If you follow Jasmine Krotkov (@JKrotkov) on Insta, you’ll see a Montana gal through and through. You’ll find her snowshoeing in subzero weather, or perhaps cutting and stacking her own firewood to heat her self-built, underground home through the winter. If she were the type, she could enjoy a lucrative career as an off-grid influencer. Luckily, she’s decided to keep fighting for things that will benefit her neighbors in Great Falls. Nobody does more voter contact than Jasmine Krotkov. Nobody. That’s how she knows what to do in the legislature – just what her constituents tell her.
It’s no surprise then that Jasmine Krotkov’s politics are largely focused on the practical. She’s not one of those politicians who shake their fists and yell, Rather, she’s working behind the scenes to assure that county roads are funded, snowplows functioning, and people are able to go about the business of life. This is the community-minded kind of politics that doesn’t garner much (if any) media attention. It’s the Get Down To Business attitude that drove her to build her own house, grow her own food, and keep her community moving forward. And it’s one of the reasons I trust Jasmine Krotkov to represent us – all of us – because she listens to us, and then speaks truth to power.
Krotkov’s work has always garnered trust from her neighbors. As a former postmaster, Jasmine braved all manner of weather to keep her community connected. She also served as the editor for the National Association of Postmasters, a position which introduced her to the intricacies of working with both state and federal government in a uniquely non-partisan capacity.
I know that Republicans would have you believe that Democrats are a monolith. But in Great Falls, that couldn’t be further from the truth. That’s why I think it’s important to note that Jasmine and I haven’t worked together on anything, ever. I wasn’t even sure she’d accept my request to answer some questions for this article. I’ve always viewed Jasmine’s platform as very moderate. Not only do I think she would agree, but I think there’s a tremendous need for folks like her in our House. I decided to approach Jasmine for this story after hearing her speech at the Democrat’s Fall Dinner. With an even tone and understated confidence, Jasmine talked about the growing divide between the Have and the Have Nots.
I think Krotkov’s speech is best presented in its entirety. And, let’s be honest, it’s damn good. So I’ll let Jasmine speak for herself here.
“I’m running for office because I want to build a society where everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential.
When I was growing up, I was taught that If I worked hard, played by the rules, I’d succeed. Its not the same for Montanans growing up now. Young people today work just as hard as my generation did, but they just. can’t. get. ahead.
They work hard, but in our economy, the rules don’t apply to everyone equally. Some of us have been pushed to the back of the bus. Nowadays only SOME people are able to access decent health care, childcare and housing, not everyone. There’s no excuse for that in the richest nation ever to exist. One of every eight people in Montana lives in poverty.
Only SOME people in Montana get access to public lands for hunting, fishing, hiking, recreating or studying. Only SOME of us get to vote. Those are Policy choices, not personal failures. Our state legislature is building a class-based society of haves and have nots.
My opponent tried to pass a law that would de-fund fire departments, in favor of his own personal business. Apparently, he wants to be a HAVE MORE. My ancestors immigrated to America because they got a belly full of that junk back in the old country. Aristocrats and peasants. In America, we’re supposed to act like all people are created equal. Instead, our state legislature is enacting laws based on a distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism. Laws that relegate some of us to the back of the bus.
Its not about who’s left and who’s right, its about who is left behind”
Its clear that Jasmine knows her district, and the struggles of her neighbors, intimately. No matter who you are, Jasmine Krotkov will fight for you. Now, let’s fight to send her to Helena.
Fearless. Whenever anyone asks me about Lela, this is how I start. Lela Graham is fearless. Her campaign literature will tell you she’s a veteran, but beyond that mere mention is a history of badassery. The jumping out of planes 47 times, fighting oversea, Military Intelligence Corps kind of badassery. She served from 1996 – 2002. But with those adrenaline-inducing missions comes a fair amount of pain, heartache and loss, the kind that can alter who we are at our very core.
Resilient. That’s the second word I use to describe Lela. After a long and successful military career, Lela faced a struggle that we in Great Falls know far too well- substance abuse. Around 1 in 10 veterans struggle with substance abuse. Ever one to beat the odds, Lela celebrates six years of recovery this month. Perhaps scarier than facing enemy forces and even our own demons, Graham has made substance use and recovery the platform of her campaign. She’s knocked thousands of doors in her district and has told every voter about her plans to provide substance use treatment to people in Great Falls and across Montana. Graham is also the only Jewish candidate in Great Falls. Soon after Lela kicked off her door-knocking campaign, her district was inundated with anti-Semitic fliers. Tough as ever, Lela remained undaunted by the hate speech and has since knocked every door in her district.
Originally from Great Falls, Lela’s career took her all over the world. When she returned home to Great Falls, Graham immediately jumped into community volunteer work. Since then, Lela has become a Master Trainer for Narcan (a medication that saves lives by reversing the effects of opioid overdose.) She’s starting a nonprofit to help others struggling with substance use, and she’s somehow found time to run against one of Great Falls’ most “untouchable” candidates, Ed Buttrey. However, Buttrey’s harsh anti-choice views may prove too radical for even his own base this time around. In contrast, Lela has vocally supported bodily autonomy, helping organize multiple pro-choice events throughout the summer.
