by Ken Toole | Dec 27, 2024 | Guest Articles
In response to GOP state representative Greg Overstreet’s guest column, “Our legislators are just like you,” I must say that none of the Republicans mentioned in his column are in any way like me. A job doesn’t make a person. Instead, it’s a person’s integrity and ability to make decisions based on reality that matter.
It’s safe to say that every Republican Overstreet listed voted for Donald Trump, a man found civilly liable for sexual abuse, a convicted felon, an adulterer, a serial liar, and, in general, a disreputable, vindictive human being. But, apparently, as long as Trump hates the same people they hate, he gets their vote. So much for integrity!
Part of integrity is having consistent values. Why are so many Republicans bent out of shape that transgender people be allowed to make decisions about their own bodies, when the vast majority of Republicans think nothing about instructing a doctor to take a knife to the penis of any newborn sons they have? Obviously, it’s not the genital surgery that matters. It’s the bigotry.
Many of those same Republicans proudly use Christianity as a club while ignoring the reality of what is actually in the Bible. Denying a woman’s right to abortion is the most prevalent example of this. The Bible clearly gives instructions for forcing a woman to miscarry in Numbers 5:11-31, and elsewhere it states that life begins at first breath. It’s one reason few Christian sects spoke out about Roe v. Wade until it became a political issue they could profit from.
Also, part of ignoring reality is the Republican Christian Nationalist claim that the United States was founded as a “Christian nation.” Again, there is written evidence to the contrary. The English version of The Treaty of Tripoli was read aloud in the U.S. Senate and unanimously approved before President John Adams signed it on June 10, 1797. Article 11 of that treaty states, “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion . . .”
And then there is the science of climate change. That Donald Trump called climate change a hoax doesn’t make it so. Facts don’t care what Trump says, but, obviously, Republicans are willing to ignore the science—endangering their own children and grandchildren—both in the name of greed and in submission to their authoritarian leader.
On the subject of greed, how are an overwhelming percentage of Republicans able to reconcile their claims of Christianity while being led by a billionaire president, who campaigned with the richest man in the world, and will soon give the rich massive tax cuts while cutting programs for seniors, the sick, and the poor? Isn’t that the opposite of what Jesus preached in the Bible?
So, no, I am not at all like Mr. Overstreet and his Republican associates. And neither are the roughly 40 percent of Montanans who voted against most things they stand for. We may be a minority—for now—but fifty years from now, when students study this era in history classes, it will be the Republicans, not the rest of us, who they’ll look at as they shake their heads in sadness and disbelief.
• Bio: Marty Essen is a college speaker and multi-award-winning author of three nonfiction and five fiction books. His latest, “The Silver Squad: Rebels With Wrinkles,” will be published on January 10, 2025.
by Guest Writer | Aug 13, 2024 | Guest Articles
By Jim Edwards
We’re past the time to “debate” climate change, it’s real – and it’s a problem. We need Congress focused on bi-partisan solutions for addressing it.
We need to be solving it so we can live in a stable climate and not enduring the climate-driven extreme weather events – wildfires, droughts, heatwaves, and the resulting low flows and warming water temps in our rivers and reservoirs. 2023 was the hottest year since records have been kept and 2024 is likely to beat it. Besides rising global temperatures, we’re seeing all sorts of other negative impacts, like more frequent and extreme droughts, floods, and severe, dangerous storms.
However, since the “debate” seems to keep cropping up, I’d like to remind my fellow Montanans that there is overwhelming consensus within the scientific community on these fundamental points regarding human-induced climate change:
- Earth’s global average temperature is increasing;
- Due to our burning of fossil fuels, human emissions of greenhouse gasses, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), are the main cause of the warming;
- International, independently derived research results ALL pointing towards the same finding provide a high degree of confidence that climate scientists are on the right track. The scientific community continues to add new findings and knows that many details about climate interactions aren’t fully understood and require significant, additional, continued research.
Climate defines the range in temperature and precipitation patterns making up our weather. Since the 1800s, the climate has warmed. Since World War II, the dominant contributor has been the burning of fossil fuels—coal, oil and natural gas. All contain carbon. When burned, they emit potent gases, mostly CO2, into the atmosphere. These emissions act like a down blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and thus raising temperatures, and creating droughts. As more water evaporates into the atmosphere, it provides fuel for storms and more intense rainfall.
Nearly 100 percent of climate scientists are now convinced, based on the evidence, that human-caused global warming is happening. Still, the general public perceives there is significant “debate” among scientists – why?
