The decision by Cascade County to pay Rina Moore $52,500 shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. It isn’t because of the “nuisance value” of making her political belief discrimination complaint go away. It’s because anyone with any experience in employment law could see the county was going to lose this lawsuit and the liability was going to be much, much bigger as time went on.
Here is What the County’s Lawyer Said
Consider this statement by the outside counsel, Jordan Crosby, hired by the county. She explained the process of the State Human Rights Bureau’s (HRB) investigation. The HRB investigator can issue a “reasonable cause” finding that indicates the investigator believes discrimination occurred.
“But there were a lot of concerns related to some of the things that happened during that hiring, and they continued to keep coming back to those. and from my experience, which my background is, I defend these cases all across the State of Montana. When you’re getting those kind of comments from the investigator during the process. It is likely you’re going to be getting a cause finding. and, as we know, with the cause finding that sends us down the route of a lengthy public hearing process through the Hearings office and why that is important is there can be significant damages awarded.”
She went on to explain, “But there were some facts that I think definitely caused me concern that we would get a reasonable cause finding.”
She concluded,
“In the grand scheme of this case. It is actually, I think, very relatively minimal of what the county would ultimately pay.”
To see the video of the entire meeting follow the below link.
I worked as an investigator for the State Human Rights Commission in the 1980s. During that time I investigated hundreds of discrimination complaints. I then worked for the Montana Office of Public Instruction as the Personnel Director. I was responsible for administering and overseeing hiring processes, similar to the “structured” hiring process which was used by Cascade County in hiring the new administrator in the elections department, Terry Thompson.
I watched the interview process for the selection of the elections administrator on the internet. I also reviewed the scoring system used by the county and the individual scores by each of the county commissioners. By any measure, Rina Moore, with16 years applicable experience and relevant education and training, was the most qualified applicant. Instead the job was given to Terry Thompson who has no direct experience, education or training. The whole system was obviously subverted by Rae Grulkowski’s manipulation of the scoring system Check out our previous post on the hiring process. https://wtf406.com/2024/03/grulkowski-plays-dirty-did-we-really-expect-anything-else/
It shouldn’t have surprised anyone when Rina Moore filed a discrimination complaint against the county, after the way she was treated in the hiring process. It also shouldn’t surprise anyone when an experienced outside counsel urged the county to settle the case.
Secretary of State is Up Next
Rina Moore also filed a discrimination complaint against Montana Secretary of State, Christi Jacobsen. The complaint alleges that Jacobsen discriminated against her by sending a letter to the county commission urging them not to hire her. The smart money says Jacobsen will be writing a check to Moore as well. Stay tuned.
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.
The online Montana newspaper The Daily Montanan published a really good analysis of the Cascade County Republican primary race between Eric Hinebauch and Rae Grulkowski. Below are excerpts from the article.
“In an interview with the Daily Montanan, Hinebauch described himself as a fiscal conservative but shied away from the label ‘moderate,’ and so did Great Falls legislator and Senate Majority Leader Steve Fitzpatrick in describing Hinebauch. But others who work closely with him know him as a centrist looking to get things done.”
“Grulkowski was a leader in the anti-Big Sky National Heritage Area movement, revolving around a conspiracy the federal government was targeting private property in the county,debunked in the New York Times in 2021.”
“In this June’s Republican primary, voters in Cascade County will choose whether to go with the middle-of-the-road conservative or a far-right conspiracist.”
Grulkowski has the advantage of far-right base support which provides her with volunteers, funding and energy. She jumped out of the campaign gates already having signs out all over the county. So far, Hinebauch is ahead in fundraising, reporting $12,085.70 for the reporting period ending March 15. Grulkowski has raised $7,125.00.
Hinebauch stands to benefit from centrist Republicans who are tired of the drama Grulkowski has brought to county government. There are also potential Democratic crossover votes in this election. The race for the Eastern District Congressional seat is the only Democratic primary race. And the truth is that a Democrat is highly unlikely to carry the general election in the Eastern District, no matter who wins. At the same time there are numerous contested Republican primaries, which are bound to attract interest across the ballot.
