by Ken Toole | Aug 19, 2025 | Cascade County, City, Elections
Most of us believe we are in deep political trouble in this country. The Trump Administration with its lying, bigotry and bullying has demonstrated it is firmly on the road to unapologetic fascism. Here in Montana our statewide elected officials are a group of millionaires and billionaires in the Republican Party who either agree with Trump or are afraid of him. . . it’s hard to tell which. And here in Cascade County, local Republican Party ideologues dominate almost all local elected positions.
This is not a time for good citizens to sit back and watch the show. This is a time people need to step up and take back our government. And that is most effectively done at the local level. Take a look at the filings in this post and you can see Republicans are already mobilizing. We must do the same. There is plenty of time to file, but the sooner people get into the process the more likely it is that they will win. So, what’s stopping you? Step up and join the fight for democracy.
This WTF406 post has information on local political races. The information was taken from the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices website. There are numerous elections not included in this post. For example, there is nothing on Neighborhood Council races nor is there any information on local judicial races. In addition, it is worth noting that filing deadlines for municipal races have passed. Filing for all other races is still open and will be until spring.
Public Service Commission
District 1, Randy Pinocci, Republican, Incumbent
Pinocci is term limited
Jeremy Trebas, Republican, Treasurer, Jeremy Trebas
Jeff Pattison, Republican, Treasurer, Katie Wenetta
House Of Representatives
HD 19 Jane Weber, Democrat, Incumbent
Jane Weber, Democrat, Filed for 2026, Treasurer Pam Guschausky
HD 20 Melanie Nikolakakos, Republican, Incumbent
No filings as of 8-18
HD 21 Ed Buttrey, Republican, Incumbent
Lela Graham, Democrat, Treasurer, Charlene Graham
Trevor Fundseth, Republican, Treasurer, Trevor Fundseth
Eric Peterson, Republican, Treasurer, Patti Levesey
HD 22 George Nikolakakos, Republican, Incumbent
Kevin Leatherbarrow, Republican, Treasurer, Tony Rosales
HD 23 Eric Tilleman, Republican, Incumbent
Eric Tilleman, Republican, Treasurer, Waylon Finley
HD 24 Steve Fitzpatrick, Republican, Incumbent
Steve Fitzpatrick, Republican, Treasurer, Steve Fitzpatrick
HD 25 Steve Gist, Republican, Incumbent
No Filing as of 8-18
HD 26 Russ Miner, Republican, Incumbent
Russ Miner, Republican, Treasurer, Russ Miner
Senate
SD 10 Jeremy Trebas, Republican, Incumbent
Melissa Nikolakakos, Republican, Treasurer, George Nikolakakos
Jessica Dyrdahl, Republican, Treasurer, Tony Roslaes
Margaret Mitchel, Democrat, Treasurer, Lew Opollito
SD 11, Daniel Emrich, Republican, Incumbent
George Nikolakakaos, Republican, Treasurer, Melissa Nikolakakas
SD 12, Wendy Mckamey, Republican, Incumbent
No filing as of 8-18
County
County Commission, District 1, Jim Larson, Republican, Incumbent
Tom Lynch, Republican, Treasurer, Eric Tilleman
County Sheriff, Jesse Slaughter, Republican, Incumbent
No Filings as of 8-18
County Attorney, Josh Racki, Democrat, Incumbent
No Filings as of 8-18
Clerk and Recorder, Sandra Merchant, Republican, Incumbent
No Filings as of 8-18
County Treasurer, Diane Heikkila, Republican, Incumbent
No Filings as of 8-18
City of Great Falls (non-partisan election)
Mayor
Filing Deadline has passed
Cory Reeves, Incumbent, Treasurer, Cory Reeves
Jasmine Taylor, Treasurer, Desirae Starling
Council (two positions)
Matt Pippinich, Treasurer,Barbara Bassette
Joe McKenney, Treasurer, Greg Smith
Casey Schreiner, Treasurer, Erin Merchant
Pete Anderson, not available
by Ken Toole | Aug 12, 2025 | Cascade County, Politics, Travel
Pishkun Reservoir sits eighteen miles west of Choteau nestled along the Rocky Mountain Front. The 1500 acre reservoir is part of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Sun River Project which provides water to farms and municipalities all along the Front and out onto the prairie. The area is subject to high winds and extreme temperatures. Because it is an irrigation project water levels change dramatically throughout the year There is a small developed camping area which is run by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
Like almost all camp sites, the Pishkun campground has a reader board at each entry with information about the rules, maps and contact information. Most of the information on the reader board is put up and maintained by the Montana Department Fish Wildlife and Parks. But at Pishkun there is a new posting from the Federal Bureau of Reclamation soliciting information from those using the camp ground.
