Give GOP Strong Majority In Statehouse

ECB Staff on November 9, 2020

The red wave in Montana dealt a crushing blow to state Democrats.

In addition to sweeping all of the statewide offices from Governor to State Auditor, Republicans won a strong majority in both chambers of the Montana legislature.

In the House, Republicans picked up 9 seats, giving them a 67 to 33 majority there.

The GOP gained one seat in the Senate, growing their majority – 31 R’s, 19 D’s.

It’s hard to imagine a bleaker scenario for Montana Democrats, who didn’t pick up a single seat in the statehouse and lost every statewide race in the 2020 election.

It will be interesting to see if state Democratic Party leaders are able to develop a workable plan for rising from the ashes of this disaster and what changes in messaging or tactics for Dems that plan holds.

Montana Red Tsunami, Cascade County Red Wave

Rick Tryon on November 5, 2020

As of today, the U.S. presidential election is undecided with four states, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania, still counting ballots and their corresponding electoral votes still up for grabs.

One thing is certain though – the oft-predicted national blue wave sweeping Republicans from office didn’t happen.

There wasn’t even a blue splash. In fact the GOP appears certain to retain control of the U.S. Senate and they even picked up 5 seats in the House after many media prognosticators expected dozens of Republicans to be sent packing.

There was a wave in Montana however. In fact it was a tsunami at the statewide level. And it was all red.

Every Republican on the statewide ballot won. Every Democrat lost. Every single one.

  • Gianforte beat Cooney in the gubernatorial race by 12 percentage points.
  • Knudsen beat Graybill for AG by 16 points.
  • Downing beat Morigeau for Auditor by 16 points.
  • Bennett lost to Jacobsen for SOS by 20 points.
  • Romano lost to Arntzen by 12 points in the state School Superintendent race.

In addition, Rosendale won Montana’s lone House seat by beating Williams by 12 points and President Trump carried the state by 16 points.

Perhaps most surprising is the margin of Governor Bullock’s loss to Steve Daines in the Senate race – 10 points.

And the red wave also washed over Cascade County, which was once considered a Democrat stronghold.

Cascade County Republican candidates for the state legislature completely swept the field and defeated every Democrat on the ballot.

The red wave in Great Falls/Cascade County even carried away three incumbent Democrat legislators including Jasmine Krotkov, Barbara Bessette, and surprisingly even Brad Hamlett. All three lost to relatively unknown local political newcomers.

This GOP sweep in Great Falls is unprecedented in the last 40 years or so.

In my opinion it can be explained, at least in part, by the extreme liberal positions of three of the Democrat local candidates: Melissa Smith, Jasmine Taylor and Helena Lovick.

These three were very outspoken and very public about items in their collective agenda, items which included defunding local police, climate change extremism, and anti-Second Amendment positions.

You can read more about those positions here.

These ‘progressive’ positions and far-left policy ideas are well outside of the Great Falls/Cascade County political mainstream and I believe they hurt ALL of the local Democrat candidates by association.

Could that dynamic be extrapolated to the state and national election results as well? Maybe.

But I feel pretty certain that the very liberal and very public profiles of Smith, Taylor and Lovick pulled other local Democrats under with them as the red wave washed over this state and local election.

Pennsylvania AG Alleges Voter Suppression If Trump Wins

ECB Staff on November 2, 2020

Whether one supports President Trump or Joe Biden, almost everyone agrees that Pennsylvania will be the single most important battleground state in 2020.

As the polls have tightened in recent days, Pennsylvania’s attorney general, a partisan Democrat called Josh Shapiro, preemptively sought to undermine the legitimacy of his state’s own election.

According to Shapiro, Biden will win Pennsylvania — unless the Trump campaign somehow manages to suppress the vote.

It is beyond obnoxious that the media pound away at Trump for airing concerns about voter fraud, while they at the same time echo leftists like Shapiro, who — without evidence — shop their own conspiracies about voter suppression.