A campaign of obfuscation regarding climate change science has been underway since the late 1980s, funded in large part by the fossil fuels industry (quite similar to what the tobacco industry did 30 years earlier regarding the correlation of tobacco use and cancer prevalence).
In the early 1990s, the Western Fuels Association (with funding from Exxon and others), conducted a massive PR campaign to “reposition global warming as a theory (not fact)”, using dissenting scientists (industry funded), to create the impression of ongoing scientific debate.
My brother spent 40 years as an engineer working in the coal side of ExxonMobil (Exxon is now 100% divested of its coal portfolio). He’s helped educate me to the fact that for the first 30 years of his career, Exxon was invested in climate change denial; within the past 15 years, Exxon has pivoted and is now fully on board with the Paris Climate Agreement.
Scientists do not disagree about whether climate change is human-caused. There are only a very few, and even fewer with scientific backgrounds relevant to climate science, who promote “debate”. Many individuals who pose as “experts” in media sources are not scientists at all, or else have no real background in actual climate science.
People from all walks of life and all political stripes care about climate change and want to see the problem fixed as soon as possible.
To leave a healthy, stable world for future generations, we need to act now, get creative, and work energetically together. For solutions, please see https://citizensclimatelobby.org/
Jim Edwards
Member of the Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL)
Jim founded Mountain West Benefits (MWB) consultancy in 2003. MWB provided health insurance advisory services and was Montana’s largest benefit consultancy firm, advising large employer, association and union sponsored plans covering over 35,000 individuals.
In 2012 Jim and his partner, Richard Miltenberger, founded the Montana Health Co-op (now Mountain Health Co-op). Jim sold MWB to the Leavitt Group in 2015 and retired in 2017. Jim and his wife Sheila have four ordinary adult children and three brilliant grandchildren.
by Ken Toole | Jul 30, 2024 | Guest Articles
This editorial was published in the Missoula Current.
The American Prairie recently announced two property acquisitions in Phillips County, one of the seven counties in which we own property. Chuck Denowh, policy director for United Property Owners of Montana, used this announcement to question our presence in Central Montana.
Mr. Denowh lists a “parade of horribles” regarding American Prairie, accusing us of hastening the decline of central Montana’s agricultural economy and communities and threatening Montana’s general fund revenues by our non-profit status. He even holds us responsible for increases in food prices.
Mark Twain quipped, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” Here’s what we know:
Around 62 percent of Montana’s land is dedicated to agriculture with more than 58 million acres of farms and ranches. A recent article about American Prairie in Gun Dog Magazine noted, “If American Prairie is afflicting the local economy, it hasn’t shown up in the data. In fact, unemployment in the region has gradually fallen since American Prairie was established, and population is up slightly. The agricultural sector is currently at a ten year high.”
In 2023, 89% of our total land base was leased to local cattle ranchers supporting more than seven thousand head of cattle. On lands where our herd of 900 bison graze, American Prairie pays a per capita tax 2.7 times higher than those fees charged for cattle.
American Prairie pays property taxes for land, vehicles, and equipment, just like every other rancher. Staff and lessees living on American Prairie land or in nearby communities pay into their local tax bases. American Prairie contributes to increased revenue from lodging taxes as we continue to promote visitation in the region. In the last four years, American Prairie has paid more than $573,000 in taxes (real, personal, use, etc.) to the counties where we own property.
America’s farmers, the world’s most productive, annually produce food surpluses that last year supported exports worth $175 billion. The recent increases in the cost of food are an inflationary phenomenon driven by a massive injection of federal money into the nation’s economy.
Land prices are increasing across the United States, including ranch and farmland in Montana. The 2022 USDA Land Values Summary found the value of pasture land in the state rose by 10.7 percent per acre between 2021 and 2022, a little less than the nationwide average increase of 11.5 percent. Data like this indicates that American Prairie is not driving the cost of land.
The growth of American Prairie has little influence on the long-term demographic and economic trends in Central Montana. Extended drought, market fluctuations, international trade policies, personal family decisions, and global integrated agricultural markets have much larger impacts.
We buy land from willing sellers and are but one player in the marketplace. We pay market rates and are limited by IRS regulations from paying more than 10 percent above appraised value. Having an additional buyer in the market place is surely a benefit, and we are helping families secure their futures.
American Prairie is organized in section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. As such we are exempt from business income tax and our donors receive a tax benefit. It is interesting to note that Montana’s property tax system annually exempts over $50 million of property taxes for tax-exempt organizations and certain tax-exempt types of property.
