by Jasmine Taylor | Jun 6, 2024 | Elections
Great Falls voted in the primary election, determining which candidates will go on to the general election in November, and it was a bad day for MAGA Republicans. As official results rolled in, far-right ringleaders started falling like dominoes. For the past two legislative sessions, Republicans have held a strong majority. They’ve used this muscle to attack reproductive rights and raise our property taxes through the roof. Montana is worse for all they have done.
The tides have turned! Despite protests from folks who prefer business as usual, many Democrats crossed over and voted in the Republican primary. The strategy? Eliminate the far-right leaders, and keep them off the ballot in November. Looking at the primary results, it pays to think outside of the box.
Enjoy this list of far-right losers who will not be appearing on the ballot in November.
Rae Grulkowski
Grulkowski was the puppeteer behind the chaos and dysfunction that plagued the elections office last year. She’s been finishing out a partial term as County Commissioner. Lucky for us, Grulkowski WILL NOT BE ON THE BALLOT THIS NOVEMBER.
Lola Sheldon-Galloway
Sheldon-Galloway is a long-time legislator whose bad hats and even worse beliefs have plagued Montana for years. Nobody’s spent more time trying to control your uterus than Lola. Best known for claiming that you can’t get pregnant from rape, Lola hoped to jump from the House to the Senate. However, she had a big loss last night and WILL NOT BE ON THE BALLOT THIS NOVEMBER.
Steven Galloway
Steven served his first term in the House last session, and he used every minute of it to try and make himself richer. He focused on laws targeting renters and benefiting landlords. Slack-jawed Steven rode his wife’s coattails into one win, but this year he pissed off fellow Republican George Nikolakakos. According to local gossip, George then recruited his wife to run, and run she has. While we’ll be working hard to defeat her in November, right now we’re going to celebrate that Steven Galloway WILL NOT BE ON THE BALLOT IN NOVEMBER.
Randy Pinocci
When he’s not trying to fist-fight voters or engaging in (alleged) felony witness tampering, Pinocci is making over $100,000 per year as our Public Service Commissioner. This cycle, Pinocci was on the ticket with Tanner Smith running for Governor, and Pinocci as Lieutenant Governor. Not only did the Smith/Tanner ticket lose big, Pinocci couldn’t even win the election for local precinct person. Love that for him. After two big losses, Pinocci WILL NOT BE ON THE BALLOT IN NOVEMBER.
Sandra Merchant
It’s a really bad time to be Sandra Merchant. Late last year, the County Commision voted to remove all election duties from Merchant (the current Clerk and Recorder) due to her gross incompetence. Now, Merchant will be without her bodyguard, Grulkowski. In an embarrassing turn of events, Merchant was also unable to win her election for local precinct person. Admittedly, precinct races don’t have much weight, but it’s mighty fun to watch this particular fall. Let’s hope that with Grulkowski on her way out, Merchant will finally find the sense to resign.
Now what?
Looking ahead to November, it’s clear that Democrats have a lot of work to do. The worst Republicans have been ousted, but we don’t want to elect the ones remaining either. Despite the tantrums of Republicans bemoaning the crossover votes, what we’ve seen is that Democrats are finally ready to fight back. Now let’s go kick some ass.
by Jasmine Taylor | Apr 15, 2024 | Energy/Utilities
We’ve talked about Randy Pinocci a lot on this blog. If you aren’t familiar, suffice it to say he’s Northwestern Energy’s bestest pal, and he really loves raising your utility bills. His greatest hits include napping during public meetings, acting like a slumlord, and most recently committing crimes via text message.
Montana Republicans get arrested a lot. So don’t be embarrassed if you need a refresher on Pinocci’s wrap sheet. Pinnoci initially had a dispute with a tenant, and he received disorderly conduct charges. Pinocci failed to appear in court, ultimately resulting in Pinocci being arrested at Home Depot due to an active warrant.
In another keen display of believing he’s above the law, Pinocci then tried to compel a witness (who also appears to have been his tenant) to change their statements to police. Pinocci allegedly refused to refund the witnesses deposit, and even stated in writing that “you’re going to have to recant your testimony with the sheriff’s department.” He got two felony counts of witness tampering for that one, but maybe Pinocci’s onto something here. He can seemingly intimidate witnesses in writing, and the county will drop all but the smallest charges. Despite what appears to be literal written evidence of witness tampering, somehow the county was compelled to “take another look” at the case. Pinocci has to pay a mere $200, and he gets a six-month deferred prosecution agreement. As long as he behaves for six months, then the two felony charges will go away. Maybe being a Public Service Commissioner does come with perks?
Read the full story and see the court documents here: https://dailymontanan.com/2024/04/12/randy-pinocci-pleads-no-contest-to-misdemeanor-felonies-dropped/
by Jasmine Taylor | Apr 2, 2024 | Elections, Schools
School Board Candidate Tony Rosales recently released a Tik Tok video making vague allegations against a school district employee. Rosales notes that the employee is also on the board of Peace Place. He then questions if the superintendent and school district know about this educator’s affiliation with the nonprofit organization. He concludes by seemingly implying a conflict of interest as the Peace Place has “employees,” and, therefore, the school district employee has some sort of “obligation.” While Rosales tries to frame this video as some sort of “gotcha,” his arguments don’t hold up to even the slightest scrutiny.
