by Ken Toole | Sep 27, 2024 | Elections
Well, the long sad saga of Rae Grulkowski just keeps getting more and more bizarre.
Conspiracy On The High Plains
Grulkowski first appeared on the public’s radar when the New York Times published a long story (some might call it an expose) about the falsehoods she circulated opposing the Big Sky National Heritage Area designation in October of 2021. She was thoroughly exposed as a purveyor of phony conspiracy theories. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/24/us/politics/montana-misinformation-national-heritage.html
Grulkowski And Merchant Take Over County Offices
In 2022, she appeared as a candidate for the Cascade County Commission. Relying heavily on the same bag of tricks she used opposing the Heritage Area, she defeated incumbent Democrat Don Ryan for the District 3 county commission seat. Very quickly she established herself as difficult to work with. She also pursued her personal agenda for elections with her comrade in arms, Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant. Grulkowski and Merchant immediately began making hard right conspiracy theories the basis of changes in the elections office, filling numerous vacant positions with their pals from the “election denier conspiracy” ranks. The county human resource office never addressed the hiring of elected officials’ political cronies
Election Protection Committee Forms
Seeing the emerging mess in the elections office, a group of Great Falls citizens formed the Election Protection Committee to monitor the elections office and to demand professional administration of elections. Throughout the fall of 2023, the Election Protection Committee exposed problems in Merchant’s office. They advocated removing election duties from Merchant’s supervision and placing them under the county commission. https://wtf406.com/?s=Election+Protection+Committee/
Grulkowski Removed As Commission Chair
After several lawsuits and a district court ordering an outside monitor to supervise the library mill levy election, County Commissioners Briggs and Larson had enough. They drafted a resolution removing the election functions from Merchant’s office. After a six hour public hearing held on December 12th, 2023,the commission voted two to one to move the election functions to the commission’s office. Included in that resolution was a specific provision which prohibited a commissioner who was on the ballot in the next election (Grulkowski) from participating in supervision of the election office. They also removed Grulkowski from the chair position she held since her election. https://theelectricgf.com/2023/12/12/county-commission-votes-to-strip-election-duties-from-clerk-and-recorders-office/
Grulkowski Continues Screwing Up The Elections Office
The commission advertised for an election administrator. The applicant pool included former clerk and recorder, Rina Moore. Despite the fact that she had 16 years experience successfully administering elections in Cascade County, they offered the position to Terry Thompson, who had no experience or training in administering elections. Thompson had worked for the local realtors association and had assisted Grulkowski in opposing the Big Sky National Heritage Area. Grulkowski fully participated in the hiring decision despite wording of the resolution prohibiting her from managing functions of the election office. Briggs and Larson rated Moore as their top choice. Grulkowski rated her fourth and gave her a low enough score to remove her from the top position. Formal legal action is now pending over the county’s decision to offer the position to Thompson.
https://wtf406.com/2024/03/grulkowski-plays-dirty-did-we-really-expect-anything-else/
Grulkowski Loses The Republican Primary. Now Running As A Write-in
As the next primary election approached, Grulkowski filed in the Republican primary to retain the county commission seat she now holds. Local businessman, Eric Hinebauch, filed against her. Hinebauch ran as a centrist Republican and Grulkowski made her conspiracy based ideas the center of her campaign. In the election held on June 4th, Hinebauch roundly defeated Grulkowski by more than 1500 votes. Instead of calling and congratulating her opponent, Grulkowski announced her intention to run a write-in campaign. She made her announcement at the local Pachyderm Club, the home of the far-right faction of the local Republican party.
Grulkowski Continues Playing Dirty Pool In Her Write-in Campaign
True to form, Grulkowski is fabricating facts in her write-in campaign. Perhaps the most glaring is claiming that she is the only candidate “Endorsed by the Great Falls Election Protection Committee,” which worked hard to expose her and her actions relating to the county election office. (See copy of the flier above) Grulkowski also has a video circulating on Rumble (a right-wing media platform) which lifts liberally from a Tik Tok produced by Jasmine Taylor, which urged Democrats to cross over and vote in the Republican primary against Grulkowski. Without explanation, Grulkowski claims that 11% percent of the voters in her Republican Primary race were Democrats.https://rumble.com/v5fhb8t-democrat-plot-to-subvert-elections-discovered-in-cascade-county-montana.html
But wait. . . .there’s more. On September 25th, the county commission held a meeting to address a concern raised by the current election administrator, Terry Thompson, that write-in candidates who used name stickers for their supporters to place on their ballots to assure proper spelling, would clog vote counting machines. Grulkowski participated in the discussion, specifically arguing that ballots with stickers would be counted by hand. While her position is reasonable, she did not disclose her self interest at any point in the discussion.