The Bureau of Reclamation wants to know if you have identified;
-any areas that need repair or;
-any services that need improvement or;
-any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.
The post script at the bottom of the page reads; This effort is in accordance with implementing DOI Secretarial Order 3431; Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.
Clearly, Donald Trump’s war on factual history has arrived in a far corner of Montana. Are we really expected to notify the Bureau of Reclamation of “signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans”? Does that include songs around a camp fire or even bumper stickers on vehicles?
Read Trump’s executive order here: https://www.doi.gov/document-library/secretary-order/so-3431-restoring-truth-and-sanity-american-history
by Ken Toole | Aug 8, 2025 | Cascade County, Republicans
Far right opponents of Representative Llew Jones have been circulating the above graphic on social media
The internal war in the Montana Republican Party rages on. The recent controversy at the State GOP convention continues to draw attention to the feud between the more centrist “Solutions Caucus” supporters and the far-right “Montana Freedom Caucus.” After the convention, the Freedom Caucus turned to social media and radio to attack fellow Republicans they deemed to be RINOs (Republicans In Name Only).
GOP Convention Rumble In Helena
The GOP convention was held in Helena in late June. In violation of party rules, Senator Barry Usher moved to “not recognize” nine senators who had worked with Democrats during the 2025 legislative session, stripping them of their right to participate as convention delegates. Despite being ruled out of order by the party chairman, the vote proceeded, and Usher’s motion was approved, resulting in the senators being unable to vote in the convention. 🔗 Source
Three of the nine senators are currently challenging that decision and are calling for a “do-over” of the convention voting. In a lawsuit filed in Lewis and Clark County District Court on August 5th, Senator Jason Elsworth of Hamilton, Denley Loge of St Regis and Shelly Vance of Belgrade are asking the court to restore their voting rights and force a new vote on party leadership. https://montanafreepress.org/2025/08/06/disenfranchised-at-convention-republican-lawmakers-sue-mtgop/
Art Wittich- Far Right And Sleazy
New officers elected at the convention included Art Wittich, an attorney and longtime political operator, who was elected chair of the party. Former Republican legislator Russ Fitzgerald from Teton County put it this way:
“More alarming, the Freedom Caucus elevated Art Wittich to state party chair. I now call him the ‘Cleanser-in-Chief’ for leading this pogrom in the state party. Wittich’s past includes a $68,000 fine—one of Montana’s largest—for campaign finance irregularities during his 2010 Senate campaign.”
In 2016, Wittich was convicted of violating Montana campaign laws after failing to report nearly $20,000 spent in his legislative race in Gallatin County. That figure did not include additional money spent by “independent expenditure” groups promoting his candidacy. Wittich featured prominently in the 2018 documentary film Dark Money, which provided a detailed exposé of corruption in our political process.
🔗 More on Wittich
Grulkowski Loses Another Election
Former Cascade County Commissioner, election denier, and purveyor of wild conspiracy theories Rea Grulkowski was defeated in a bid to be GOP vice chair by Stacy Zinn. Grulkowski was clearly the darling of the Freedom Caucus crowd. She was nominated by Theresa Manzella, the founder of the Montana Freedom Caucus and an election denier extraordinaire.
🔗 See our previous post
Manzella pointed out in her nomination speech that Grulkowski was not officially endorsed by the MT Freedom Caucus, although her nomination was seconded by Senator Barry Usher, who has served as the treasurer of the Montana Freedom Caucus. Manzella said Grulkowski was not formally supported because she did not know enough of the members. Grulkowski was ultimately defeated by Stacy Zinn, a retired DEA agent and former unsuccessful candidate for Montana’s Eastern District congressional seat. Zinn received 124 votes; Grulkowski had 106.