Montana’s non-profits play important and often vital roles in our communities. They provide support for cultural and religious institutions, fill gaps in health care, and offer enhanced educational opportunities. Instilled during our nation’s founding, our deeply ingrained culture of philanthropy is the envy of the world. If Mr. Denowh wishes to campaign to change this situation, I wish him well.
A final note: Mr. Denowh represents an organization allegedly supporting property rights and limited government. Yet he is the ringleader of efforts to use the power of the State to attack the legitimate business practices of American Prairie. Isn’t it ironic that a property rights group seeks to use the cohesive force of government to intervene in the peaceful and voluntary transactions of consenting parties?
Pete Geddes is American Prairie’s Vice President and Chief External Relations Officer. He has been with the organization since 2011.
by Guest Writer | Mar 21, 2024 | Guest Articles
By Emily Wolfram
Warren Buffet said “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” The Great Falls Symphony Association (GFSA) is learning this lesson after emailing a PDF letter to the five members of the Chinook Winds quintet to inform them that their jobs will be eliminated at the end of May.
I was the GFSA Manager of the Core from 2016 to 2019 and after resigning I continued playing as section cellist with the orchestra. I am also married to the bassoonist of the Chinook Winds. My experience gives me a unique perspective on where the GFSA was eight years ago and how it has come to its current state. My goal is to provide context to information and aid in understanding the current situation.
The Chinook Winds is one of two chamber ensembles in the GFSA “Core.” Along with the Cascade Quartet, they have performed in Great Falls and communities across the state for decades. The symphony has been struggling with finances for several years and its leadership has chosen to fix the problem for the moment by eliminating the quintet, a 30-year legacy. This sacrifice may help the budget in the short term, but the problems that have led to this choice and arisen as a result of it will still exist after the quintet is gone.
One recurring question is “how did they decide to do this?” It seems as if those in charge lack a basic understanding of what these musicians do and how it affects the symphony’s ability to deliver its mission and serve the community. The gap in knowledge makes sense when you consider that the GFSA’s organizational hierarchy has been gradually altered to isolate leadership from the mission. At the start of Hillary Rose Shepherd’s tenure as the executive director, board meetings included reports from representatives of the orchestra, choir, Cascade Quartet, and Chinook Winds. This opportunity to connect the board with “the boots on the ground” of music making has disappeared over the years. At present, no one from the Core is allowed to attend board meetings. There is a board role called “director representative of the orchestra,” but since this person is not required to be part of the musician-elected orchestra council it is unclear how this role is obligated to represent the expertise and interests of the musicians.
A lack of skilled administrative leadership has also plagued the GFSA. Management has not utilized resources wisely or budgeted adequately for operational changes. In 2022 the Core musicians agreed to not accept a raise or cost of living adjustment (COLA) for this fiscal year in order to support their colleagues and help the GFSA reach budget goals. As the core had advocated for, the symphony increased per-service fees for non-core orchestral musicians. While this was a positive move on behalf of the performers, it was a significant increase in operating expenses and it is not clear that there was a new grant, donor, or fundraising initiative to cover the cost.
Poor decisions and missed opportunities are also evident in how the GFSA handled the Core itself. There was a Manager of the Core position filled until 2019 (when I resigned), after which the GFSA discontinued this role. At this point, the symphony all but stopped utilizing the Chinook Winds to serve its mission, earn touring revenue, garner local support through outreach, and expand its impact as it had done successfully in the past. In 2022 the GFSA also started using The Newberry for the Chamber Series concerts. The venue is popular and may have helped draw a few new audience members but it was clearly an unsustainable choice considering prior history of this program’s budget.
The most worrisome administrative failure is leadership knowing that the Core residency program was a financial problem for eight years and, in all that time, not finding solutions or even communicating about it. Melanie Pozdol, past Chinook Winds oboist (2012-2016) and current Associate Director of Prospect Management and Analytics at the Kellogg School of Management, commented “I had a one-year overlap with Hillary at the end of my tenure with the GFSA. If the core program was facing serious financial issues then, this would have been useful information for the entire organization to be made aware of. I certainly don’t recall this being transparently communicated to the core musicians at that time; if it was, the extent of the financial issues were not made explicitly known to the GFSA musicians as a whole. Fundraising, relationship building, and organizational change take time, so I think that if new solutions had been analyzed back then perhaps the GFSA would be in a different place today. Better transparency and communication along the way would have also helped to offer better solutions for the long-term.”
Administrative problems aside, the sudden ending of a beloved ensemble has caused a loss of trust on multiple levels—the ramifications of which will be felt now and well into the future.