A Snow Ball’s Chance In Hell
Grulkowski’s chance of actually winning her write-in campaign? About the same as a snowball’s chance in hell. It will be interesting to see where she goes next. Our bet is she will get a job in Sandra Merchant’s office. Stay tuned.
by Ken Toole | Sep 23, 2024 | E-City Beat Watch
Ken Toole| Sept 23, 2024| E-City Beat✔ Watch
City Commissioner Rick Tryon recently published a piece in E-City Beat ✔ under his name. (Usually they don’t give the author’s names). Since he is a local elected official and his piece takes a shot at anyone who dares to to be “progressive” and have an independent thought about corporate behavior, it deserves some response.
After referring to progressives as “anti-corporate blabbermouths,” he accuses them of being hypocrites if they criticize corporate behavior while using products produced by corporations. So you don’t have to go to his blog, here’s a quote which pretty much sums it up:
“Even right here in Great Falls it’s surprising how many times I hear and read local progressives implying, or just coming right out and saying, that corporations are at the root of all of our problems – even while those same folks continue buying, using, and consuming corporate goods and services 24/7/365.”
Tryon’s High School Humor
This is followed by high-school level cheeky examples of corporate products used by his imagined progressives including Starbucks, Subarus, Paul McCartney albums, Green Energy Corporation, and DreamWorks among others. It’s an attempt at sarcastic humor that falls flat on its face.
If Tryon wants to step into the role of apologist for corporate shenanigans, his constituents might want to ask him how he feels about the effect of Calumet’s repeated property tax appeals on city and local school budgets. Does he agree with Calumet’s assertion that the entire Montana Renewables plant (which produces biofuels for sale) should be classified as “pollution control equipment” and get a greatly reduced tax rate?
He Doesn’t Care About Your Residential Property Tax?
Residential taxpayers might want to ask him what he thinks about the dramatic increase in local residential property taxes while large centrally assessed (corporate) property taxes either went down or remained the same. Is Tryon happy that corporations have been granted the same status as individual citizens under the United States Constitution? How about allowing them to pour money into our political process? And maybe we should ask him who he represents, the citizens of Great Falls or the faceless legal structure we all call corporations.
Both WTF406 and E-City Beat✔ are organized as corporations. There are lots of corporations. Some are good and some bad and everything in between. Tryon’s idea that all progressives are anti-corporate is as stupid as saying all conservatives like crappy country music.
For more discussion of this issue, check out our recent editorial about inflation and profiteering
https://dailymontanan.com/2024/09/22/inflation-or-profiteering/
by Ken Toole | Aug 25, 2024 | Elections
Rea Grulkowski announced her intention to file as a write-in candidate for Cascade County Commission at The Pachyderm Club meeting held on August 22. Back in June she lost her Republican primary race to Eric Hinebaugh by a wide margin. It seems she is unwilling to accept the primary results. Instead she is opting for organizing a write-in campaign for a seat on the County Commission.
No one should be surprised Grulkowski won’t accept the fact that she lost an election. She is a core activist in the local election denier crowd. She was also the major driver in the controversy which engulfed the Clerk and Recorder’s office after election denier Sandra Merchant took over in the last election. Ultimately, the full County Commission removed the election duties from Merchant’s control over the strenuous and often unethical objections raised by Grulkowski.
As of Friday, August 23, she had not filed a declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate with the Election Office as required by state law. She has until 5:00 September 3rd.
Write-in campaigns are rarely successful. They require strong organization and an aggressive education campaign. Most serious write-in campaigns have stickers printed to make sure the candidate’s name is spelled correctly on the ballot. With a name like Rea Grulkowski supporters who want to vote for her could easily misspell her name and have their vote thrown out.
The Secretary of State’s office has a rule on the use of stickers for write-ins. It advises candidates to consult with their local election administrator to assure the stickers can be used in the equipment local election offices use.
See Jasmine Taylor’s Tik Tok on this topic.
https://www.tiktok.com/@montana_jasmine/video/7406314192745319726?lang=en&q=jasmine%20taylor&t=1724452544645
by Ken Toole | Aug 18, 2024 | Abortions Rights
The Montana Department of Health and Human Services is in the process of adopting new rules to regulate clinics that offer abortion services. The Department has issued a draft for public comment.