Then There Were The Battles During The Legislature
The 2025 legislative session was characterized by infighting among Republican legislators. Right out of the gate, a group of nine Republican senators objected to the committee assignments they were given, calling those assignments a “parking spot.” They worked with the Democratic minority to stifle the rules proposed by Republican leadership, bringing the Senate to a virtual standstill. As the session progressed, the nine senators proved to be staunch allies of Governor Greg Gianforte and joined a bipartisan group of 20 to 25 representatives to pass property tax cuts and Medicaid expansion. (That’s what we call moderates?!)
🔗 More on that
What Ever Happened To Matt Rosendale
It’s hard to recap all the battles in the Republican civil war—there have been so many. Ten years ago, the Cascade County Republican Central Committee imploded after a far-right Freedom Caucus push to sanction and remove members they didn’t like.
🔗 Read the story
Then there’s the mysterious case of National Freedom Caucus leader and Montana Representative Matt Rosendale. After weeks of playing coy with the media about whether he would challenge Jon Tester for his Senate seat, Rosendale finally announced he was in. Then, six days later, he withdrew after Trump announced he was endorsing Tim Sheehy in the Republican primary—likely because Rosendale had snubbed Trump by refusing to take his call on the House floor.
🔗 Rosendale drama
Within a couple of weeks, Rosendale announced that he was not running for re-election to his seat in Congress. There’s little question he would have been a shoo-in to retain his seat. His decision prompted widespread speculation about the “real” reason. On a political podcast, North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp said the rumor in D.C. was that he had allegedly impregnated a 20-year-old congressional staffer. Whatever the reason, Rosendale quickly exited public life and politics.
🔗 Rumor recap
They’ll Be Back!
In the last election, three Freedom Caucus supporters in Cascade County—Steven Galloway, Lola Sheldon Galloway, and Rae Grulkowski—were defeated in the Republican primary thanks to the work of more centrist Republicans and progressives who crossed over to vote in the Republican primary. (There was only one contested Democratic primary on the ballot.) If the Freedom Caucus crowd has demonstrated anything, it’s that they don’t give up or compromise. They’ll be back in the 2026 election. Stay tuned.
by Ken Toole | Jul 27, 2025 | Elections
Former Commissioner of Political Practices, Jeff Mangan, is organizing an effort to get big money out of our state politics
Responding to public frustration with the flood of dirty money in our politics, former Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan is working with a group that is proposing a ballot measure to restrict corporate contributions by amending the Montana Constitution. Titled the Transparent Election Initiative, supporters are currently working on the ballot language.
🔗 https://transparentelection.org/
Supreme Court Opens The Floodgates
In 2010, the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The Court ruled that restrictions on campaign spending by corporations and unions violated the First Amendment’s protection of free speech. That decision opened the floodgates for dark money in our political process.
Since then, money from shadowy groups and secretive wealthy individuals has poured into elections. The Brennan Center reports that dark money peaked at $1.9 billion in federal races during the 2024 election cycle. It’s estimated that more than $300 million was spent here in Montana on the Tester–Sheehy Senate race—roughly $375 for every registered voter.
Montana Republicans and Dirty Money
In 2016, the recently elected chair of the Montana Republican Party, Art Wittich, was convicted of violating Montana campaign laws after failing to report nearly $20,000 spent in his legislative race in Gallatin County. That figure did not include additional money spent by “independent expenditure” groups promoting his candidacy. Wittich featured prominently in the 2018 documentary film Dark Money, which provided a detailed exposé of corruption in our political process.
🔗 https://www.acslaw.org/inbrief/prosecuting-dark-money-in-new-documentary/
We Did It Once. . . .
Montana is no stranger to corporate corruption and dirty money in elections. During the era of the Copper Kings in the late 1800s, widespread political corruption spurred citizens to act. A wave of progressive reforms led to the passage of four initiatives, culminating in the Direct Primaries Act and the Corrupt Practices Act of 1912. These laws prohibited corporate contributions to campaigns, regulated corporate expenditures in elections, and established direct primaries to limit party control of candidate nominations.