Yesterday, a press conference was held to announce the creation of the Election Protection Committee. This citizen group was created in response to the ineptitude of Sandra Merchant and the chaos happening within the Cascade County Clerk and Recorder’s office. Committee members Jane Weber and Pete Fontana delivered a public statement to the press. Their statements are transcribed below:
Jane Weber: Thank you for joining us today. I’m here with Pete Fontana.
We are here because elections in Cascade County are threatened.
The Cascade County Clerk and Recorder is not competent to do her job. She was recruited by the county’s new County Commissioner, Rae Grulkowski, to file for office. She won and now she’s in a panic because she does not know how to run an election.
Here is what we know:
Sandra Merchant presented her elections plan on March 31 st to more than 150 voters and the county commissioners; her plan was incomplete and lacked specificity. It created more questions than answers for voters. Even one commissioner questioned her rationale.
Sandra Merchant, when asked by one county commissioner and the Superintendent of School District 1, could not tell them what a poll election will cost those entities.
Sandra Merchant denied the Great Falls Public Schools from holding their traditional all-mail ballot election when mail balloting has successfully been done for decades!
Remember, elections for special districts like the School Districts, Irrigation Districts, Flood Districts or Library that are conducted by the county Elections Office must be paid for by the requesting entity. Yet, these entities are being forced to pay for a more expensive poll election when an all-mail ballot election has successfully worked for many years.
Sandra Merchant continually blames the Secretary of State’s new ElectMontana software for delays or problems in her office. When other counties were questioned about the software, we found their elections are moving forward on time without any major hitches. Can’t Sandra Merchant learn the system like everyone else?
Sandra Merchant hides behind County Commissioner, Rae Grulkowski, who attends almost every meeting with the Elections Official. You may recall, Commissioner Grulkowski attempted to stop voters from questioning Sandra Merchant at that March 31 st meeting by continually considering their question “not relevant.” The voters shouted her down several times so the voter’s questions could be asked.
Sandra Merchant allows her supporters to spread disinformation about offers made by the previous Election official to provide transitional training prior to Ms. Merchant’s swearing into office. THEN, when in office, Ms. Merchant NEVER ASKED FOR TRAINING from the Elections Office deputy until two days before she accepted a reassignment to another county Department.
Sandra Merchant continually confuses voters by flipflopping on her methodology – look at today! The required Public Test of the vote tabulator machine was originally scheduled for today, now it’s been moved to April 25 th . How did you find out? Certainly, not from the media, because Sandra Merchant never notified anyone, she merely posted it on the website.
Sandra Merchant couldn’t even pick up the phone until TODAY and call the Great Falls Public School Superintendent to notify him of the date change when his election is FIRST UP. When asked at county commission meeting, Commissioner Grulkowski said voters need to continually check the Election website for changes. With conditions constantly changing, how often must we do that, every hour?
Sandra Merchant, even after the Great Falls Public School District offered to help her, recruits election deniers to volunteer in the Election office. People who signed a 2022 petition proclaiming their rejection of the standing state and county election procedures. Specifically, those petition signers want to:
– ban all electronic voting equipment (excludes Automark machines)
– ban mail-in ballots except for overseas military, disabled or other qualified persons
– ballot turn in on election day only, with one day counting
– clean voter roles by requiring all qualified County residents to re-register”
AND THEN, Sandra Merchant allows those election deniers to work in the election office unsupervised. Why isn’t Sandra Merchant contacting the over 100 election judges to help in the election office? Election judges are trained and sworn to comply with election procedures, they are not elections deniers who reject the current election procedures.
Sandra Merchant hired a woman for her Election Office who was evicted from the 2020 November poll election by a county deputy attorney and deputy sheriff – evicted from this very hall – for violating poll watcher policies. Yes. She filmed the vote tabulator machine ON election day, a clear violation. That woman’s name is Deveraux Beatrice Biddick. She is second in command in the Election Office now. And, oh yes, she also signed that same petition renouncing current state and county election policies stated above. How does that happen?
Sandra Merchant attempted to change the June date for the library levy special election, a date that iscritically important if our library is to continue without reduced services.
And try to contact the Election Office?
Sandra Merchant does not accept or return telephone calls.
Sandra Merchant does not respond to emails.
