by Guest Writer | Dec 29, 2025 | Club America, Hate Group, Schools, Turning Point USA
Guest Post By Bill LaCroix
On December 9, the Corvallis, MT, school board voted unanimously, in the interest of “vigorous debate,” to approve a “Club America” chapter on their high school campus. “Club America” is part of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), the late Charlie Kirk’s explicit, well-funded scheme to insert TPUSA’s brand of White Christian Nationalist (read: hate) speech into every American high school.
But before getting to that, it is worth highlighting some of Kirk’s own words so there can be no mistake about his beliefs and his agenda for the future.
The late Charlie Kirk, in his own words:
- “I can’t stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term.”
- “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’”
- Joe Biden should “be put in prison and/ or given the death penalty for his crimes against America.”
- “You (non-white women) had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.”
- “Jews have been some of the largest funders of cultural Marxist ideas and supporters of those ideas over the last 30 or 40 years.”
- “MLK was awful. OK? He’s not a good person.”
- “We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.”
- “Democrats have given hundreds of billions of dollars to illegals and foreign nations, while Gen Z has to pinch pennies just so that they can never own a home, never marry, and work until they die, childless.”
- “Return America to its British roots.”
- “Prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact.”
- “The West is the best because of Christianity. For America to be great, we must remain majority Christian.”
- “I think it’s worth it to have a cost of…some gun deaths every single year, so that we can have the Second Amendment.”
Ever since Mr. Kirk’s shooting death on September 10, there has been a concerted state and national effort from the Right to make a martyr of him in the name of (apparently) the White Christian Nationalist cause. It’s reasonable for the average parent, voter and taxpayer, who normally assumes school staff’s first priority is to create a safe learning environment for all students, to now assume that public school staff (and possibly the Montana School Boards Association) have been warned off of any criticism of the late Mr. Kirk now that he’s dead and in the process of being canonized.
When asked about the legality of allowing a volatile, explicitly-hate-centered group to operate within a high school, the Montana School Board Association (MTSBA), which gives legal advice to Montana’s public school districts, opined that, if a high school student wants to start a Ku Klux Klan Club on campus, the school would be defenseless to stop it under Title VIII of the Education for Economic Security Act (the so-called 1984 Equal Access Act).
Well, notwithstanding MTSBA’s revealing post-shooting interpretation of “equal access” or the Corvallis School Board’s take on “vigorous debate,” there are some huge gaps you could drive a “Trump train” through in their deer-in-the-headlights acquiescence to the martyring of such a man or organization that have yet, to my knowledge, to be explored, discussed or explained:
Why, for instance, did the school board need to “approve” or “disapprove” a Club America chapter at all, if the law is so pat that even the KKK can get access to the school’s copy machine? The obvious answer is they didn’t, and their vote was theatre.
Voting unanimously to allow an after-school KKK (or a “Club America”) chapter to operate on campus is not their job, as defined by Title XIII of the 1984 Education for Economic Security Act, or any other reasonably-interpreted law. The issue before them was actually a concerned community asking them to refuse to give a divisive and harmful national group a foot in Corvallis High’s door. Protecting their charges from hate speech and its consequences, at least in this writer’s humble opinion, is, and I’d bet MTSBA’s in their clearer moments, would agree.
But if Title VIII (which was originally lobbied for by powerful “Christian” groups who wanted to insert school prayer on campuses) is the hill the Corvallis trustees (and maybe MTSBA?) want to embarrass themselves on, there are still unanswered questions that should concern any thoughtful parent, taxpayer or both.
According to Title VIII, the club needs an accredited school employee (not the janitor or lunch lady) to sponsor it, which, as of this writing, it does not have. The original sponsor backed out when they found out what TPUSA was about. So…no sponsor, no club, right? Why the vote on allowing it then? Title VIII also specifies that:
- The group is not disruptive.
- Persons of the community that are not part of the school may not “direct, conduct, control, or regularly attend meetings.”
- School officials preserve and have the right to monitor meetings.
- Officials preserve and have the right to require all clubs and/or groups to follow a set of guidelines.
