Yesterday, City Commissioner Rick Tryon’s hate-blog “E City Beat ” published a letter from William Ross. Ross was previously featured on our blog after he protested the Great Falls Pridefest with a sign reading “Fags Deserve Oppression.” Ross yelled at families and attempted to start altercations as people walked by him. Ross even gave an interview to a local news station in which he lauded LGBTQ+ suicide. To the shock of no one, Commissioner Tryon has sided with this hateful bigot.
There are some misrepresentations in E City Beat’s article that need to be addressed. Firstly, I am not on the Board for the Great Falls LGBTQ+ Center and did not organize Pridefest. My term on the Board ended about 2 years ago. I continue to support and promote Center events, but my presence at Pridefest was solely as an attendee. Pridefest was amazing and a lot of folks put a ton of work into making it happen. It is unfortunate that William Ross tried to ruin the event with his hatred.
In his letter published by E City Beat, Ross claims that he was assaulted twice at the event. To be clear, Ross was armed with a gun and screaming at people. When Ross tried to start an altercation with a man using the crosswalk, I physically got in front of Ross, while a security volunteer pulled the other man away. Although Ross was the instigator, I did not want hundreds of families at Pride to witness any violence. The below photo was sent to me by a Pride attendee. It shows me and a security volunteer walking Ross away from the altercation. This incident, and Ross’s following verbal threat, was reported to the police.
Now Ross is claiming that his free speech was infringed after his employer, Culligan Water, terminated him. This claim shows a fundamental misunderstanding of our Constitutional right to free speech. Our speech is protected from government interference and punishment (with some caveats around hate speech which incite violence.) Freedom of speech is in no way freedom from consequences. Private sector businesses are indeed allowed to enforce codes of conduct. Businesses are concerned with their profits, and employee conduct that may lose them business is often a terminable offense. That’s Capitalism baby. Ross was absolutely allowed to use his freedom of speech and his freedom to protest. Now he’s suffering consequences for his choice to behave like a hateful unhinged bigot.
However, more concerning is the choice for Commissioner Rick Tryon and Phil Faccenda to give Mr. Ross a platform. In his letter, Ross argues that people should be allowed to voice their opinions. Mr. Ross was indeed allowed to do so. If your opinion is that a marginalized group of people deserve oppression we have a term for that- discrimination. How is it appropriate for an elected city commissioner to promote discrimination and normalize hate speech? If Mr. Ross had made racial, ethnic, or religious slurs, would Tryon still be giving him a venue for his hate?
As evidenced by the activity of the White Lives Matter movement in Great Falls, there are citizens who believe that Jewish people should be eliminated. There are people who believe that the White race is superior and that all other ethnicities deserve genocide. Are they free to make these statements? Yes, to a degree, inasmuch as they are not actively inciting violence. But should a city commissioner be giving them a platform to promote this hateful ideology? I, for one, think that Tryon’s actions here conflict with the Official Code of the City of Great Falls Code of Ethics 2.21.020(B) and 2.21.030 (B) (C) (D) which read: 2.21.020 (B) B. The vitality and stability of representative democracy depends upon the public’s confidence in the integrity of its elected and appointed representatives
2.21.030 (B)(C)(D)
[…] Such ethical standards shall inspire and stimulate each officer and employee to […] B. Affirm the dignity and worth of the services rendered by the government and maintain a constructive, creative, practical attitude toward urban affairs and a deep sense of social responsibility as a trusted public servant; C. Be dedicated to the highest ideals of honor and integrity in all public and personal relationships so that each public servant may merit the respect and confidence of elected officials, of other officials and employees, and of the public; and D. Recognize that the chief function of local government at all times is to serve the best interests of all of the people
And examining the Ethical Standards section:
2.21.050(A)(D) A. No officer or employee of the City of Great Falls shall have an interest in a business organization or engage in any business, transaction, or professional activity which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his or her governmental duties D. No officer or employee shall undertake any private employment or service which might prejudice his or her independent judgment in the exercise of his or her official duties.
City Commissioner Rick Tryon, through his blog E City Beat, has a significant history of attacking both public figures and private citizens alike. How is it appropriate for a city commissioner to continuously attack the citizens he is elected to represent? Perhaps Mr. Tryon needs reminding that he is duly obligated to represent the best interest of all citizens, even if they’re Queer.
