A reminder of Republican Senator Jeremy Trebas’ dirty dealings in a commercial building in Great Falls.
Jeremy Buys a Building
In May of last year, Jeremy put up a Facebook post announcing that he bought the old Church of Christ Scientists at 1300 1st Ave N. in Great Falls through a shell company, Rearview Mirror LLC. The building was purchased at a significant discount, because an automatic sprinkler system had to be installed to bring the building up to code.
Jeremy Scams on Property Taxes
The building has been classified by the Montana Department of Revenue as “exempt” because it had been a church. Jeremy rented the building to The Break Forth Bible Church, likely thinking this would preserve the property tax exemption. Problem is it doesn’t. The exemption requires that the building be owned by a church. He paid just $267 in property taxes for the first half of 2022. This for a 9,000 foot commercial building close to downtown. The property is still misclassified by the Department of Revenue. (Don’t worry folks, we’ll contact them).
Jeremy Goes to Helena (Can You Say Self-Dealing?)
Jeremy introduced Senate Bill 195 in the Senate. The bill exempted his building from being required to have an automatic sprinkler system. The bill was opposed by Fire Marshalls across the state and was heavily amended, removing all of Trebas’ language exempting his own building.
Jeremy Puts the Building Up for Sale. . . at an Inflated Price
Now, Jeremy has put the building up for sale on Craig’s List. Sale price? $475,000!
So let’s break that number down a little. The appraised value of the building is $359,505. Keep in mind that appraisals generally assume that the building complies with building codes and other legal requirements. In other words, they do not discount for needed repairs. But the market does and WTF406 is confident that Trebas purchased the building below the appraised value. Now, after failing to change the law to benefit himself, Trebas has a financial albatross hanging around his neck. Will he find tenants for the building? Will he find someone to purchase the building at his inflated price? We think the answer will be “no” on both counts. Too bad for Jeremy.
To read about the whole story follow these links to our previous articles.
This just in . . .Casey Schreiner announces bid for Mayor. Also announced at this point are Jesse Slaughter’s former Undersheriff Cory Reeves and former Republican Legislator and current City Councilman, Joe McKenney Both are running from the right. Don’t we have enough of that in Cascade County?
Merchant’s Election Plan Meeting shows insurmountable Incompetence.
Yesterday over 200 citizens attended a special meeting of the Cascade County Commission to hear Sandra Merchant’s election plan. The meeting started with Commissioner Rae Grulkowski acting as intellectual body guard for Merchant, and telling the audience only questions related to the presentation itself would be answered. Unfortunately for Grulkowski, Merchant wasn’t even capable of answering those questions.
Merchant’s powerpoint presentation read like a third grade book report, irrelevant images and bouncing text included. All it was missing was a star swipe. And, of course, an actual plan to hold the elections. But a plan was notably absent. Rather, Merchant proffered a list of excuses as to why she hasn’t prepared for the upcoming elections. She blamed redistricting, the closure of IPS, and harped on the possibility of a five hour trip to use a different business. (Note: A five hour trip is a regular occurrence for Montanans, and it doesn’t cost $40k+ to make that trip happen.)
Sprinkled into her excuses was overt anti-election sentiment. Instead of providing voters a timeline, costs, and transparency, Merchant used her time to present a list of why mail elections are bad and a “history” of school poll elections. Preventing mail elections is a popular voter-suppression method among election deniers like Merchant and Grukowlski.
Even more alarming than the pedestrian presentation, Merchant failed to answer even basic questions about the upcoming elections and her duties. Merchant would not answer simple “yes” or “no” questions, such as if the school and library elections would be mail elections. When pressed, Grulkowski continuously stepped in, tried to stop citizens from asking their questions, and allowed Merchant to sit virtually silent without providing a single direct answer.
Asked directly, multiple times, Merchant could not say how much poll elections would cost as compared to mail elections. She could not say if the library and school district would be responsible for those increased costs, or what the relevant contracts stated. Commissioner Briggs specifically asked about the increased number of election judges, and Merchant seemingly was not able to grasp the question whatsoever.
Essentially, the only information Merchant offered was that elections will take place on time. However, she provided no details as to how and at what cost. Voters asked in-depth, knowledgeable questions which deserve clear and transparent answers. Despite her opening statement about transparency, Merchant provided none.
After yesterday’s debacle, it is clear that Cascade County voters cannot trust Sandra Merchant.
Here’s the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office raising money by raffling off an AR 15 to raise money at the local Home and Garden show. Something is deeply wrong in our county and in our country.
“We are at the Home and Garden Show all this weekend.
Come quick, purchase your raffle tickets for:
Daniel Defense AR-15 with and ACOG 4X scope and a Marlin 45-70 Dark lever action rifle.
All proceeds go to the Sheriffs Legacy Foundation.”
