by Helena Lovick | Apr 22, 2026 | Elections
Great Falls, MT
Watching television, the other night I’m suddenly seeing ads for several Republican legislative candidates. Why are they spending this kind of money for a state legislative seat?? Where is their money coming from?
How can a person find out about money in Montana politics?
Well for those in the know (which now includes you!), you can look up certain information about a state candidate’s funding and their spending through the Office of Political Practices in the Campaign Electronic Reporting System. The Campaign Electronic Reporting System, also known as CERS, is the online reporting platform required to be used for all candidates and committees to track money in politics. You can check it out here: https://cers-ext.mt.gov/CampaignTracker/dashboard.
What are the Great Falls legislative candidates up to?
I went through CERS so you don’t have to! I looked at how much personal money candidates are throwing at the primaries. My findings are in the table below for your viewing pleasure. As you can see, Republican candidates in particular are loaning themselves or donating, thousands of dollars to their campaigns. Candidates can payback some or all of their personal loans to their campaigns if they raise enough money from donors and political action committees (PACs).
But……DO GEORGE AND MELISSA NIKOLAKAKOS EXPECT TO PAY THEMSELVES BACK $125,000?!? That is a lot of money to dump into state legislative races. Several other Republican candidates are also lending themselves thousands too. Steven Galloway at $11k, Ed Buttrey at $20k, Mark Winters (one of the fake Dems, we wrote about before) at $10k. That’s a lot of money. So why are they doing it?
Great Falls Area Legislative Candidates Loans/Self Donation as of April 2026
SD = Montana Senate District. HD = Montana House District. D = Democratic. R = Republican. “D” means the fake Democrats we wrote about before that are primarying actual Democrats.
Why are Republicans spending so much money to get elected?
The rich get richer because they can afford to either get elected themselves or they can help elect stooges to pass legislation they like. And the legislation they pass legislation benefits them instead of the working class. That is why we see insane income inequality in America.
Money in politics really does screw over the working class. On top of that, having to listen to more stupid TV ads? We’re already suffering in this economy, do they have to add torture to the mix? 
by Helena Lovick | Mar 26, 2026 | Elections
Alternative Titles: “2026: Blue Wave” or “Democrats Make Gains and Republicans Freak Out”
Great Falls, MT
The filing period for candidates has closed in Montana. So how are things looking? The energy reminds me of 2018, because of all the Democrats filing. Every legislative district in Cascade County has a Democrat on the slate. That is the best candidate recruitment we’ve seen since 2018. Really good news for Democrats. The left leaning folks are fired up and ready to go!
Behold this map! We can make it all blue, not just HD 19 that we hold right now!!
Well sorry folks we can’t celebrate too long. It’s back to the grind again, because the Republicans are imploding and trying to take us with them.
What Republican Tantrum Do We Have to Deal With Now?
Zinke and Daines are Out
First the good news, Congressman Ryan Zinke (MT-01) and U.S. Senator Steve Daines dropped out of their races!! While they may bring us fresh hell in the future as zombie candidates for governor or something….at least Republicans have lost the incumbency advantage in those races.
Let them Fight – Libertarians primarying Republicans
Then, three local Libertarians have decided to run as Republicans, calling themselves “Libertarian-Republicans.” They’re primarying known Republicans in state legislative races to do it (SD-10, HD-20, and HD-22).
State Representative George Nikolakakos is BIG MAD about it. He ranted on his public Facebook that Kevin Leatherbarrow, a candidate for HD-22, “is a perennial Libertarian candidate”…”running as a “Constitutional Republican” (whatever that means in his mind).” When Tony Rosales (the chair of the local Libertarian Party) filed to run in HD-20 against George’s wife Melissa, fellow State Representative George Nikolakakos declared, “It’s raining crazy in Great Falls with the filing deadline over!”
Looks like the Cascade County Libertarians and Republicans won’t be singing kumbaya together any time soon. Dang.
MAGA Republicans Filing as Democrats
If you squint, you can see how Libertarians and Republicans can overlap. But MAGA and Democrats? No.
But somehow the dumbass loony toons of James Whitaker and Mark Winters decided to file in Montana Senate Districts 11 and 12, respectively as Democrats. As if the voters wouldn’t notice James Whitaker running concurrently for a Republican precinct person position (an elected position as a voting member in the local Cascade County GOP), and the fact that Mark Winters is/was a Republican precinct person until he stepped down a couple of days after filing.
