by Ken Toole | Aug 25, 2024 | Elections
Rea Grulkowski announced her intention to file as a write-in candidate for Cascade County Commission at The Pachyderm Club meeting held on August 22. Back in June she lost her Republican primary race to Eric Hinebaugh by a wide margin. It seems she is unwilling to accept the primary results. Instead she is opting for organizing a write-in campaign for a seat on the County Commission.
No one should be surprised Grulkowski won’t accept the fact that she lost an election. She is a core activist in the local election denier crowd. She was also the major driver in the controversy which engulfed the Clerk and Recorder’s office after election denier Sandra Merchant took over in the last election. Ultimately, the full County Commission removed the election duties from Merchant’s control over the strenuous and often unethical objections raised by Grulkowski.
As of Friday, August 23, she had not filed a declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate with the Election Office as required by state law. She has until 5:00 September 3rd.
Write-in campaigns are rarely successful. They require strong organization and an aggressive education campaign. Most serious write-in campaigns have stickers printed to make sure the candidate’s name is spelled correctly on the ballot. With a name like Rea Grulkowski supporters who want to vote for her could easily misspell her name and have their vote thrown out.
The Secretary of State’s office has a rule on the use of stickers for write-ins. It advises candidates to consult with their local election administrator to assure the stickers can be used in the equipment local election offices use.
See Jasmine Taylor’s Tik Tok on this topic.
https://www.tiktok.com/@montana_jasmine/video/7406314192745319726?lang=en&q=jasmine%20taylor&t=1724452544645
by Helena Lovick | Aug 23, 2024 | Abortions Rights, Elections
My eyes about rolled into another dimension when I got the mailer about Jerry Lynch’s and Katherine Bidegaray’s dangerous liberal agenda. Right. If anything, that’s an endorsement based on the dark money groups that fund that nonsense. As noted by an editorial in the Daily Inter Lake, “Montanans for Fair Taxes is funded by out-of-state pharmaceutical companies, tobacco companies, uber-wealthy political extremists and Montana Chamber money. The same is true for another shady group hypocritically called Montanans for Judicial Accountability.”
But I’m sure they have everyday Montanans best interests at heart. (Great, now my eyes hurt from rolling so much).
Several of the current problems with the “Supreme” Court of the United States (SCOTUS) are due to the lifetime appointments of the justices with no real oversight. In Montana, we vote on our State Supreme Court justices which allows our court to be filled with judges accountable to the people. And that’s why dark money groups are so invested in putting their preferred picks on the court.
Why should we care about the makeup of Montana’s Supreme Court?
Welp, do you want reproductive freedom?
Nightmarish stories of American women suffering through a miscarriage and being turned away from emergency rooms have filled the news. Thankfully our State Supreme Court is currently holding back unconstitutional bans of abortion in Montana. Because of Montana’s robust State Constitution and right to privacy, abortion rights continue to be protected in Montana.
Yes! Abortion is still legal in Montana.
Let’s hang strong and keep abortion legal Montana!
Image from NYT
Because Montana continues to offer abortion services, residents of surrounding states have been traveling to our state for necessary healthcare. For example, the number of Idahoans traveling to Montana to receive abortion care has tripled in the last year. Of course, we can’t get complacent and ignore justice elections for our State Supreme Court. We know that established law can be thrown out by partisan judges with a personal agenda. Take a look at the SCOTUS with their bullshit decisions on a range of issues including Roe v. Wade.
Impartial Judges for the Win
Since I want a Montana Supreme Court that continues to function with impartial justices who adhere to the constitution, I will be voting for Jerry Lynch and Katherine Bidegaray. The fact that dark money groups have negative ads against them is just another sign that these two judges will actually be the impartial justices we need to protect our rights.
by Ken Toole | Aug 16, 2024 | Elections
According to media reports, anti-Semitic memes have been circulated in Montana communities once again. This time it appears that Tim Sheehy’s campaign circulated a meme featuring a darkened photo of Chuck Schumer (who is Jewish) superimposed over a puppet master’s hands manipulating radio, TV and a bag of money.
In May, several national news outlets covering the Schumer meme reported that the Sheehy campaign also employed a 21-year-old man named Caleb Oriet. Oriet has a history of placing bigoted posts on social media. The Daily Beast reported it this way, “The account belonging to the 21-year-old Montanan and self-proclaimed ‘Anglo-Saxon Protestant’ and ‘menace to society’ liked, for instance, a tweet that refers to Black Americans as ‘the most criminal, dependent, and socially destructive part of the population,’ and attacks GOP efforts to connect with Black voters.”
Oriet previously worked for Republican eastern district Congressman Matt Rosendale and gave speeches promoting Christian Nationalism. In 2022 Oriet was the director of a far right organization called The American Populist Union. In an interview with Great Falls Tribune he said, “You look at today’s population, 20.5% of Gen-Z says they’re gay. The political implications of this are disastrous. As people my age start taking power it’s just not going to be a good thing. Our main goal is the replacement of this very elitist American establishment with one that is willing to put America, her citizens and interests over that of foreign interests or international finance.”