Lela Graham is a profile in patriotism, resilience, and bravery. We can think of no one better to serve Great Falls.
Lela Graham (right) is a founder of Great Falls’ newest recovery organization.
I am 33 years old, and ever since I’ve been aware of local politics, I’ve been aware of Rina Fontana Moore. The times I’ve voted in person (cuz duh, you get a sticker that way) I’ve always had a quick and painless experience navigating the Expo Park super polling location. Like most people, I assumed running elections was Rina’s primary job, and frankly, one we all took for granted. But huge changes in our country have altered elections. Once friendly interactions with retired election officials have morphed into screaming maniacs threatening these elderly volunteers. Fontana Moore’s office has felt the brunt of the Big Lie. And although Rina is technically a Democrat, she notes that Republican Clerk and Recorders across the country have faced the same lies, harassment, and threats. As far as partisan politics go, Rina has always existed on the periphery of my awareness. I’ve seen her very occasionally at larger gatherings like the Democrats Fall dinner, but as to her personal politics, I had no idea.
So when Rina agreed to sit down and chat with me, my most pressing question was- Why the funk would you want to keep doing this job? Rina’s answer surprised me, and what I really learned was that my question was premature. What I should have asked is- How did you become the person that you are?
Throughout my 40-minute chat with Rina, the answer became quite clear. After going through the basic demographics, I asked Rina why she’d run for the office in the first place. The first place was 16 years ago, by the way. “I want to be just like my dad” Rina told me. When you do enough interviews, you learn to look for the questions that elicit a spark. Here, Rina’s eyes lit up in a way that showed happiness with a hint of grief lurking in the corners. “Tell me more about your dad” I urged, without knowing Rina’s father had passed away this past April. So she did. She told me about accompanying her dad on land surveys from the time she was in sixth grade. She told me about the business they ran together for over twenty years. About her 12-year process to become a licensed surveyor, just like her dad.
What I learned is that Rina’s whole life has been in service to Cascade County. Rina got her Bachelors in Construction with an emphasis in land surveying. After four years of experience, Rina was allowed to sit for the Land Surveyor in Training exam, which she passed. Another four years on, she sat for a final test to obtain her professional licenses as a Surveyor. Now, Rina and her father live in the annals of Great Falls history, with their names appearing on an estimated half of surveying documents filed with Cascade County.
Politics, too, started with her dad. From the age of 5, Rina would accompany him to hand out candidate literature. They’d go door-to-door together, talking to neighbors about community needs. That’s where Rina learned about doing what is best for your neighbors, a value she’s brought to work every day since she was first elected. To Rina, doing your best looks like 50-hour work weeks. It’s performing in-house land surveys so they don’t have to hire an outside contractor. It’s running an internal print shop which saves the county money every time a ballot gets mailed out. It’s literally cleaning the office to protect the security of all documents contained within. No seriously, Rina cleans the office herself and has for 16 years. I can’t think of many other places where the boss stays behind on Fridays to clean the building.
So what are Rina’s politics? I still don’t know, specifically. Why? Because as Rina explained, the Clerk and Recorder doesn’t make policy. They aren’t writing laws or statutes, and this isn’t the role for someone who wants to alter how elections are handled. That simply doesn’t happen at the level of Clerk and Recorder, and Rina is fearful that her opponent does not understand what the job actually is. When asked what would happen if Rina is not re-elected, her first fear is for her staff. Unlike many government employees, Rina has maintained the same small staff with almost no turnover.
So why the funk does Rina Fontana Moore still want to serve as our Clerk and Recorder? As Rina often says, I’ll give it to ya straight, and her answer is best quoted in its entirety.
“I think it’s a sacred process. I will fight to the dying end for this position because I believe in what we do in the office. I believe in my staff. I believe that I’m the best person for the job because of what I believe and the people that work for me believe.”
What I found with Rina are delightful contrasts. A woman whose family is the focus of her world. Who, as a successful woman in her own right, still strives to be just like her dad. A woman who is undaunted after literal years of threats, harassment, and intimidation. Lucky for Great Falls, I think we’ve found a woman who will not be intimidated.
Do y’all remember when folks with kooky ideas were mostly just fun? Sure, they thought aliens built the pyramids. And maybe they were convinced that the Illuminati were secretly controlling the world. But those ideas were easy to dismiss because we collectively understood that information that couldn’t be verified was essentially fiction. Unfortunately, this kind of fun kooky persona has evolved into something far more sinister. Now, we face real world danger based on wild and unsubstantiated lies. What’s more, we’ve learned that simply being an elected official does not indicate a person is sane, stable, or even capable of good judgment.