The library is once again the target of the right-wing here in Great Falls. This time it’s about filling a vacancy on the library board. At its July 18 meeting, the Great Falls City Commission chose not to fill an open position by reappointing an existing board member, which is the common practice when incumbent city board members wish to be reappointed. Instead, the commission voted (without Mayor Bob Kelly, who was absent) to delay until the appointment process could be “reviewed.” And that is where the hypocrisy comes in.
Commissioners McKenney and Tryon donned the mantle of transparent government and argued that, since the city appointments are not consistently advertised, the commission should review the process before filling the opening. The city does not advertise all available board openings. It probably should. The problem with McKenney and Tryon is they didn’t mean it. At the July 5th meeting, the commissioners appointed two members to the business improvement district without advertising and without a peep about the appointment process. Hmm what could the difference be?
Of course the difference is politics. Tryon and McKenney should just be honest about that and not use some smoke screen like “transparency” and “good government” to cloak their political agenda. Tryon comes directly out of the tin-foil-hat-conspiracy Republicans here in Great Falls, and McKenney has been pandering to the Pachyderm Club for votes in his bid for mayor. Not to be cynical or anything like that, but it sure appears that the decision to hold up a library board appointment is just one more chapter in the far right attack on our library. Stay tuned for the actual appointment to the library board. No doubt the right wingers will put forth a candidate who is committed to being a thorn in the library’s side. And it looks like they will have McKenney and Tryon in their back pockets.
End Note: The attack on local libraries is occurring nationally and here in Montana. Here are a couple of Montana examples.
Flathead County Library- https://flatheadbeacon.com/2022/07/23/in-wake-of-library-board-shake-up-book-removal-advocates-appear-emboldened%ef%bf%bc/
As E City Beats’ favorite recurring character, it’s not uncommon for my Saturday to be interrupted by a message regarding yet another article starring yours truly. Republican Extremists must be feeling particularly threatened as this week they’ve actually released two.
The goal of both articles is to misplace blame for Clerk and Recorder, Sandra Merchant’s, continued failures. E City Beat would prefer you pay no attention to the woman behind the curtain. Instead, they seek to villainize the people fighting for public transparency and election integrity.
So what is the Election Protection Committee?
The Election Protection Committee (EPC) was formed a few months ago in response to Merchant’s seeming inability to conduct the (then) upcoming School Board Election. Our Committee brought me into contact with several folks I’ve never worked with before. It’s easy to pretend all Democrats are a monolith, but the reality is that Montana Democrats are comprised of a spectrum of beliefs. However, the right to free and fair elections is one of those fundamentals that we can all agree on.
So, for several months the EPC has been monitoring the activity of Sandra Merchant, to assure that Cascade County voters rights are not being violated. This monitoring has uncovered many glaring irregularities in Merchant’s work, any one of which could potentially invalidate the May 2, 2023 elections.
Now Merchant’s supporters are desperately trying to shift the focus away from her failures. Indeed, they can’t even pretend these mistakes don’t exist. Instead, they’re targeting the Election Protection Committee and its members. I don’t disagree with their characterization of me as a “Democrat activist” and surely it is no surprise that I’d be involved in local activism efforts. Perhaps what they’re truly scared of is that the rest of the committee is wholly moderate. In fact, the EPC’s social media group includes a number of Republicans who stated they voted for Merchant and now don’t think she is competent.
The only deflection and distraction occurring here is coming from the Merchant camp and her friends at E City Beat. They can’t deny Merchant’s numerous mistakes, so instead they are attacking those of us monitoring and reporting those mistakes. The EPC has done a tremendous job these last few months. Without our monitoring, the public likely would not know the depth and breadth of Merchant’s errors. It makes perfect sense that Merchant’s supporters would try to silence us. We’re the ones informing the public, and they don’t want voters to know just how badly Merchant is failing.
These attacks will not deter our work. Sandra Merchant has violated the public trust. She and her supporters are doing everything they can to operate outside of the public view. Despite her campaign promises of transparency, Merchant hides behind Commissioner Rae Grukowlski and a group of “volunteers” who are neither elected officials nor county employees, and who have no business running the elections office.
The Election Protection Committee is committed to ensuring free and fair elections in Cascade County. Sandra Merchant is not up to that task. We will continue to monitor and inform the public of the numerous errors and irregularities Merchant is responsible for. E City Beat can write all the spurious attacks they want. Hating us won’t make Sandra Merchant competent.
