Candidate Rae Grulkowski’s lies were the subject of a New York Times article.
Both photos taken from individuals respective websites
County Commissioner Don Ryan
Cascade County Commission Race, District #3. Where facts are no match for fear!
The Cascade County Commission race between Don Ryan (Democrat) and Rae Grulkowski (Republican) is the only contested commission race this cycle in our county. Who are these people?
Commissioner Don Ryan was appointed in early 2021, after the retirement of Jane Weber. Don Ryan previously served in the Montana Senate for two terms and was elected four times for the Great Falls School Board. Ryan has been serving on the Cascade County Commission without any newsworthy problems. His website provides a long list of accomplishments during his tenure as commissioner…but what about his opponent Rae Grulkowski?
You might recognize the name from Grulkowski’s disinformation campaign against the National Heritage Area (NHA) effort in Central Montana. Based on conspiracy theory-filled information she gleaned from the internet, Grulkowski decided to fight the proposed heritage area in 2020. Her dishonest efforts were notable enough to make the national news, starting when she spent $1,300 to send out packets full of lies to hundreds of voters. According to the New York Times, Grulkowski told the voters that “the designation would forbid landowners to build sheds, drill wells or use fertilizers and pesticides. It would alter water rights, give tourists access to private property, create a new taxation district and prohibit new septic systems and burials on private land, she said. None of this was true [emphasis added].”
As noted in the article, Grulkowski did not identify a single instance of a property owner’s being adversely affected by a heritage area. What she is worried about is not anything specific, but “wide open things that could happened.” National Heritage Areas have been around since the 1980s. I guess nearly 40 years is not enough precedent for Grulkowski.
Emboldened by her success in spreading lies and conspiracy theories, she is now running for our county commission!
Aside from her lies on the NHA, what else can we expect from Grulkowski?
Luckily, the New York Timesarticle provides a nice summary of her stated beliefs for us:
“Outside of a poultry coop, as her chickens and ducks squawked, Ms. Grulkowski ticked through the falsehoods she had read online and accepted as truths in the past year: The Covid vaccine is more dangerous than the coronavirus. Global child-trafficking rings control the political system. Black Lives Matter was responsible for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The United Nations is plotting to control world population and seize private land. Mr. Trump was the rightful winner of last year’s election. Even in Cascade County, where Mr. Trump won 59 percent of the vote, Ms. Grulkowski argued that 3,000 illegal votes were cast.”
One of the greatest hits on her public Facebook posts is spreading the “Big Lie” about election integrity. In one example, Grulkowski wants us to “write to the Secretary of State, Legislators, and Congressman to encourage them to investigate Montana’s 2020 election.” What information is Grulkowski looking for? Does she think the elected Republicans she is asking people to write to were illegitimately elected? Did Trump not get 56.9% of the vote in Montana in 2020? Were Democrats robbed of their seats?
It really makes a person wonder. What kind of detachment from reality can we expect next if she is elected?
Montana Republicans want to ban all abortion and more with their 2022 Party Platform
In July 2022, the Montana Republican party approved a new party platform at their platform convention. You might be asking yourself. What the funk is a party platform? Why should I care? Well, well, well, you’ve come to the right place and you absolutely should care.
What the funk is a party platform?
A political party platform is a formalized set of goals supported by a political party. By checking out a party’s platform you can see a party’s principles, goals and positions. This helps predict what legislators and leaders will actually do if they’re elected. For example, this data analysis found that “Overall, Democrats in Congress voted for positions that matched their platforms 74 percent of the time in the past 30 years, while Republicans did so 89 percent of the time.” This year the Montana GOP successfully introduced platform language to explicitly call on the Republican legislators to identify bills that link to specific elements in the platform and to pass at least 20 such bills in each chamber to ensure that “Party Platform goals become a priority each session.” We absolutely can expect the MT GOP platform to have a direct connection to the laws passed by Montana Republicans in the future.
What does a Montana Republican majority in 2023 look like?
Glad you asked! Let’s take a gander at what Montana Republicans have put in their party platform to see what kind of shit they’re bringing for us in 2023.
For abortion rights, the Montana Republican platform now states, “We support complete ban on elective abortion.” And yes, they mean a complete ban on abortions with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother. At the Republican convention, a couple of moderate Republicans tried to soften the language to provide exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. Those attempted arguments were met with boos and voted down. Cheers were heard when Republican Derek Skees of Kalispell interjected, “I was involved in helping put this language in here: life begins at conception. Period.”
What other areas do we have to worry about? Too many to list. Here are some other areas with concerning language from the Republican party platform:
LGBTQ+ issues “We believe the ideal traditional family structure is a father and a mother….” “We support policies and services that preserve and strengthen the traditional family units as well as promoting the wellbeing and innocence of children and youth.” Where do these positions leave space for our LGBTQ+ citizens?
Undermining of public schools, “adopt school choice policies.” “Facilitating programs that allow money to follow the child for education opportunities…inside or outside the public school system.”
Inaction on climate change “we…oppose any regulation on domestic energy production or consumption. We oppose any and all parts of the Green New Deal, the ‘War on Fossil Fuels’, the Paris Climate Accord…”
Attacks on worker rights “We believe that membership in labor bargaining units should be optional.”
Wow.
I do not look forward to living in a state moving full speed ahead towards this agenda. Republicans have made it clear that they intend to reshape Montana into a Big-Government haven with no respect for individual privacy. If Republicans maintain their stranglehold on state offices, Montana’s future looks dystopian indeed.