In 1972, the passage of the new Montana Constitution further embedded progressive reforms into state law. It enshrined every citizen’s right to participate in government and created mechanisms for direct democracy through ballot initiatives.
It’s a Matter of State’s Rights
The concept behind the Transparent Election Initiative is simple. The group proposes using the well-established power of the State of Montana to regulate corporate activity. In a series of 1979 decisions, the United States Supreme Court affirmed the authority of states to regulate corporations doing business within their borders. The Court stated:
“The first place one must look to determine the powers of corporate directors is in the relevant State’s corporation law… it is state law which is the font of corporate directors’ powers.”
The sad truth is that America has become an oligarchy where politics are for sale, and the highest bidders call the shots. Nothing will change until we get money out of the process. This effort is one way to begin doing that.
For more information, visit or follow:
Short Video:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DL-WrMBT4vQ/
Website:
transparentelection.org
Related Resources:
- Corp Power v. Rights – TEI: Corporation Powers vs. Rights
- Montana History – Transparent Election Initiative
Social Media:
Send Contributions To:
Transparent Election Initiative
P.O. Box 1953
Helena, MT 59624
📞 406-430-7337
by Ken Toole | Jul 23, 2025 | Guest Articles
Guest Editorial from Anne Hedges, Director of the Montana Environmental Information Center
You can’t take your bird dog hunting on lands being mined or filled with oil rigs, even if they are “public” lands.
While Montanans were right to celebrate removing the sale of public lands from the recent Congressional budget bill, some may not know that our representatives still voted to put millions of acres of public lands on the chopping block. Selling public lands was just one of a dozen different ways that the billionaires’ budget bill privatized our public lands. Just try big game hunting, bird-watching, camping, hiking, or biking on public lands mined or fracked for corporate profit, and see how quickly you’re escorted away.
This is the bait-and-switch our elected representatives pulled on Montanans.
They crowed about removing provisions requiring the sale of public lands, but the new law mandates quarterly oil and gas lease sales on public lands, regardless of whether it makes economic sense. It slashes royalty rates, guaranteeing that the public does not receive the compensation it is due for public resources. It lets industry decide which land needs to be offered for oil and gas leasing – regardless of who else uses that land and for what purpose. It increases the duration of drilling permits so that companies can retain leases and tie up public lands for longer periods of time. And, appallingly, it reinstates the practice of allowing noncompetitive leases on public lands, ensuring that the public will not receive the true value of the public resources that are being given up.
But it gets worse. We know that coal mining has devastated huge swaths of public lands and waters that agricultural users depend on. However, instead of helping communities transition away from expensive, dirty coal towards cleaner energy, it incentivizes even more coal mining on public lands and slashes royalty payments for mining corporations. It expedites new coal leases and mining permits on public lands, even though coal mining is at historic lows and projected to continue declining. For example, the bill allows the notoriously corrupt Signal Peak mining company to mine more than 50 million tons of coal without consideration for the surface landowners whose water has been lost due to the mine’s operations.
And finally, the bill mandates the opening of four million acres of federal land to coal mining, without providing details about where those lands are, what resources they hold, or what the impacts may be.
In short, it’s a fire sale, thanks to our bait-and-switch congressional delegation. If they repeat the tired trope that they are trying to increase jobs or support “all-of-the-above energy,” I say hogwash. If that was true, they wouldn’t have gutted incentives that help create thousands of good-paying solar and wind jobs in Montana and across the country. And while our congressmen hide behind press releases hyping this new law, keep in mind that it will result in not only lost and destroyed public lands, but higher energy bills, increased wildfires, increased drought, more flash floods, and more intense heat waves.
A changing climate isn’t a conspiracy theory or a partisan issue; it’s a fact that we can and need to deal with. Heat waves are worsening, extreme weather is killing more people, and drought is reducing rivers such as the Dearborn to a trickle in June. This bill will set us back decades, so remember who to thank for making those problems worse now and in the future.
Sens. Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy and Reps. Ryan Zinke and Troy Downing, you’ve given us higher deficits, less public land, lower revenues, higher electric bills and more heat, wildfire and drought. You have jeopardized our public lands and our future for your rich friends’ profits.
We are definitely less safe thanks to you.