If there’s one tax credit I can claim every year, it’s the one I get for living rent-free in Commissioner Rick Tryon’s head. Tryon, like many an aging Republican, has a long history of targeting women. Women in politics. Women in leadership. Hell, even women he’s never met outside of a Facebook comments section. That’s why I know that although I am the current object of Rick’s unblinking attention, I am but the latest in his long history of targeting women who are too loud for his liking. Most of this targeting happens on his right-wing blog, E City Beat.
ECBs prior targets include former City Commissioners, former Mayors, and former legislative candidates. Although they may write a one-off article about a man they disagree with, the recurring characters on the blog are all women. Accusations have ranged from serious to spurious, one of the more comical being an article where ECB accused a Representative of being a Satanist because they didn’t like her t-shirt.
At one point ECB created a fake author. The persona was a Queer woman who “wrote” articles for the blog under an achingly bad penname. The ruse was sad and short lived. Rick was quickly called out, owing to his use of a common stock photo in his creation of what ECB assumed a lesbian would look like. (Please note: it was a kind of goth, manic pixie dream girl vibe. I think he has a type.)
Most recently, Dear Old Rick has attempted to make me sound like a danger to society. Now, to be clear, this new post itself doesn’t list Rick as the author but rather uses the umbrella of “ECB Staff.” But when you’ve had a dude hate-crushing on you for several years, its easy to recognize the voice behind the piece. Further, Rick’s frenzied promotion of the piece on his own page indicates a significant degree of investment.
But to my point, this latest article makes me sound way cooler than I am. Anyone that knows me personally knows that I’m basically a Hobbit. I’m short, prefer being left alone, but given enough pipeweed can be persuaded to go on the occasional adventure. And if ECB had simply implied I was a menace, I wouldn’t dispense any emotional labor responding to this most recent fan fiction. But alas. Despite the compliment to my image, ECB made a fatal mistake. In this re-telling, they completely ruined my joke. Not just misrepresented it, but thoroughly ruined it.
Call me dangerous. Call me a terrorist. But you will not call me Un-Funny.
Once again, ECB will be foiled by the very technology they cling to so desperately for relevance. Sadly, that means I have to explain an interaction on Twitter. I will not call it a “Twitter beef.” I am a woman in my 30s who absolutely should not be using phrases like “Twitter beef.” Please bear with me. None of us are excited to be here.
Picture it. Twitter, 2022.
A self-described gay Republican is online. And he’s saying some bigoted shit.
For background: An activist posted a picture of Democratic Senator, Ellie Boldman, taking a selfie with Republican Representative, Braxton Mitchell. Mitchell has already introduced homophobic bills for the 2023 session. Additionally, his re-surfaced tweets include him calling people “faggot” repeatedly.
You with me?
So, activist posts this picture. Activist has in their bio “they/them” pronouns. Self-described gay Republican posts this transphobic comment.
I see self-described gay Republican’s tweets. First, the transphobic tweet. Then, this tweet where dude discusses the recent cost of his dental work. (Democrats want that to be free, btw.)
I point out to self-described gay Republican that saying bigoted things is dangerous. He could get hurt. And he has just said that he can’t afford dental work.
Got that timeline?
Dude: I cant afford dental work again.
Dude: Makes fun of a Queer person.
Me: It’s dangerous to be a bigot, and you can’t afford more dental work!
That timing? I mean, come on. *chef’s kiss*
ECB’s re-telling of this entire interaction really ruins the joke. There’s no regard for context or comedic timing. Thankfully, these screenshots explain the story a little better. As seen above, far from being the victim, this gentleman was engaging in bigoted speech. He has every right to do so. Just as fellow Twitter users have every right to remind him of the dangers inherit in such bold statements.
Rick Tryon siding with a transphobe is not surprising behavior. In fact, Tryon’s own past transphobic posts were previously brought up during a commission meeting. And just last summer, Tryon tried to assert a neo-nazi flyer distributed in Great Falls didn’t contain transphobic language, when it very much did. So Rick teaming up with a man making transphobic comments on Twitter? Yeah, that checks out.
More importantly, dear readers, ECB’s articles about me often seem like a concerted attempt to deflect attention away from Tryon’s own behavior. Does Rick really think I’m dangerous? I don’t think so. The more likely explanation is that Rick is angry about this article I wrote. Read it here, because Rick doesn’t want you to. It details his recent change of heart regarding a certain safety levy.