The GFSA reputation has been jeopardized in the orchestra world in Montana and beyond and this will affect audition pools in the immediate future. The nature of the Chinook Winds’ dismissal was appalling to professional musicians everywhere. All quintet members are moving on and the GFSA will need to find substitutes and hold auditions for next season’s replacements but potential applicants will likely hesitate to apply for an organization that divests in the quality of its programming and treats its employees this way. Sources close to the orchestra also report that some on the GFSA substitute list have decided not to sign contracts for the next season because of what happened to their colleagues. Coincidentally, Grant Harville announced his own resignation in February 2024 and the GFSA will be conducting a music director search in the next two years. The elimination of the quintet stands to inhibit efforts to hire a qualified music director who may have been drawn to the organization by a program like the Core.
Many of the rest of the orchestra have also lost trust in the administrative leadership. There is so much about this choice that contradicts the symphony’s own mission and values that they are struggling to make sense of it. Symphony musicians were made aware of the GFSA’s financial troubles when they rallied to help with the annual fund drive in December 2023. But no one had any warning that blame was being put on the Chinook Winds specifically. Non-core symphony musicians are also concerned about how this loss will affect the overall quality of orchestral performances. Dennis Dell, GFSA musician since 1973, says, “This is a huge loss…with the efforts of many community leaders, we added the Cascade Quartet that gave us outstanding leadership for our string sections. Then we added the Chinook Winds that pushed the quality of our group to a new level. In the past, when we have faced problems, we got together all interested patrons to solve the problems and to keep our symphony alive and continuing to grow…The decision to eliminate the Chinook Winds, coming from a small group of people is a huge set-back to a group I have given most of my adult life to as a performer!” Longtime GFSA cellist, Ruth Johnson also recognizes the loss will be felt beyond the concerts at the Mansfield. She notes, “The loss of these musicians will unequivocally challenge the GFSA to maintain the level of musicality that has been established with the strong core that the Chinook Winds have provided. As a retired music educator for the Great Falls Public Schools, I feel remorse for future music students who will be without their inspiring master classes, performances, and private lessons. Our music programs have been stronger having the Chinook Winds performing and teaching in our community.”
The most upsetting breach of trust is between the GFSA administration and the public. Three days after the infamous PDF to the Chinook Winds, the GFSA released a statement (ironically another PDF-style letter) to apologize and explain itself. It states “There have been several conversations with our musicians, including the Chinook Winds, regarding the Symphony’s inability to continue deficit spending…The members of the Winds were also aware for several months that the Chinook Winds program was of specific concern.” According to both Core ensembles, this is false. The quintet members made it clear in an interview with The Electric that they expected some kind of cut in pay or programs but not the elimination of an entire ensemble. There was no indication that the quintet was a financial concern apart from the quartet, nor is there any logical argument for this to be true: they are nearly parallel ensembles. In the months leading up to the decision, there were regular meetings including members of both ensembles and neither one was singled out as a particular problem. The latest social media statement from the Cascade Quartet falls along the same lines. “We were prepared for across-the-board salary cuts (including the administration), but not for this. We were never aware that this outcome, the Cascade Quartet being retained but not the Chinook Winds, was being considered.” The GFSA letter ends with, “it took many years to conclude that retiring the program was a necessary financial step.” The phrasing of this statement is troubling because it sounds as if ending the quintet has been on the table for years and the information was withheld from supporters and musicians who could have stepped in to help. The 23-24 season would have been a good time to appeal to the community for support. Just last month, Norman Menzales celebrated the culmination of a four-year recording project with a flute concerto performance at the Mansfield Theater and the Chinook Winds had a well-received Chamber Series collaboration with MSU Billings artist Jodi Lightner. All of the positivity surrounding these recent events make the GFSA’s decision and statements more bewildering and apparently disingenuous.
Trust is a hard thing to earn and an easy thing to lose. If trust is lost in a relationship, sometimes it can be regained with a lot of time and a clear, consistent improvement in behavior—if one is lucky. In order for an organization like a symphony to recover trust, change has to take place among the people who make decisions: leadership. As a group, the board of directors and executive director carry the responsibility of being stewards of this orchestra. That is where we—the current musicians, community members, patrons, donors, and future auditioners—will look for change.
by Ken Toole | Mar 15, 2024 | Guest Articles
If you are interested in what it was like growing up with Montana Historian K. Ross Toole, the formation of the Montana Human Rights Network, the fight against electric deregulation, the extremism of the Gianforte administration and the Cult of Trump, you might want to check out this podcast with Russell Rowland interviewing Ken Toole.
Episode Eleven – Ken Toole – by Russell Rowland (substack.com)