In issuing the proposed rules the department said, “In the department’s judgment, these current regulatory requirements represent the appropriate level of regulatory requirements to impose on abortion clinics.” An online hearing has already been held. Read the proposed rules here:
https://dphhs.mt.gov/assets/rules/37-1052pro-arm.pdf
The rules impose restrictions on clinics offering abortion services in virtually all areas of operations from staffing to lighting to the size of hallways. The rules are being proposed after a district court found legislation passed by the last legislature to provide the same kind of regulation to be too vague.
At the hearing the proponents of the new rules were the usual anti-abortion activists and organizations. Opponents of the rules were predominantly local clinics who provide abortion services. The opponents argued that the rules are intended to make it more difficult to operate and that the intent of the rules is to force them to close.
Please Submit Comment
The deadline is August 23. Comments can be submitted to this email address. [email protected]. More information
Health department holds hearing on abortion licensure rules
by Ken Toole | Aug 16, 2024 | Elections
According to media reports, anti-Semitic memes have been circulated in Montana communities once again. This time it appears that Tim Sheehy’s campaign circulated a meme featuring a darkened photo of Chuck Schumer (who is Jewish) superimposed over a puppet master’s hands manipulating radio, TV and a bag of money.
In May, several national news outlets covering the Schumer meme reported that the Sheehy campaign also employed a 21-year-old man named Caleb Oriet. Oriet has a history of placing bigoted posts on social media. The Daily Beast reported it this way, “The account belonging to the 21-year-old Montanan and self-proclaimed ‘Anglo-Saxon Protestant’ and ‘menace to society’ liked, for instance, a tweet that refers to Black Americans as ‘the most criminal, dependent, and socially destructive part of the population,’ and attacks GOP efforts to connect with Black voters.”
Oriet previously worked for Republican eastern district Congressman Matt Rosendale and gave speeches promoting Christian Nationalism. In 2022 Oriet was the director of a far right organization called The American Populist Union. In an interview with Great Falls Tribune he said, “You look at today’s population, 20.5% of Gen-Z says they’re gay. The political implications of this are disastrous. As people my age start taking power it’s just not going to be a good thing. Our main goal is the replacement of this very elitist American establishment with one that is willing to put America, her citizens and interests over that of foreign interests or international finance.”
The Sheehy campaign refused to respond to requests for information about the incident, instead going on the attack. The campaign said that the Daily Beast was a “trash New York tabloid,” and accused it of “tearing down a 21 year old man.” But after the article appeared, most of Oriet’s social media accounts were closed and his name no longer appeared on the campaign’s website. The Sheehy campaign continues to refuse to respond to questions about his employment status with the campaign.
Gallatin Republican Central Committee
In the middle of June, the Gallatin County Republican Central Committee circulated a similar meme featuring financier George Soros (who is also Jewish) controlling Obama, Biden and Harris. The meme featured a caption saying, “Our situation explained.” Both of these are tropes for anti-Semites promoting conspiracy theories that Jews control the media, banking industry and politics.
Perhaps more troubling is the fact that neither Sheehy’s campaign nor the Republican Central Committee have responded to leaders in the Montana Jewish community when they expressed concern about use of these memes. Nor did either respond to requests for interviews with the media.
Sheehy Has Plenty Of Company In The Republican Party
In the last legislative session, Gallatin County Democratic Legislator Ed Staffman, who is also a Rabbi, was scheduled to give the daily invocation in the Montana House of Representatives. At the last minute, he was informed that his invocation was being canceled by Republican Speaker of the House Matt Regier. Staffman said that he felt he was being shut down because he was not offering a Christian prayer. Another leader in the Jewish community said “The legislature is very single-minded right now. It’s focused on a white, male, Christian agenda.” https://wtf406.com/2023/12/the-oldest-hatred-antisemitism-visits-the-montana-legislature/
Just prior to the last legislative session, Cascade County Senator Jeremy Trebas retweeted a meme about Jewish people conducting child sacrifice. After being confronted about his tweet, Trebas took it down but refused to apologize. https://wtf406.com/2023/12/trebas-fails-to-apologize-for-anti-semitic-tweet/
There is a lot to be concerned about in all of these incidents. First, one has to wonder what kinds of things are being said about Jewish people outside the public eye and what are the beliefs of the officials who apparently tolerate and even defend these actions. The refusal of the officials in these incidents to respond to the leaders of the Jewish community who are rightfully concerned about anti-Semitism in our state and the impact it has on our Jewish citizens. Finally, ignoring inquiries from the media has become the campaign strategy of far too many politicians in our state. A functioning democracy requires an informed citizenry and denying access to public officials is fundamentally anti-democratic.
For more on this https://dailymontanan.com/2024/08/07/jewish-leaders-in-montana-concerned-about-sheehy-gallatin-co-republicans-posting