Once again, we see that an attempt was made, but we’re none of us fooled.
I get that I’m on your mind a lot Rick, but don’t kid yourself. You’re not even my coolest nemesis.
THE RECEIPTS
ECB impersonates a Queer woman under the guise of an editorial. ECB accuses Indigenous woman of Satanism because they don’t like her t-shirt. A quick search of the name “Jasmine Taylor” brings up 3 pages of articles on ECB. Nothing to see here, folks! Just very normal Commissioner behavior.Where it all began? I’m fairly sure this was the first time I hurt lil old Rick’s feelings. Our Hurtaversary, if you will. Yes, he’s been at this for over 4 years. Also, why did he write in 3rd person?“This is disgusting” says dude who once threated to beat up an elderly man after a public forum meeting.
Commissioner Rick Tryon’s support of an upcoming “Safety Levy” seems to be wavering. In a recent article on his rightwing blog, E City Beat, Tryon attempted to downplay his prior support for the levy, which could result in a tax increase of 191% for Great Falls taxpayers. Instead, Tryon characterized the potential tax increase as a “rumor” in need of debunking.
However, the video and minutes from the Great Falls City Commission’s November 15, 2022 work session tells a very different story. At this session, the Commission was presented with three different options for the levy. These were characterized as “Good” “Better” and “Best.” The “Best” option would require a 191% tax increase, and this is the package the Commission unanimously agreed to explore further.
Although Tryon may feign amnesia now, these meetings are recorded. Around the 46-minute mark, Tryon discusses the option he supports. He states, “The Best is actually, the 33-36, to me, just at first blush, appears to be the bare minimum of what we need to do here.” Tryon, and all other members of the Commission, made clear that they support the “Best” package.
And that potential 191% tax increase? It’s certainly not a myth, and it’s likely only the beginning of a huge increase in spending. Tryon states that he expects the total costs to be more than what’s estimated. In the video we hear Tryon say, “I would agree with Commissioner McKinney that we may have been a little bit low-bidding some of this and we may have to think in terms of, ya know, bringing it up a little bit here.”
Taking a page from the ol’ Republican playbook, Tryon is saying one thing in meetings, and another when he’s met with resistance from the community. Don’t be fooled by these mixed messages. Tryon is fully aware of what option the Commission is exploring moving forward, and it’s the one with the HUGE tax increase.
Don’t believe us? Take it from the meeting minutes themselves, which state, “It was the consensus of the Commission that Deputy City Manager Anderson determine definite amounts for the “Best” option.” Not a “myth.”
Last week, far-right blog E City Beat was seemingly shocked to discover that nobody considers them a legitimate news source. The blog’s history of unethical and misleading “reporting” is too numerous to list, but you can check out one recent example here.
WTF has highlighted Commissioner Tryon’s lack of journalistic ethics, and many candidates have long steered clear of promoting the hate-mongering of ECB’s authors. Now, the blog’s Republican base is realizing that aligning with extremism may not be the most electable course of action.
As pro-choice sentiment permeates the nation, Great Falls’ Republicans are afraid of losing their seats. Luckily, we already know where Republican incumbents stand on abortion. Every Great Falls’ Republican voted AGAINST choice last session, and we have no doubt they’ll do the same if elected again.
Now, the same Republicans that have benefited from ECB’s radicalism are refusing to answer a candidate questionnaire. A screenshot from ECB’s resulting temper tantrum confirms that R candidates don’t want voters to know their real stance on abortion. Luckily, we don’t need any survey from a mediocre hate blog to know where these candidates stand. A total abortion ban is a top priority for Montana’s GOP. If we want to protect privacy in Montana, we need to vote Democrat down the entire ticket.
As for ECB’s hilarious “demand” for local candidates to respond to their survey, I can’t help but enjoy the obvious sense of entitlement. I suspect were WTF to make similar demands, we’d quickly be called “snowflakes” and reminded that nobody owes us anything. I have no doubt that Democratic candidates will respond to questionnaires that come from actual journalists and news sources. In the meantime, we’ll continue to spread the word about where Republicans really stand on abortion. Truly, we never needed ECB for that.
Screenshot of Republicans’ response to ECB and resulting tantrum