The Sheehy campaign refused to respond to requests for information about the incident, instead going on the attack. The campaign said that the Daily Beast was a “trash New York tabloid,” and accused it of “tearing down a 21 year old man.” But after the article appeared, most of Oriet’s social media accounts were closed and his name no longer appeared on the campaign’s website. The Sheehy campaign continues to refuse to respond to questions about his employment status with the campaign.
Gallatin Republican Central Committee
In the middle of June, the Gallatin County Republican Central Committee circulated a similar meme featuring financier George Soros (who is also Jewish) controlling Obama, Biden and Harris. The meme featured a caption saying, “Our situation explained.” Both of these are tropes for anti-Semites promoting conspiracy theories that Jews control the media, banking industry and politics.
Perhaps more troubling is the fact that neither Sheehy’s campaign nor the Republican Central Committee have responded to leaders in the Montana Jewish community when they expressed concern about use of these memes. Nor did either respond to requests for interviews with the media.
Sheehy Has Plenty Of Company In The Republican Party
In the last legislative session, Gallatin County Democratic Legislator Ed Staffman, who is also a Rabbi, was scheduled to give the daily invocation in the Montana House of Representatives. At the last minute, he was informed that his invocation was being canceled by Republican Speaker of the House Matt Regier. Staffman said that he felt he was being shut down because he was not offering a Christian prayer. Another leader in the Jewish community said “The legislature is very single-minded right now. It’s focused on a white, male, Christian agenda.” https://wtf406.com/2023/12/the-oldest-hatred-antisemitism-visits-the-montana-legislature/
Just prior to the last legislative session, Cascade County Senator Jeremy Trebas retweeted a meme about Jewish people conducting child sacrifice. After being confronted about his tweet, Trebas took it down but refused to apologize. https://wtf406.com/2023/12/trebas-fails-to-apologize-for-anti-semitic-tweet/
There is a lot to be concerned about in all of these incidents. First, one has to wonder what kinds of things are being said about Jewish people outside the public eye and what are the beliefs of the officials who apparently tolerate and even defend these actions. The refusal of the officials in these incidents to respond to the leaders of the Jewish community who are rightfully concerned about anti-Semitism in our state and the impact it has on our Jewish citizens. Finally, ignoring inquiries from the media has become the campaign strategy of far too many politicians in our state. A functioning democracy requires an informed citizenry and denying access to public officials is fundamentally anti-democratic.
For more on this https://dailymontanan.com/2024/08/07/jewish-leaders-in-montana-concerned-about-sheehy-gallatin-co-republicans-posting
by Helena Lovick | Jun 18, 2024 | Elections
In 2017, in Las Vegas, a man decided to convert his firearm with a bump stock to allow him to rapidly fire over 1,000 bullets in 11 minutes into a crowd at a music concert. That mass shooting, in the endless stream of mass shootings in America, may have stood out to you because that coward murdered 60 people and wounded more than 850 people in those 11 minutes.
The vast majority of Americans support common sense gun regulations
The majority of Americans support common sense laws to prevent and reduce gun-related deaths like that horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas. Time and time again, the Republican extremists in our Congress and state legislatures bow down to the gun lobby and refuse to enact any reasonable measures to stop this insanity. But surprisingly after that mass shooting in Vegas, the Trump Administration issued a federal ban on bump stocks.
Our hijacked Supreme Court of the United States Doesn’t Care
But this June, the Supreme Court of the United States has struck down the Trump era law banning bump stocks.
SCOTUS says 60 people murdered in 11 minutes is not fast enough. We gotta have more bump stocks.
If nothing else, let this ruling open your eyes to the fact our Supreme Court has been hijacked with right wing extremists completely divorced from the will of the people. And you can lay the blame for that (and the fall of Roe v. Wade, and so much more) at the feet of convicted felon and former president Donald Trump. Because of Donald and his Republican enablers, the three Supreme Court Justices he appointed have shifted the balance of the court so they can make these right-wing fever dream legal interpretations.
Nobody is coming to save us — we have to save ourselves
We have to dig our country out of this mess and right now we can’t rely on an entire branch of our government to do it.
Let’s continue the calls for court reform and vote for people we can work with to stop and repair the damage. And hey, even conservative Justice Alito noted that Congress can change the law. Democrats are calling a vote this week. Will Republicans do the right thing or will they line up in lock step with the gun lobby again?
by WTF 406 Staff | Jun 14, 2024 | Elections
CALLING ALL LIBRARY LOVERS TO ACTION
The city commission will be selecting a library board member at their 7:00 pm commission meeting on Tuesday, June 18. Unfortunately, there is an effort to re-appoint anti-library levy activist, Noelle Johnson, to the library board for a full five-year term. In a political maneuver last year, former city commissioner, Eric Heinbach, nominated Johnson to finish the remaining term of a departing library board member. Johnson’s position is now up for a full five-year term appointment by the current city commission.