The Chair of the Local Republican Party had this to say about both candidates:
Eric Hinebauch, chair of the Cascade County Republican Central Committee and a member of the Cascade County Commission….believes the pair filed in Democratic primaries to deter Democratic voters from crossing over to vote in Republican primaries. He told Montana Free Press that he doesn’t believe either candidate is really a Democrat.
(quote from the Montana Free Press article: https://montanafreepress.org/2026/03/12/two-candidates-in-cascade-county-claim-to-be-democrats-local-party-leadership-says-thats-a-hoax/)
You Decide – MAGA or Democrat?
I will summarize some items I found in a 5 minute Google search and let you the reader be the judge! Do these people seem like Democrats? Would you say that their candidacies for the nominations were made in good faith? Or….do you think they are lying to the voters?
Google Search Results on Whitaker and Winters:
| James Whitaker |
Mark Winters |
- Running to be a Republican precinct person in the 2026 election
- Ran for HD-22 as a Republican in 2024
- Local GOP Party chair says he is not a Democrat
|
|
Based on that summary, I assume you agree with me that they are NOT Democrats. In my opinion, filing to run as a candidate for a political party where you do not overlap at all on party platform positions is completely disrespectful to voters. It is an honor and a privilege to be a candidate for political office. Meanwhile, Whitaker and Winters just spit in the voters’ faces instead.
Why are these MAGAs filing as Democrats?
In the Montana Free Press article, Rae Grulkowski’s loss to Eric Hinebauch in the 2024 Republican primary for Cascade County commissioner was brought up.
And foreshadowing, that loss is highly relevant to the rest of this post.
Grulkowski blamed her loss on Democrats voting in the Republican primary. You can read that twice. Grulkowski is pissed, and I suspect her little cabal of MAGA weirdos is behind the push for Republicans to file as Democrats in Cascade County. She is still mad she lost, and she blames Democrats rather than having some self-reflection. PEOPLE DIDN’T VOTE FOR YOU RAE, BECAUSE YOU WERE BAD AT YOUR JOB.
My conclusion is that Whitaker and Winters filed to force Democratic primaries and ensure that Democrats don’t crossover vote in the Republican primary. Yep. It’s worth lying to the voters to get their way! Sounds about MAGA.
AnYwAy, James Whitaker and Mark Winters are Rae Grulkowski’s people, and Steven Vinnedge and Kathryn Hansen are also her people. Since both Steven Vinnedge and Kathryn Hansen signed that stupid petition that was going around in 2021-2022 asking the county to eliminate mail ballots and count all ballots by hand instead of using the counting machines.
Why do I bring up Steven Vinnedge and Kathryn Hansen? More MAGA idiocy
Both Steven Vinnedge and Kathryn Hansen filed to be Democratic precinct people in Cascade County. Not satisfied with destroying their own party, the MAGA wing is trying to become voting members of the local Democratic Party. And yes, like Winters and Whitakers, it’s not hard to find the crazy on Vinnedge and Hansen. They are not Democrats.
Here are some lowlights from Steven Vinnedge’s public Facebook posts:
Yeah…Steven Vinnedge is not a Democrat.
What about Kathryn Hansen?
Like the others, it is well known that Hansen is a Republican. She spoke openly against the Great Falls Library Board recommendations at an October 2023 Great Falls City Commission meeting and asked them to appoint anti-library levy applicant Noelle Johnson. ::Shocker::, at the same meeting, Steven Vinnedge was there also dissing the library board. Almost like they align politically! As I pointed out above, both Kathryn Hansen and Steven Vinnedge signed that bananapants all return to paper ballots, all hand counting petition.
There you have it folks
MAGA is going through an extinction burst, and hopefully we can work around them until they finish destroying themselves. Meanwhile, the local Democratic Party is seriously kicking some ass with candidate recruitment and strengthening of their party.
by Helena Lovick | Mar 4, 2026 | Governor, Hate Group, Schools, Turning Point USA
Great Falls, MT
Our Republican Governor Greg Gianforte (or Giant Fart as known in liberal circles) is on a mission to embrace the worst of trumpism. At the same time, his cult leader, Donald “the orange one”, continues to burn out by whining about his failure to win a peace prize, simultaneously illegally starting a war that has killed multiple troops, overseeing murder of American citizens in US cities, all to go along with his 34 felonies.