- Persons of the community that are not part of the school may not “direct, conduct, control, or regularly attend meetings.”
So, if the Equal Access Act is indeed the aforementioned hill for our public education professionals, two points arise from these requirements. First is a question. How is Corvallis planning to make sure the “club” adheres to these rules when TPUSA’s mission specifically aims to break at least half of them? Corvallis Superintendent Pete Joseph assured attendees at the school board meeting several times, “I’m going to be heavily invested in the agenda items and topics that are brought up—it’s going to stay in that room. If it gets outside that room and people are feeling threatened, it will be shut down immediately.” Just the tone of that statement makes this writer pretty sure that Mr. Joseph is well aware of what he doesn’t want “outside that room.” which makes the statement meaningless. How, for instance, is Mr. Joseph going to “monitor” testosterone-charged teenage boys parroting the late Mr. Kirk’s beliefs about how women should “submit” to men and how contraceptives are not “biblical,” and then assure the community that a teenage girl won’t be impregnated against her will in the back seat of a Subaru by a Club America “true believer?” That’s like the 1920’s argument that the KKK was just a “civic service” organization teaching “leadership skills” and any untoward things they did on their own is…well…just unfortunate. (If you don’t believe that’s what the KKK was promoted as and let off the hook to do a hundred years ago, read a history book.)
Second is a call to activism to citizens concerned about TurningPoint USA being allowed into Corvallis High: Right now there is no sponsor. Therefore, no club, or at least there shouldn’t be. Is there? Better be a squeaky wheel and find out. Then, if and when it does materialize (it hasn’t yet), be there, in person, to monitor it closely to make sure school staff are on top of holding them to the non-disruptive guidelines of, say, a chess club.
by Ken Toole | Jul 11, 2025 | Republicans, Schools
Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Susie Hedalen was arrested for driving under the influence in Belgrade on June 22.
The arresting officer reported observing Hedalen driving 50 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone. When her car approached an intersection, she reportedly cut off other motorists who had the right of way. After stopping her vehicle, the officer said he detected a strong odor of alcohol. In addition, he stated that Hedalen’s eyes were bloodshot and watery, she had a dazed expression, and she was slurring her speech.
According to court documents, Hedalen acknowledged having one glass of wine. She failed a field sobriety test and subsequently refused to take a breathalyzer test. She was transported to Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital for a blood test, which was sent to the Montana State Crime Lab for analysis.
Hedalen’s office released a statement saying:
“I apologize and take full responsibility for my lapse in judgment that led to this incident. I want to thank the Belgrade Police for their professionalism and commitment to public safety. As I move forward from this personal issue, it will in no way impact my service to the people of Montana.”
Her chief of staff clarified that she was not on state business at the time of the incident.
The Montana Democratic Party called for her resignation:
“Hedalen made a dangerous decision to put lives at risk, and we demand full accountability and believe she must step down immediately.”
The Montana Republican Party declined to comment.
It seems that quite a few Republican officials have had encounters resulting in arrests or criminal legal proceedings. Here’s a list of our previous posts:
Thank you to the Montana Free Press for its coverage of this story. Read the full article here:
https://montanafreepress.org/2025/06/30/hedalen-apologizes-after-dui-arrest/
by Ken Toole | May 8, 2024 | Schools
The results of the local school board election are in! The winner, by a wide margin, is Marlee Sunchild. There were a total of 10,108 votes cast in the three-way race between Sunchild, Rodney Meyers and Tony Rosales. Marlee Sunchild received more than half the total vote at 5,668 with Meyers getting 2,568 and Rosales a distant third place at 1,755. Congratulations Marlee Sunchild!
