by Ken Toole | Oct 29, 2024 | Elections
With a little more than a week to go the Cascade County Election Office is experiencing long lines with waits over an hour and a half. WTF406.com talked with one elderly gentleman with a walker who said he waited an hour and forty minutes in the hallway. Another person who was there assisting a blind person said she waited an hour and forty minutes as well.
If you need to go to the election office your best bet is to go early in the morning to avoid long lines. In the past the office was open expanded hours during election season. This is apparently not being done any longer. Maybe they ought to consider that as an option.
There are still significant issues in the election office. We hope they can get their act together for election day and counting of ballots.
by Ken Toole | Oct 25, 2024 | Elections
If you’ve been following the Grulkowski scandal in the discrimination case Rina Moore filed, you already know that the county has paid more than $50,000 for Moore’s claim. In addition, the county provided an attorney to represent Grulkowski in the matter. That is above and beyond the private attorney the county hired.
State Law Provides “Indemnification” for Government Employees
This happened because state law requires it. 2305 (2) MCA states, “In any noncriminal action brought against any employee of a state, county, city, town, or other governmental entity for a negligent act, error, or omission, including alleged violations of civil rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983, or other actionable conduct of the employee committed while acting within the course and scope of the employee’s office or employment, the governmental entity employer, except as provided in subsection (6), shall defend the action on behalf of the employee and indemnify the employee.”
But Not For Actions Beyond The Scope of Their Duties
At the very end of that section providing for the defense and indemnification of an employee, there is an exception. It reads, “In a noncriminal action in which a governmental entity employee is a party defendant, the employee may not be defended or indemnified by the employer for any money judgments or legal expenses, including attorney fees, to which the employee may be subject as a result of the suit if a judicial determination is made that:
(a) the conduct upon which the claim is based constitutes oppression, fraud, or malice or for any other reason does not arise out of the course and scope of the employee’s employment;
Grulkowski’s Action Was Clearly Beyond The Scope of Her Duties
If the county allowed the case to be litigated, it would not be responsible to provide a lawyer for Grulkowski, because her participation in the hiring decision which resulted in the discrimination claim did not, “arise out of the course and scope of the employee’s employment.” That’s because the commission adopted a resolution which moved the elections office from the clerk and recorder’s office to the county commission. The county included the following language:
“WHEREAS, appointing an Election Administrator to serve at the direction of the Board of Cascade County Commissioners will eliminate the appearance of impropriety as any single Commissioner whose seat appears on the ballot in a given calendar years shall be required to abstain from all decisions concerning the operation and management of the election office during that calendar year until such time as the election for said office is finalized;”
This language clearly prohibited Rae Grulkowski from participating in all decisions concerning the elections office. Grulkowski ignored the resolution and county officials failed to make her comply. Read our blog post here, https://wtf406.com/?s=Resolution
We Are Paying Because The County Failed To Enforce It’s Own Rules
Here we are eight months later providing a personal attorney for Grulkowski for illegal acts which were clearly beyond the scope of her employment. The fact of the matter is that our elected county officials failed us in this matter and now the final insult is that we all pay for independent counsel for Grulkowski. Anyone who thinks Republicans are fiscal conservatives hasn’t been watching Cascade County.
by Ken Toole | Oct 18, 2024 | Elections
The decision by Cascade County to pay Rina Moore $52,500 shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. It isn’t because of the “nuisance value” of making her political belief discrimination complaint go away. It’s because anyone with any experience in employment law could see the county was going to lose this lawsuit and the liability was going to be much, much bigger as time went on.
Here is What the County’s Lawyer Said
Consider this statement by the outside counsel, Jordan Crosby, hired by the county. She explained the process of the State Human Rights Bureau’s (HRB) investigation. The HRB investigator can issue a “reasonable cause” finding that indicates the investigator believes discrimination occurred.
“But there were a lot of concerns related to some of the things that happened during that hiring, and they continued to keep coming back to those. and from my experience, which my background is, I defend these cases all across the State of Montana. When you’re getting those kind of comments from the investigator during the process. It is likely you’re going to be getting a cause finding. and, as we know, with the cause finding that sends us down the route of a lengthy public hearing process through the Hearings office and why that is important is there can be significant damages awarded.”
She went on to explain,
“But there were some facts that I think definitely caused me concern that we would get a reasonable cause finding.”
She concluded,
“In the grand scheme of this case. It is actually, I think, very relatively minimal of what the county would ultimately pay.”
To see the video of the entire meeting follow the below link.
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/xU0sslgc5HBug36-NZ3PaY71YeqxQNqHo1pGOG__2GPQ8VF8Ur7jEi9bSOLKlpeqnma_gZg8vF1PtLwS.bfyDUC6CADnzuFrB?canPlayFromShare=true&from=share_recording_detail&continueMode=true&componentName=rec-play&originRequestUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fus02web.zoom.us%2Frec%2Fshare%2FJBrauA95qYNX55Nuo8eGcKcT1MguoYI-MH4FP6TlTgbG25bG_LWZejO3y1UuOVoz.QUNAspf-xCtz9BJa
Anyone With Any Sense Knows
I worked as an investigator for the State Human Rights Commission in the 1980s. During that time I investigated hundreds of discrimination complaints. I then worked for the Montana Office of Public Instruction as the Personnel Director. I was responsible for administering and overseeing hiring processes, similar to the “structured” hiring process which was used by Cascade County in hiring the new administrator in the elections department, Terry Thompson.
I watched the interview process for the selection of the elections administrator on the internet. I also reviewed the scoring system used by the county and the individual scores by each of the county commissioners. By any measure, Rina Moore, with16 years applicable experience and relevant education and training, was the most qualified applicant. Instead the job was given to Terry Thompson who has no direct experience, education or training. The whole system was obviously subverted by Rae Grulkowski’s manipulation of the scoring system Check out our previous post on the hiring process. https://wtf406.com/2024/03/grulkowski-plays-dirty-did-we-really-expect-anything-else/
It shouldn’t have surprised anyone when Rina Moore filed a discrimination complaint against the county, after the way she was treated in the hiring process. It also shouldn’t surprise anyone when an experienced outside counsel urged the county to settle the case.
Secretary of State is Up Next
Rina Moore also filed a discrimination complaint against Montana Secretary of State, Christi Jacobsen. The complaint alleges that Jacobsen discriminated against her by sending a letter to the county commission urging them not to hire her. The smart money says Jacobsen will be writing a check to Moore as well. Stay tuned.
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.