What a person to try to carry water for. Great move Gianforte! History will definitely look back on you kindly!
What has Gianforte been up to?
Gianforte’s official governmental Facebook page is full of some of Republicans’ favorite scapegoats.
Attacks on Trans youth
One of Republicans’ favorite targets are trans people just trying to live their lives. The continued assaults and made-up outrage for the handful of trans student athletes really makes me sick.
Trans people make up less than less than 0.002% (10/500,000) of US college athletes. So why all this hate and energy about a handful of people? Oh right, because it is a handy wedge issue to drive voters to the polls. What we actually need to do is protect our trans youth and have Republicans stop treating them as a convenient political talking point.
Where is the energy for addressing the issues that plague women sports like the abuses committed by Larry Nassar in Women’s Gymnastics? That hurt a hell of a lot more people. In fact, rather than protecting women’s sports, bans on trans athletes encourage bullying, discrimination, and even violence against women and girls. These attacks are hateful and wrong, but sadly that fits Gianforte’s brand.
Pushed for Montana Youth to Start Hate-Based Clubs
This month, GG also boosted TP USA clubs multiple times, encouraging Montana youth to start clubs to spread their white supremacy propaganda. Gross.
Attacked Local Government
In January 2026, Helena City Commission approved a resolution calling for its police officers to “avoid” assisting federal authorities with immigration enforcement. GG and Republican State Attorney General Austen Knudsen decided the modest resolution was an assault on the fascist regime! And it made them big mad. At a press conference and in numerous FB posts, Gianforte announced an investigation into the City of Helena for a potential violation of Montana’s sanctuary city ban.
The City of Helena’s response to Gianforte’s announcement was posted the same day and in part stated “The resolution was drafted with careful consideration of applicable local, state, and federal law, and the City believes the resolution is consistent with those legal requirements. The City remains committed to upholding all applicable federal and state laws.”
I’m not a lawyer but I’ve read the Helena resolution and the text of the 2021 HB 200: Establish laws prohibiting sanctuary cities in Montana and it is clear the Helena resolution was drafted with consideration of the state law.
Check out Gianforte’s post from February 17th, where he states “Here’s a clear message to all local governments across the state: If you are found to be in violation of state law, there will be penalties.” He’s sending a message alright. And the message is don’t resist! Don’t push back! Even if your citizens are being illegally detained and killed.
Sucking up to Donald
As the final low note for February 2026, GG has also posted multiple posts sucking up to the orange one. Just paraphrasing his posts, Gianforte is basically saying: You are doing so great Mr. President, thank you for raising prices for all Americans with your illegal tariffs! Can I lick your boots clean Mr. President?
Imagine. Tying yourself to the sinking ship of an almost 80-year-old felon who is destroying our democracy. Let’s be honest, Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is real, but it’s Gianforte who has it.
by Helena Lovick | Feb 13, 2026 | Contamination, Corporations, Protests, Taxes, Taxpayers
Photo credit David Saslav
Great Falls, MT
A couple of hardy protesters have been protesting outside of the Calumet Montana Refinery every first and third Monday at 7:30 AM. Why are they doing that?
Fair Taxes
We’ve talked before about how Calumet and politicians in Calumet’s pocket are screwing you. Let’s talk about what happened recently with Calumet’s tax protest.
Every year, Calumet pays all of their required taxes into an escrow account because they concurrently protest the tax valuation. The money is then held in that escrow account and not released for use until the tax protest is settled. Calumet’s goal is to make maximum profits by minimizing the amount of tax they are required to pay. Historically, Calumet “wins” in their tax protest and the actual amount of tax they have to pay is dramatically reduced. Meaning they claw back a portion of the amount sitting in that escrow account.
According to the Electric, Calumet will get $1.4 million tax dollars back after they reached a settlement on their tax protest for tax years 2022 to 2024. Another example of how Calumet protests their taxes was a settlement in 2025. As reported in the Electric, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and Montana Renewables (the biofuel side of Calumet) settled to increase the tax exempt portion of the refinery and Cascade County will have to pay back the overcharges since the tax exempt adjustment was backdated a few years.
While it may be legal to protest taxes, it hurts our community. It makes it impossible for our schools and city and county governments to budget not knowing how much of the taxes they will ultimately receive. Every dollar Calumet gets out of paying, has to be made up by the rest of the tax payers.