by Ken Toole | Apr 23, 2024 | Schools
Back in early April, we wrote a blog post pointing out that most of the Libertarians who filed to run for legislature were removed from the ballot by the Commissioner of Political Practices for failing to file the paperwork required by law. We also pointed out that the current chair of the local Libertarian Party, Tony Rosales, was the treasurer for all of those candidates. The campaign treasurer’s main responsibility is to make sure the campaign is complying with legal filing and reporting requirements. Obviously, Rosales fell short of meeting those pretty simple obligations. https://wtf406.com/2024/04/cascade-countys-loopy-libertarians/
Rosales then appeared as a school board candidate and, in a separate post, we pointed out that allegations he was making about school personnel and policies were a bunch of baloney. https://wtf406.com/2024/04/school-board-candidate-attacks-gfps-employee-in-tik-tok-video/
The local Libertarian Party posted a response on the platform formally known as Twitter. The post said that the author of the post, Ken Toole, missed some “transmittal deadlines” 20 years ago when he served in the Montana Senate, implying that Toole should not criticize others for missing deadlines. The fact of the matter is that virtually all legislators have some bills that do not make the transmittal deadline. Take Randy Pinocci for example. In 2015, when he served in the House of Representatives, he had four bills that failed to make the “transmittal deadline.” Unfortunately, if Tony Rosales’ School Board campaign is any indication, facts and accuracy are simply unimportant to Cascade County Libertarians.
We can’t be sure Rosales is the author of the post. It was submitted under the name of the Cascade County Libertarians without author attribution. We assume that, since he is the chairperson, he was aware of it and approved of its content. In a message to Jasmine Taylor, who also writes posts for WTF406.com, the Libertarians ask her to let Toole know their response is, “Go make us a fucking sandwich Ken.” Wow! Haven’t heard anything quite that clever since 8th grade. Do we really want Tony Rosales on the School Board?
by Ken Toole | Apr 12, 2024 | Schools
In a bid to promote his own campaign, School Board candidate Tony Rosales has been issuing a series of attacks on the administration of the Great Falls School District. While it probably takes Tony a few minutes to come up with his phony accusations, the district has clearly spent a lot of time and effort to set the record straight. And that’s too bad, because the staff has more important things to do than replying to weird accusations from a wanna-be politician.
Is This Really How We Want School Personnel Spending Their Time?
The Electric published a good story that takes Rosales’ accusations point by point and covers the district’s response. What becomes clear from this most recent story is that Rosales either doesn’t know what he is talking about or doesn’t care what the facts are, as long as he throws dirt on dedicated public employees to further his own political campaign. Probably a bit of both. For the complete story, follow this link to the Electric’s article. https://theelectricgf.com/2024/04/10/gfps-responds-to-concerns-from-board-candidate/
One of Rosales’ central accusations against the district is that a staff member, Lance Boyd, sits on the board of Peace Place, a local nonprofit dedicated to providing respite care for disabled children. Peace Place is a great program that gives parents time to do shopping and other tasks that can be very difficult for parents of kids with special needs. Rosales asserted that this was a conflict of interest since other providers of similar services in the community did not get that “business” from the district, with the implication being that funding was being channeled unfairly to Peace Place.
Hey Tony, Who’s Got a Conflict of Interest?
Responding to questions from the Electric, Rosales said that he discovered this “conflict of interest” at a local meeting on autism and decided to challenge the district. Rosales posted that it was a conflict of interest for Boyd to serve on the board, as the district refers students to Peace Place and pays for those services. He said that he heard about the situation from another provider who was at the meeting.”
The other provider, who was apparently complaining that he was not getting referrals from the district, is Kevin Leatherbarrow, the owner of Go and Grow. The district explained that it was not referring to them, because Leatherbarrow had previously told him they did not want to accept federal funding which the district receives.
Tony Rosales is the Chair of the local Libertarian Party. Leatherbarrow ran as a Libertarian for the Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2020. Leatherbarrow has filed to run for the legislature in this election cycle, again as a Libertarian. Rosales also filed to run for the legislature as a Libertarian in this cycle but withdrew, apparently to run for school board. Tony Rosales is currently serving as Kevin Leatherbarrow’s campaign treasurer.
If you liked the controversy and paralysis which took over county government after electing aggressive anti-government conspiracy theorists Rae Grulkowski and Sandra Merchant, you might want to consider voting for Tony Rosales. But if you want the school district to remain focused on its job, educating our kids, vote for Marlee Sunchild.