Firstly, volunteering is a good thing. Many educators also give their time to the community through volunteering, and serving on a board is one way to do that. Peace Place provides respite care for parents of children with disabilities and other qualifying needs. It’s a fantastic resource for caregivers, and it’s worthy of your support. Learn about their services here: https://peaceplacegf.com/
Now, on to Rosales’ concerns. The educator under fire is on a volunteer board for an organization that helps children. Supporting such organizations is highly consistent with the work educators already do. If an educator is aware of resources that could help a family, it’s appropriate to share those resources. As a volunteer, the educator isn’t receiving any personal financial benefit for connecting people with resources (if this is even occurring. Rosales offers no evidence of such, but the implication is there.)
What’s more telling than the vague and ambiguous nature of Rosales’ accusations is Rosales’ own conduct in relation to the school and his campaign. Rosales volunteers with a GFPS Speech and Debate team. Rosales is presently running for the school board. In a display of hypocrisy, Rosales found it appropriate to use his volunteer role as an opportunity to further his political career. Rosales emailed numerous candidates and elected officials on behalf of the Speech and Debate team. In the email, he asks the invitees to participate in a “debate” event with his students.
So let’s recap. According to Rosales, it’s inappropriate for a school employee to volunteer on a nonprofit board on his own personal time. However, it’s somehow totally appropriate for Rosales to use his volunteer role at the school to recruit politicians to speak at his event. Rosales’ behavior looks far more like a conflict of interest than the conduct of the school employee Rosales targeted.
A final but compelling comparator is Rosales’ response to the city commission’s coming safety committee. This group is essentially a list of the current commissioner’s closest pals. The most glaring cronyism is seen with the appointment of Jeni Dodd. Dodd and Commissioner Rick Tryon are close collaborators, with both writing for the hate blog, E-City Beat. E City Beat. Dodd is equally cozy with Commissioner Joe McKenney McKinney. Now, despite a total lack of expertise and any relevant qualifications, Dodd will be giving input on of possible future levies and even budget management. Dodd’s presence on the committee is a fantastic example of an actual and alarming conflict of interest. Rosales is surely aware of this issue, as he too is slated to be on the committee.
Rosales is clearly willing to throw an educator under the bus in the hopes of gaining popularity for his campaign. Yet, he doesn’t apply the same standard of conduct for himself, or his friends on the city commission.
Should Rosales somehow be elected to the school board, how could he expect any GFPS employee to trust him?
by Jasmine Taylor | Mar 2, 2024 | E-City Beat Watch
Jeni Dodd, our favorite cosplay patriot, also seems to be one of our most devoted readers. If I make a typo or forget a comma, Jeni is sure to let me know. As What The Funk is a volunteer-based project, it’s great to have a volunteer-editor like Jeni to let me know when I mess up. Today, I want to thank Jeni for pointing out an error I made in a previous article, and the error was certainly bigger than a misspelling. I incorrectly identified Beth Cummings as the latest hire at the elections office. My mistake, and my apologies to Beth Cummings.
I should have identified Beth Cummings as one of the lead plaintiffs in a failed lawsuit attacking the library levy. I’ve updated the article to reflect the correction: https://wtf406.com/2024/02/ecb-hatesphilanthropy/
To understand important context, we have to back up to last year. The library mill levy was on the ballot. Sandra Merchant’s numerous mistakes resulted in the court appointing an election monitor to ensure the election ran smoothly and lawfully. As we previously reported, “volunteers” working in the elections office during the library mill levy were allegedly distributing anti-library materials while volunteering.
Well, the library levy passed, despite the misinformation campaign propagated by the far-right. Shortly after its passing, a lawsuit was filed attempting to keep the library from implementing those mills. One of the lead plaintiffs in that lawsuit? Beth Cummings.
Just this week, a judge threw that lawsuit out. Importantly, the judge explicitly states that it appears the plaintiffs (ie Cummings) had no actual legal dispute, were aware of such, and were simply angry about the results.
Read The Electric article here: https://theelectricgf.com/2024/02/28/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-against-city-over-library-election/
The articles states,
“In her order, issued Feb. 27, Perry dismissed the case, writing, ‘although their filings are detailed and generally well organized, every one of their legal arguments is wrong. They are consistently mistaken about which sections of law actually apply to the instant matter, misread and misapply controlling precedent, and generally find fault where no fault actually exists or any error was clearly harmless. It is difficult to read their filings and come away with any impression other than that this action is a thinly veiled attempt to undo an election result they dislike rather than a truly justified complaint about a mishandled or otherwise legally problematic election.”
Huge thank you to Jeni for bringing this mistake to my attention.
As to Jeni’s other arguments in her piece, we anticipated E City Beat’s lame defense of their story about the library levy campaign. In fact, we addressed it in our own article. As to Jeni’s other assertions about the levy, these claims were already addressed in court, as mentioned above.
by Jasmine Taylor | Feb 29, 2024 | Elections
It’s been a rough month for Matt Rosendale. Mere days after announcing his Senate run, Rosendale withdrew from the race. Rosendale’s cringey statement basically read “Daddy Trump isn’t endorsing me, so I’m quitting. BUT I WOULD DEFINITELY HAVE WON!” Sure, Matt. Sure. As soon as the announcement dropped, so did the gossip.
Former Senator Heidi Heitkamp claimed that Rosendale dropped out of the race because he has impregnated a staffer. The staffer is said to be 20 years old. Although its unclear if soulless monsters can age, Rosendale is reported to be 63. Denying the claims, Rosendale’s camp is now threatening Heitkamp with a lawsuit.
Read the Poltico report here: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/02/26/congress/rosendale-denies-rumors-pregnant-staffer-00143336