Republican Darling JD Hall’s Fall From Grace Exposes Allegations of Serious Crimes
Great Falls Republicans were quick to embrace far-right extremist Jordan Hall. On February 17, 2022, Hall was the featured speaker for the Republican “Pachyderm Club.” Public Service Commissioner Randy Pinocci is a vocal supporter of disgraced pastor Jordan Hall. Pinocci went so far as to be featured in a newspaper advertisement supporting Hall. Yet Republicans throughout Great Falls have been utterly silent amid Hall’s extreme fall from grace. Who the funk is Jordan Hall?
Hall found infamy after defaming a prominent Indigenous, Two-Spirit lobbyist, Adrian Jawort. Jawort sued Hall, and after a scary and prolonged trial, Jawort prevailed. Hall eventually admitted his entire story was a lie. However, before losing the lawsuit against him, Hall went on a statewide tour, spreading hate, homophobia, and transphobia. This included several stops in Great Falls, rubbing shoulders with our own local right-wing extremist politicians.
Hall’s dangerous behavior escalated, and he threatened to kill Raph Graybill, attorney for Jawort. Hall also made disparaging comments about Great Falls’ own Judge Best who presided over the case. Shortly after losing against Jawort, Hall faced yet another accusation of defamation.
Despite Hall’s clear lack of character and extreme bigotry, there’s been not a peep from the Great Falls’ politicians that welcomed Hall with open arms. Perhaps this is not a surprise, given the pervasive culture of homophobia within the Republican Party. (Remember, Great Falls received a mere 6 out of 100 points in the 2021 Municipal Equality Index Scorecard.) However, Hall’s most recent offenses seem entirely at odds with the “family centered” façade Republicans cling to.
Previous hatemongering notwithstanding, Hall’s downward spiral has only gained momentum since his court losses. Hall’s newest hits include:
– Arrest for suspicion of DUI and weapons charges – Admission of drug abuse and a felony charge for drug possession – Investigation into potential bankruptcy fraud – Investigation into claims Hall embezzled around $10,000 from his church – Investigation into a serious incident of spouse and child abuse including strangulation and assault with a deadly weapon
Clearly Hall’s disgusting and hateful rhetoric towards the LGBTQ+ community and his threats towards attorneys didn’t dissuade Pinocci from offering his full support. Nor did it prevent the local Pachyderm Club from inviting this bigot to speak to their group. GF Republicans have clearly been infiltrated by far-right conspiracy nuts…like the rest of the Republican Party across the state.
Hall tweets a warning to Greybill and transphobic message to Jawort
Make no mistake about it, the Republican Party is out to get your right to vote. Never mind that Republicans swept the 2020 elections across the state. Never mind those allegations of election fraud across the country and here in Montana have proven to be paranoid fantasies. The Republican Party is forging ahead with its plan to make it significantly harder to vote, particularly for groups of people who have traditionally voted for Democrats.
At the recent Montana Republican Party convention, changing how voting is conducted was high on their agenda. Don’t be fooled by their rhetoric about “problems” in the current system of voting. Their push is about changing the rules so Republican candidates have an advantage in elections.
Speaking in favor of requiring hand counting of ballots, Great Falls Representative Lola Sheldon-Galloway said she supported the change, because she wanted something for Republican clerk and recorder candidates to run on. And she added, “If we’re going to do hand ballots counting, we need the people of this party (Republicans) counting those ballots.”
In a convention which demonstrated that the Montana Republican Party is firmly in the hands of the most extreme factions of the Party, opposition to the far-right agenda was not tolerated. Representative David Bedey called out the mythology of election fraud in Montana, saying, “These attacks — unfounded attacks — on Montana’s election system does nothing but degrade the confidence our citizens have in this fundamental process.” Bedey’s comment was greeted with loud boos from the audience. The measure to require cumbersome hand counting passed. No doubt the Republicans will want to see the final election results written with quill pens dipped in ink.
A mere 19 votes decided the House District 23 primary last night. Establishment candidate Brad Hamlett lost out to candidate Melissa Smith. The city’s only Democrat primary race was an incredibly close call. Hamlett previously served in the State Senate from 2009 – 2017. Hamlett appears to have neither a website nor a current facebook page. Perhaps Hamlett was relying on his name recognition to breeze through the 2022 primary. Whatever the strategy, Hamlett lost out to Smith receiving 300 votes to Smith’s 319.
Other big winners of the night include Democrat Monica Tranel for Montana’s 1st District House seat. Tranel beat out primary opponents Cora Neumann and Tom Winter, garnering 34.853 (65%) votes. Representing Democrats for the 2nd District House seat, Penny Ronning won with 20,017 (58%) votes, beating out Skylar Williams and Mark Sweeney. Although Sweeney passed away before the election, his name remained on the ballot. Shockingly, some Democrats encouraged others to still vote for Sweeney, thus allowing the Democrats to call a convention. All respect to the friends and loved ones of Sweeney, but suggesting folks vote for a dead man rather than the living female candidate or Indigenous candidate was not a good look for Democrats. Ronning now faces a tough battle against incumbent and seditionist Matt Rosendale.
Moving into the general election in November, Democrats will need big turn-out to flip Montana back to its previous-purple splendor. Congratulations to last night’s winners!
All election results taken from: electionresults.mt.gov
Notice the Republican yard signs on 10th Avenue South? Have you noticed that they are almost all in front of casinos, low rent motels and empty lots? Have to wonder what’s up with that. So, we took a minute to look a few things up.
Researching ownership of commercial property is tricky business since many owners create different legal entities to hold property and because the named owner may have little control over the property. With that said, here is a list of the casinos. Palace Casino, Cash Out Casino, Player’s Casino, Cash Out Gold Casino- (this one is owned by Buttrey Realty. Yes, that Buttrey). The motels are The Western and Plaza Inn (both owned by Metha Mukesh)
One must wonder why these are the only businesses with big bunches of Republican signs on 10th Ave South. Could it be that these businesses know that Republicans carry their water in the legislature?