Enter Jeremy Trebas, former House Rep and current candidate for Senate District 13. Trebas is facing off against Democrat Casey Schreiner. To be clear, I didn’t support Schreiner in his previous bid for Governor, and I don’t consider Schreiner to be a progressive. I don’t live in District 13 so I have no personal stake in this matter. I just think Trebas is really, really stupid, and the folks in his district deserve to know that.
Trebas’ concerns and areas of focus have become increasingly odd, to say the least. Most recently, Trebas spoke out in support of the Montana woman who killed and skinned a husky. An odd position to take, because loving dogs is perhaps the only truly a-political position Montanans all share. We’re dog people, even those of us who don’t hunt. Hunters too, shared a state-wide shiver seeing the innocent animal skinned and paraded as if this woman hadn’t just murdered a household pet.
In a surprising show of tenacity, Schreiner recently shared a number of Trebas’ more concerning posts. Among them, Trebas criticized Malmstrom’s Pride Month celebrations equating the events to “parad[ing] mental illness and degeneracy.” Perhaps Trebas is unaware that the military community includes service members that are also LGBTQ+? Does he view these service members as degenerates as well?
In conjunction with Trebas’ well-documented bigotry, he has vocally joined forces with another vile and destructive propagator of human pain, much like himself. That’s right, Candidate Trebas is here to tell us that we should all be kinder to- Polio. No, really. A resurfaced post of Trebas states, “There was no need for the polio vaccine.” Personally, I respect Trebas’ bodily autonomy (even if he doesn’t respect mine). Therefore I am totally okay with Trebas needlessly catching polio. But to argue that we didn’t need a vaccine for a disease that was killing and paralyzing kids? That’s heartless. Even for an anti-choice, anti-puppy, homophobic Republican.
So to close: Trebas is PRO shooting huskies and ANTI polio vaccine. Let’s hope he includes this info on his next mailer.
This past Friday, Democrats across the city gathered for an annual gathering of food and fundraising, but a new and welcome attendant joined the otherwise routine evening- Fury. Historically, Dems have been known for playing fair and avoiding ad hominem attacks. I’ve long been a critic of this incremental nice-guy approach, especially as the MAGA train has squashed any notion of polite politics. And while our candidates stayed true to their core value of focusing on issues and not their opponents, there was a newfound fire on stage last Friday.
We’re mere weeks out from the most important state election of our time. Republicans are a few seats away from a supermajority, and they have vowed to dismantle our State Constitution. This move is not only to ban abortion, but to fundamentally reshape Montana. While it’s clear our Dem candidates are still willing to work across the aisle, it seems they’re also done taking any shit when it comes to fighting for our rights.
Candidate for HD23, Melissa Smith, summed up what’s at risk this election saying,
“This is another 2016 moment. Are we going again to fail to do enough to stem the tide of right wing extremist who will ban all abortions, rewrite our Montana constitution – taking away our right to a clean and healthful environment, to privacy, to a quality public education, our voting rights, to understand the complete history of where we live with Indian Education for All, the right to love who we want to love, and to be free to be our authentic selves.”
First-time candidate Kari Rosenleaf is running to represent HD26. Rosenleaf may be a newcomer to politics, but she’s been an advocate for children her entire life. Rosenleaf used her 3-minutes to tell the audience she’s ready to fight for us, saying,
“I’m a public school teacher! I deal with and defuse tantrums all day. I wrangle and educate our most vulnerable kids. I can sure as hell deal with Republicans in the legislature.”
Indeed, the energy on the stage felt wholly different than other Dem events I’ve attended over the years. While the values and commitment to our state and its people have never waivered, the urgency of the moment seems clear to all. We’re at a turning point in Great Falls and in Montana. We’re dangling on the edge of immense government overreach, and a total loss of our freedom as we know it. While some have counted Great Falls out, this slate of candidates confirms what we’ve always known about our city- we’re scrappy af and we won’t go down without a fight.
My favorite speech of the night- the one that made me cry and fucked up my eyeliner, was from former Legislator and current HD24 candidate, Barbara Bessette. The only Indigneous candidate in our city, Bessette wore a ribbon skirt and a Roe shirt, owning her identity and her values with pride. It’s been a summer of overt racism towards Montana’s Indigenous peoples, but we’ll save that for another article. Too often, we ignore the fact that almost everyone in the room is White. We may like to fight on behalf of BIPOC people, but there’s seldom any real effort to follow their lead. Bessette’s speech was a fantastic reminder that Indigenous peoples were here first. They’re still here. And they’re still fighting.
So, Barb Bessette ruined my makeup, starting with this line from her speech.
“Im Standing up here because my ancestor’s survived genocide and oppression for centuries. I feel their strength and perseverance in everything I do. Their spirit is always with me.”
Truly, every candidate on the stage impressed me this weekend. They didn’t just name their values and read their resume. They acknowledged the danger we’re in, the weight of the oppression many of us face, and they told us how they’re going to take the Republican boot off of our necks.
House Candidates from left to right: Jasmine Krotkov, Lela Graham, Kari Rosenleaf, Barbara Besette, Melissa Smith