THIS, FROM A WOMAN WHO CAMPAIGNED on the PROMISE OF TRANSPARENCY IN THE ELECTIONS OFFICE.
Where is the transparency????
How can the voters TRUST Ms. Merchant and her Election Office operations?
And now, let me turn the microphone over to Pete Fontana.
Pete Fontana:
We are here today because a group of concerned citizens has banded together to demand accountability in the Elections Office. We are pleased to announce the creation of the ELECTION PROTECTION COMMITTEE, a citizen group that will continue to investigate, monitor, and demand transparency from Sandra Merchant.
Our goal is simple – to protect free and fair elections in Cascade County and to demand the resignation of Sandra Merchant.
The Election Protection Committee has already sent numerous requests for information to the County. We will continue to share our findings with the media and the public. Further, we are examining the legal recourse available to voters of Cascade County. We are committed to fighting voter suppression and defending our Democracy.
We will not allow Sandra Merchant to disenfranchise Cascade County voters.
How can you get involved?
1. If you are not already receiving information, sign up to receive alerts about operations and changes made in the Elections Office – like the date of the Public Test.
2. Wear our buttons in public and talk to friends and relatives about the irregularities occurring in the Elections Office.
3. Attend events, like the Public Test, so you are informed.
4. Sign up to receive Election Judge training on April 26 and April 28 training by stopping by the Election Office. We need GOOD, HONORABLE people to serve as judges at the upcoming poll elections.
5. Register with the Election Office to be a poll watcher and monitor the May 2 nd election in this very building.
After hearing Sandra Merchant’s lame presentation last Friday, you probably thought things could not possibly get worse in the County Elections Office. Sorry to burst your bubble, but today things did get worse.
If you visited or called the Elections Office today, Jan Wenaas may have greeted you with a friendly smile and twinkle in her eye. She’s happy to have infiltrated the Elections Office camp, working behind the scenes as a self-proclaimed volunteer for Sandra Merchant. So, why is that a problem?
First, Wenaas is the face of Cascade County’s far-right “Election Integrity” committee, those pesky election deniers who believe the 2020 election was stolen, despite nearly 60 lawsuits whose outcomes proved otherwise. Yes, Wenaas believes The Big Lie; the same lie that MyPillow CEO, Mike Lindell, has been spouting and several Montana legislators have bought into – Steve and Lola Galloway, and Steve Gist to name a few.
In fact, Wenaas was instrumental arranging the bogus dog-and-pony show last year bringing State Senator Theresa Manzella of Ravalli County and her entourage of election deniers to Great Falls, including some dude from Colorado who claims he witnessed first-hand election malfeasance in his state. Their presentation contended vote count machines results are intercepted by Venezuelans, and the election outcomes changed at the blink of an eye. Wait, what??
Finally, Wenaas signed onto a petition sent to then County Commissioners Briggs, Larson and Ryan calling for them to immediately do among other things, the following:
Ban mail-in ballots except for overseas military, disabled or other qualified persons
Ballot turn in on election day only, with one day counting
Clean voter roles by requiring all qualified county residents to re-register
OMG, why is a woman who clearly does not believe in the state’s voting process sitting in front of a county computer at a desk in the Elections Office? So what that she’s a volunteer. She has access to the county phones. Does she also have access to voter registrations? Is she going to be handling ballots – those horrible mail ballots she believes the county should discontinue? Why is a volunteer working in the sacred space of the Elections Office, anyway?
Shocked yet? If so, tell your county commissioners:
Don’t waste your time contacting Commissioner Rae Grulkowski, newly dubbed by many county citizens as Sandra Merchant’s handler. Probably not worth your time to question the Elections Office self-proclaimed protector. And what’s up with that?
Maybe let Eric Bryson, Executive Director of the Montana Association of Counties, know you are concerned at: ebryson@mtcounties.org Next thing you know, Merchant will be telling us the vote counting machines don’t work, and everything needs to be hand counted. Stranger things have happened, or shall we say, are happening.
This flyer was distributed when Wenaas brought Manzella and the election denier crowd to Great Falls. Wenaas was one of the signers on this utterly insane petition circulated last year.