Most taxpayers pay their taxes on time and without protest. Then those same taxpayers give even more back to their community, by contributing to good causes like school PTAs, food banks, and more. Meanwhile, we continue to supply Calumet with roads, bridges, rail access, water, and more. We’re not expecting Calumet to do more than we do ourselves. We’re asking them to be good neighbors and give back to a community that gives so much to them.
If not the tax stuff, what else are they protesting?
This might surprise you but…Calumet could be doing more to respect our environment.
In January 2025, Montana Renewables publicly committed to building an on-site water treatment facility. This would prevent their wastewater from being trucked out and dumped elsewhere. Instead, Montana Renewables is still carrying their pollution down the road with no plans in site for the water cleaning facility. That transportation costs money too, and Montana Renewables is looking at alternative ways to dispose of the waste. One potential pathway for this mystery waste water is a proposed permit to allow wastewater to be injected into inactive oil wells such as by Lake Frances in Montana. The actual chemical composition of the wastewater is unknown and the proposed wells may lead to contamination of the Madison Aquifer, a source of drinking water for hundreds of wells in Montana. Yikes!!
One of the protesters, Donna Williams, pointed out “We’re not protesting; we’re rallying behind our refinery to get it right. Most other SAF [Sustainable Aviation Fuel] facilities have wastewater treatment and we want ours to have it, too.”
As reported in the Montana Free Press, “Montana Renewables’ environmental assessment estimates that its pretreatment unit will produce as much as 232,000 gallons of wastewater each day.” That’s a lot of waste. It’s the right thing to do to process that waste to prevent a bigger problem down the road (literally). Let’s not risk polluting our ground water. Montana Renewables can do the right thing and treat their wastewater.
Sounds like good reasons to protest to me!
Upcoming Protests on the corner of 10 St NE and Smelter Ave NE
1st and 3rd Mondays, 7:30-8:00 AM
- February 16th
- March 2nd
- March 16th
by Helena Lovick | Feb 3, 2026 | Money, Republicans, Taxpayers, Voting
A couple of weeks ago, Montana’s Republican Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen sent out a mailer with a picture of herself standing next to a constipated-looking, photoshopped image of dTrump. I was an unlucky recipient of said postcard along with about 467,000 other Montana households.
$200,000 Price Tag for Taxpayers
The postcard bragged about how the Secretary of State office is using a program to verify that only U.S. citizens are voting. It has come to light, thanks to Democratic Representative Kelly Kortum (D-Bozeman), that it cost taxpayers around $200,000 dollars to mail that dumbassery.
Privacy Violating Voter Program
The program SoS Jacobsen was bragging about is the “SAVE tool” and comes “free” from the MAGA Administration. In an underwhelming rollout, the SAVE tool managed to flag 23 potential non-citizen voters in all of Montana. Wow…..23! That’s….not a lot. But remember, we must threaten you with the terrifying possibility that a couple non-citizens voted out of 785,000+ total Montana voters. That sounds terrifying.
As more icing on the cake, the privacy violating SAVE tool may also erroneously flag voters and disenfranchise eligible voters.
Partisan Shmartisan
Aside from its naked partisanship, the postcard clearly served a political purpose. But the Gianforte-appointed Commissioner of Political Practices, Chris Gallus, disagreed and found that the postcard did not serve a political purpose in a complaint dismissal.
In response to the complaint dismissal by the CoPP, Christi Jacobsen posted a Facebook post on January 21st saying, “The lyrics that come to mind are: “You’re mad, I’m back, big mad. He’s mad, she’s mad, big sad – Haha, don’t care, stay mad” – 6ix9ine.”
Aside from the complete detachment from professional norms and civility, the quoting of 6ix9ine was quite the choice. If you’re going to quote a person as a public official, wouldn’t you want to do some minimal vetting so you don’t accidently quote a criminal? 6ix9ine is a felon with multiple felonies, including use of a child in a sexual performance, racketeering, gun charges, and drug offenses. But I guess Republicans have become more and more comfortable with felons thanks to felon-in-chief dTrump.
Hey! What About Our Money?
There remain unanswered questions about the postcard costs ($200,000+!?) and if the SoS office has turned over voter records to the federal government.
These shady actions are unsurprising from SoS Jacobsen. She has a long history of ignoring norms and illegal actions. Some of her greatest hits also include:
