by Ken Toole | May 5, 2025 | City, Elections
Great Falls Republican Senator Jeremy Trebas has filed to run for the open District 1 Public Service Commission (PSC) seat currently held by Randy Pinocci. Pinocci is term limited and cannot run again.
PSC District One, An Open Seat For The Hi-Line and Beyond
District 1 covers north central and eastern Montana. The City of Great Falls and Havre are the largest cities in the district. Public Service Commissioners are among the highest paid state employees, drawing an entry salary over $114,000 per year plus full state benefits. Commissioners make more than the State Auditor, Secretary of State and Lieutenant Governor. Check out this editorial from 2018 explaining PSC Commissioner Salaries. ( https://www.havredailynews.com/story/2018/09/07/opinion/time-to-stop-the-gravy-train-at-the-public-service-commission/520333.html )
Republican Control Of The PSC, A Three-Ring Circus
Under Republican leadership, the PSC has become a three-ring circus of malfeasance and incompetence. Commissioners have sued each other and the state in petty rivalries. Staff have quit and successfully sued the Commission. A legislative audit found numerous questionable transactions made by commissioners and staff. Far-right gadfly, Commissioner Randy Pinocci, attracted attention for his brushes with Cascade County law enforcement (see below). All of this while the commissioners have approved numerous rate increases for residential consumers. The largest recently was an increase of approximately 28% in the fall of 2023.
https://wtf406.com/2024/04/pinocci-dodges-two-felonies-still-a-corrupt-asshole/
https://wtf406.com/2023/10/more-republican-police-blotter-pinocci-arrested-again/
https://wtf406.com/2024/07/randy-randy-randy-what-now/
From The Color Purple To Ruby Red
Historically PSC District 1 has elected Republicans and Democrats. Pinocci held the seat for the last eight years. Before him, Chinook Democrat Greg Jergeson held the seat for eight years. When Jergeson was chair of the PSC, he guided the effort to rebuild Montana’s troubled electric system after the Republican Legislature and Governor Marc Racicot subjected the state to the failed electric deregulation experiment. The Republican deregulation legislation caused the bankruptcy of the Montana Power Company. It ushered in years of chaos and increasing power bills for electric customers in Montana. Montana still has the highest electric rates in our region after years of enjoying some of the lowest power rates in the nation.
Republican Gerrymandering, Successful Despite Litigation
In 2022 the Republican legislature changed the boundaries of the PSC districts, tipping them to favor Republican candidates while skewing the population distribution in each district. A federal district court judge found that the PSC districts violated the constitutional principle of “one person one vote.” He changed the boundaries for the 2022 election. Then, in 2023, the Republican legislature changed the district boundaries clearly favoring Republican candidates again. Another lawsuit was filed challenging their action, except this time it was in state court. Last February, Helena District Court Judge Christopher Abbott agreed that the new districts favored Republican candidates but said the evidence failed to demonstrate that it was intentionally done to disadvantage Democratic candidates. Those gerrymandered districts will stand for the 2026 election, unless there is another, successful, challenge.
Trebas Knows He Can’t Get Re-Elected to the Senate
And that brings us back to Jeremy Trebas running for the open District 1 seat in 2026. He currently serves in the Montana Senate representing Senate District 10 in Great Falls. He could run for another term in the senate. He is choosing to run for PSC instead.
Trebas apparently sees the writing on the wall. Trebas faces strong opposition if he ran for Great Falls Senate District 10. Statistically this district is the most Democratic of the Cascade County senate seats. On top of that, historically the party of the president (Trump/Republican) typically loses support in the first midterm election. Given the chaotic nature of Trump’s administration and the damage he is doing to the economy and public institutions, it is even more likely that Republicans will not do well in the midterm elections.
Trebas Has a History Of Self Dealing and Extremism in the Senate
But Trebas’ problems are deeper than the Democratic opposition. He is a legislator who is more focused on fighting culture wars and promoting his own pocket book than representing the people in his district. He has placed himself firmly in the far-right Freedom Caucus faction of the local Republican Party. In the last election, there were concerted efforts to challenge the “Freedom Caucus” members in the Republican primary by Republicans and Democrats alike. As a result, County Commissioner Rea Grulkowski and legislators Lola and Steven Galloway (all incumbents) were defeated in the Republican primary. There have already been rumors that Ed Buttrey is going to run for Trebas’ current senate seat. (5-16-25 update– Great Falls Republican Melissa Nikolakakas filed for this seat)
On the other hand, the District 1 PSC seat leans Republican. Moreover, PSC races are far less likely to attract the kind of controversy Trebas would face in a local legislative race. Then, of course, there is the $114,000 paycheck and associated state benefits package. It’s not surprising that he would opt for the PSC seat.
WTF406 has posted numerous pieces about Trebas. Here are links.
https://wtf406.com/2023/01/jeremy-trebas-the-self-dealing-senator/
https://wtf406.com/2023/04/the-continuing-saga-of-senator-trebas-dirty-real-estate-deal/
https://wtf406.com/2023/01/the-curious-case-of-jeremy-trebas-property-taxes/
https://wtf406.com/2023/07/senator-trebas-tax-scam-turns-into-an-albatross-around-his-neck/
https://wtf406.com/2023/12/trebas-fails-to-apologize-for-anti-semitic-tweet/
https://wtf406.com/2025/01/surprise-jeremy-i-hate-local-government-trebas-is-at-it-again/
by Ken Toole | Apr 26, 2025 | City, Elections
On April 18th Jasmine Taylor filed to run for mayor, challenging incumbent Cory Reeves. In addition to being one of the founders and frequent contributor to WTF406.com, she is a life long resident of Great Falls and has been active in a number of progressive issues here in the electric city.
Jasmine Taylor running for Great Falls mayor in 2025
For those who complain that politicians are all the same, take heart, it is hard to imagine two candidates who are more different than Taylor and Reeves. These two have dramatically different positions on many of the problems facing Great Falls. The filing deadline for the Mayor’s race is June 16.
Taylor will be taking a “leave” from the blog for the duration of the campaign. We will still write about the city elections and take positions on the issues but Jasmine won’t be writing posts. Thanks for reading.
by Ken Toole | Apr 21, 2025 | Elections, Guest Articles
Ballots for the Great Falls School Board Trustee election will be coming out soon. There are
three positions to be filled, and four candidates. I’ve been asked by several folks in our
community who I support for these positions. These are my picks:
Gordon Johnson: incumbent, running for a third term. Gordon is our current board chair, one
of the best we’ve had. He is a strong supporter of public education, generously lending his time
and talents. He deserves a third term.
Paige Turoski: incumbent, running for a second term. Paige works with me on the Board
Budget and Policy committees. She’s a good hand. She is well-liked by our administrative
team. Her two sons are enrolled at Valley View Elementary. I support her re-election.
Craig Duff: newcomer, seeking to win the seat being vacated by Mark Finnicum. I’ve met and
spoken to Craig. He is retired law enforcement, and now volunteers at his son’s school,
Meadowlark Elementary, where he also serves on the school PTA. He has received the
endorsement of the local teacher’s union, and deservedly so, as he has a very strong commitment to our local schools.
Mail ballots will be coming out shortly. Please vote for Gordon, Paige and Craig.
Bill Bronson
Great Falls Public School Board Trustee
by Ken Toole | Apr 15, 2025 | Elections
This post is comprised of Facebook posts which appeared on Mayor Cory Reeves’ Facebook page. It begins with his tongue-in-cheek solicitation for campaign contributions for watching the Mayor take a shower ($5) or taking a shower with him ($10). I commented about the ad. Full disclosure- I mistakenly thought this was an official page from the city because the name of the page is Mayor Cory Reeves and is dominated by posts about city government. The page is categorized as “Public & Government Service.” He also has another page which is named “Cory Reeves.” Still, it was my mistake. I included that in my last comment to Mayor Reeves.
I have not copied other comments from individuals who are not public officials. But let me also say for the record that they were mostly supportive of the Mayor. I encourage anyone who is really curious to take a look at the Facebook page Mayor Cory Reeves. But, it appears that Tryon deleted his comments and my responses or maybe it was a Facebook algorithm. Our readers can decide what they think on their own.
Reeves’ campaign solicitation begins with the following statement above a photo. I deleted the address.
It’s already that time—campaign season is kicking off!
We’re excited to continue the work of moving our community forward, and as always, your support means the world. Whether it’s your encouragement, your time, your vote, or your donations, it all makes a difference.
If you’d like to contribute to the campaign, donations can be mailed to:
Cory Reeves
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Great Falls, MT 59405
Let’s keep the momentum going! (Max donation is $450)
Despite the fact that it was obviously a joke, I made the following comment on his post.
City Commissioner Rick Tryon responded with his usual vitriol to my comment and I replied. My post referenced an email he had sent to a Canadian citizen who complained to him about Trump’s tariffs. See our previous post. https://wtf406.com/2025/03/canadian-emails-reeves-and-tryon-just-dont-want-them/
Then Reeves responded to my comment.
Mayor Cory Reeves
Ken Toole Ken, you’ve got a gift. Truly. Only you could read a joke and turn it into a personal crisis. Can’t wait for your article—your talent for dramatic reinterpretation is unmatched. Pulitzer-worthy stuff, really. Keep swinging, champ!
Finally, I made the following response to Reeves.
After this back and forth appeared in comments on the Mayor Cory Reeves Facebook page, I received an email with a link to an Electric story about an ethics complaint filed against Commissioner Tracy Hauck for putting a notice on her Facebook page about a women’s march. The complaint was filed by Jeni Dodd who writes occasionally for E-City Beat along with Rick Tryon. The Electric wrote, “The Facebook page is not owned, provided, operated or maintained by the city, but when elected or appointed officials use a social media site in their official duties, they’re supposed to notify the city and the city has a software system that captures the posts to maintain a public record.” https://theelectricgf.com/2019/02/08/city-ethics-committee-hears-first-complaint-regarding-houcks-social-media-post/
In addition, Reeves has changed his Mayor Cory Reeves Facebook page cover to mimic the design of his campaign graphic. He also posted the complete campaign graphic with the words Re-Elect Mayor Cory Reeves
I am not a supporter of either Cory Reeves or Rick Tryon. In this exchange they do nothing to address the underlying issue of the mayor soliciting contributions on a Facebook page that has every appearance of a public official. In any other context (like a personal page) I wouldn’t have commented, though I don’t think it is particularly funny. Instead, both of them respond with personal attacks and sarcasm. Great Falls deserves better leadership.
by Helena Lovick | Mar 22, 2025 | Elections
Great Falls, Mont.
Recently a couple friends sent me this screenshot of an emailed response from State Senator Jeremy Trebas (R-Great Falls) (see below).
Jeremy’s response to a voter requesting he vote no on HB 258 during the 2025 Montana legislative session.
As slimy and rude as that response was….it sure seemed like something Jeremy would say! But I wanted to make sure What the Funk wasn’t sharing any fake news, so I sent in a public information request to the Legislative Services Division of the Montana Legislature. I asked for a copy of emails Jeremy sent from his legislative email account (jeremy.trebas@legmt.gov) with the term “pronouns” in the email body, sent in 2025 (from January 1, 2025 to present 3/20/2025).
And, um, oh it’s real. And it gets worse.
Here is the email that started it all:
Huh, in response to a citizen’s thoughtful and well-laid out reasons to vote against a bill….Jeremy zeroed in on “she/her” in the signature line!
(Makes total sense to an insane bigot I guess.)
In his typical bizarre manner, Jeremy Trebas sent back the reply of “I don’t put much credence in the “science” of people who have to put pronouns in their bio.” Welp, Montanans, if you have pronouns (like 100% of people do), Jeremy does not want to hear from you!
How Jeremy responded to concerns of the public
The screenshot of the pronoun email must have reached several other Montanans around the time I saw it, because a half a dozen people emailed Jeremy Trebas about that exchange. Of course, Jeremy then chose the path of being increasingly rude and dickish. Reciting stupid troll language at people with legitimate concerns about his behavior such as “K bro,” “Move out of your parent’s basement,” “no one I’ve heard from so far is a constituent, only radical leftists who believe boys can be girls,” and on and on.
In response to Jeremy’s disrespectful answer to their email, one person sent back the flabbergasted question, “This is how you communicate with the public?” and Jeremy (obviously lying) replied “No, only you.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. I can’t breathe. Yeah, no, it is not only you my friend. Jeremy is an internet troll who loves to be an asshole to anyone who isn’t in his weird cult of MAGA mixed with Libertarianism. For some representative examples, we’ve previously discussed Jeremy Trebas’s rude internet commentary style here and here.
Based on his own biases, Jeremy also likes to claim that no one criticizing him is a constituent. Jeremy doesn’t understand that people’s email addresses aren’t labeled with a person’s specific legislative district. And even if they aren’t his constituents, Jeremy must not know that his work in the legislature affects ALL Montanans. Sure would be nice if Jeremy would stop being a dick and be respectful when Montanans reach out to him with their concerns.
Below are screenshots of Jeremy doubling down on his bigotry again and again. Wow. Is this a person Montanans want representing them…for ANYTHING?
(In the screenshots, I blocked the identifiers for the citizens who emailed Jeremy, but they are technically public information.)
by Ken Toole | Mar 15, 2025 | Elections, Legislature
Republican Daniel Emrich was elected to the Montana Senate in 2022. He ran a low key campaign, defeating incumbent, centrist Democrat Tom Jacobson by 403 votes. Looking at his campaign contributions, he received significant support from “traditional” Republicans and not the local loopy Freedom Caucus crowd. Contributors to his campaign included Greg Gianforte, Senator Jason Ellsworth (and two of his children for a total of $1,200), Chuck Denowh (lobbyist), and Representative Llew Jones.