Not surprising, the anti-levy folks and book banners have bombarded city commissioners with emails in support of Johnson’s re-appointment. If you’ve attended a library board meeting in the last seven months, you must have noticed Johnson’s disruptive behavior and obvious disdain for the library operations. Library board meetings have become so contentious that they have been known to drag on for three hours.
YOU CAN HELP REPLACE THIS ANTI-LIBRARY BOARD MEMBER WITH SOMEONE WHO LOVES OUR LIBRARY AND WILL HELP CONTINUE THE GOOD WORK STARTED SINCE THE LEVY’S PASSING.
PLEASE send an email to all of the city commissioners supporting Bob Kelly, Sandor Hopkins, and Ashlynn Maczko. This approach gives the commission several qualified candidates to choose from.
Email the entire commission at:
[email protected] OR individually to:
Mayor Cory Reeves [email protected]
Commissioner Susan Wolff [email protected]
Commissioner Shannon Wilson [email protected]
Commissioner Joe McKenney [email protected]
Commissioner Rick Tryon [email protected]
BETTER YET, attend Tuesday’s (June 18) city commission meeting at 7:00 pm and speak directly to the commission.
Please voice your support for these candidates IN YOUR OWN WORDS both in your email and/or public comments.
PLEASE SEND YOUR EMAIL TODAY. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE.
Check out our TikTok call to action here: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTNJuB4Yr/
by Jasmine Taylor | Jun 6, 2024 | Elections
Great Falls voted in the primary election, determining which candidates will go on to the general election in November, and it was a bad day for MAGA Republicans. As official results rolled in, far-right ringleaders started falling like dominoes. For the past two legislative sessions, Republicans have held a strong majority. They’ve used this muscle to attack reproductive rights and raise our property taxes through the roof. Montana is worse for all they have done.
The tides have turned! Despite protests from folks who prefer business as usual, many Democrats crossed over and voted in the Republican primary. The strategy? Eliminate the far-right leaders, and keep them off the ballot in November. Looking at the primary results, it pays to think outside of the box.
Enjoy this list of far-right losers who will not be appearing on the ballot in November.
Rae Grulkowski
Grulkowski was the puppeteer behind the chaos and dysfunction that plagued the elections office last year. She’s been finishing out a partial term as County Commissioner. Lucky for us, Grulkowski WILL NOT BE ON THE BALLOT THIS NOVEMBER.
Lola Sheldon-Galloway
Sheldon-Galloway is a long-time legislator whose bad hats and even worse beliefs have plagued Montana for years. Nobody’s spent more time trying to control your uterus than Lola. Best known for claiming that you can’t get pregnant from rape, Lola hoped to jump from the House to the Senate. However, she had a big loss last night and WILL NOT BE ON THE BALLOT THIS NOVEMBER.
Steven Galloway
Steven served his first term in the House last session, and he used every minute of it to try and make himself richer. He focused on laws targeting renters and benefiting landlords. Slack-jawed Steven rode his wife’s coattails into one win, but this year he pissed off fellow Republican George Nikolakakos. According to local gossip, George then recruited his wife to run, and run she has. While we’ll be working hard to defeat her in November, right now we’re going to celebrate that Steven Galloway WILL NOT BE ON THE BALLOT IN NOVEMBER.
Randy Pinocci
When he’s not trying to fist-fight voters or engaging in (alleged) felony witness tampering, Pinocci is making over $100,000 per year as our Public Service Commissioner. This cycle, Pinocci was on the ticket with Tanner Smith running for Governor, and Pinocci as Lieutenant Governor. Not only did the Smith/Tanner ticket lose big, Pinocci couldn’t even win the election for local precinct person. Love that for him. After two big losses, Pinocci WILL NOT BE ON THE BALLOT IN NOVEMBER.
Sandra Merchant
It’s a really bad time to be Sandra Merchant. Late last year, the County Commision voted to remove all election duties from Merchant (the current Clerk and Recorder) due to her gross incompetence. Now, Merchant will be without her bodyguard, Grulkowski. In an embarrassing turn of events, Merchant was also unable to win her election for local precinct person. Admittedly, precinct races don’t have much weight, but it’s mighty fun to watch this particular fall. Let’s hope that with Grulkowski on her way out, Merchant will finally find the sense to resign.
Now what?
Looking ahead to November, it’s clear that Democrats have a lot of work to do. The worst Republicans have been ousted, but we don’t want to elect the ones remaining either. Despite the tantrums of Republicans bemoaning the crossover votes, what we’ve seen is that Democrats are finally ready to fight back. Now let’s go kick some ass.