“A Good Christian Fellow”
Emrich moved to Montana in 2020. He worked as a car salesman in Tennessee and Colorado before working at Bison Ford in Great Falls. He’s no longer there, and we find no information about where he currently works. The Wonkette blog says Emrich is “a good Christian fellow whose Twitter feed includes posts pushing election denial, accusing Hillary Clinton of supporting “executing human babies,” and asking what crime babies ever committed to deserve a death sentence.
Emrich also said this on Twitter feed in 2021 about the Capitol Insurrection: “Republicans stormed the Capitol building however it is public building and they did have a right to enter and peacefully protest they were denied that right and as a result the protestors got violent police got hurt one died still not sure why and a protestor was shot to death.” (Grammatical errors in the original text)
Emrich Doesn’t Get Science
In his first legislative session, Emrich attracted statewide attention with a bill he introduced to require schools to include only “verifiable facts” in science curriculum. This bill drew only one proponent, a professor, named Patrick Gould asserted that the “theory” of evolution is not supported by facts and is contrary to God and the Holy Bible. Numerous opponents of the bill pointed out the problems in the bill. The bill died in a unanimous vote of the committee. The link below is to a video of the committee hearing.
https://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00309/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20170221/-1/46846?agendaId=250997
Old Income Tax Conspiracies
Emrich also introduced a Senate resolution calling for an investigation of the adoption of the income tax in 1913. The introductory “where as” statements of the resolution parrot old debunked conspiracy theories which have been far-right staples for years. The resolution referenced The Law That Never Was, a book by notorious Montana tax protester, racist and vicious anti-semite Red Beckman. Former Republican legislator and current lobbyist for the conservative Montana Taxpayers Association, Bob Story, testified against the bill saying, “I just think it’d be kind of a waste of the legislature’s time to rehash this thing. It’s been studied, it’s been written about, it’s been litigated.” The bill died in committee by a vote of 11 to 1.
13 Bills in 2023. None Pass
Emrich introduced similar bills in the 2023 session. These included eliminating jail sentences for driving without a license (a common practice among the freemen crowd), private school choice, requiring partisan election of judges, expanding the time required for collection of delinquent taxes, providing exemptions for vaccination requirements in schools, general revisions of election laws as promoted by election deniers, and a call for a constitutional amendment defining fertilized human eggs as a “person.” Most of his 13 bills died in their first committee hearing. None made it through the entire process.
2025 Session. More of The Same
In the 2025 legislature, Emrich is carrying bills for others. It is common for administrative agencies and interim legislative committees to request more “experienced” legislators to carry their bills. This session Emrich has requested 36 bills, five of those coming through the Senate Select Committee on Judicial Oversight and Reform. For those unfamiliar with this legislature, this committee is intent on Republicans taking over the judicial branch.
This session Emrich introduced SB 381, which requires selling off and subdividing certain public lands. It died in committee. See our previous blog post https://wtf406.com/2025/03/who-says-republicans-dont-want-to-sell-off-public-lands/
Hey Senator Emrich, Measels Much?
He is also carrying SB 382 and SB 474 which allow children whose guardians choose not to have them vaccinated to attend school. This during a measles outbreak in the southwest which has already claimed at least two lives and is causing numerous measles infections. In addition, he is carrying SB 475 which bans aluminum based vaccines.
Emrich has six bills changing statutes relating to child protective services. No one ever knows the exact motivation for these kinds of bills except the sponsor. But here it is worth noting that there is a controversy regarding a decision to remove a child with suicidal ideation relating to gender identity issues from a family in Valley County. Great Falls’ other Republican Senator, Jeremy Trebas, has been engaged in this case, requesting confidential records from DPHHS.
Emrich Still Going After The Library
Emrich is also carrying two bills which clearly flow from the library mill levy controversy here in Great Falls. SB 396 which dictates where “materials of a sexual nature” can be placed in a library and directs numerous actions relating to library administration. SB 451 limits public libraries to only provide “core functions” listed in the bill and prohibits activity that is not listed in the bill. Both bills were tabled in committee
Next Election, Democrats Best Shot
Emrich is up for election in 2026. Most people in Great Falls are not aware of Emrich, but Republican activists here certainly are. If the last election is any indication, his support from the traditional Republican crowd will dry up, and he will be challenged in the Republican primary. Democrats are well positioned to win the seat regardless who the Republicans run. It’s going to be an interesting election.
