Gianforte Gov

he's GOVERNOR?!

djt stumps mult times 2018? praises body slam at same time as jamal k

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WALSH KIRK BLAZE?

Right-wing media escalate civil war rhetoric after Supreme Court rules against Texas in razor wire case | Media Matters for America

In response to a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire Texas laid along the border with Mexico, right-wing pundits are claiming the Biden administration has sparked a second American Civil War. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, two members of the court’s conservative block, sided with the three liberal justices in ruling for the federal government.

The issue stems from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to stretch razor wire over dozens of miles along the state’s southern border, a cruel policy that has failed in its stated objective of deterring unauthorized border crossings. The Biden administration opposes the measures, and has ordered the Border Patrol to remove the barriers. The stand-off between Border Patrol and the Texas National Guard escalated earlier this month, with federal officials blaming Abbott for the deaths of a mother and her two children who drowned in the Rio Grande. (Texas authorities dispute this version of events.)

For his part, Gov. Abbott pledged that Texas will “continue to deploy this razor wire to repel illegal immigration.” Although it may appear that Abbott is in direct defiance of the Supreme Court, the American Immigration Council’s Aaron Reichlin-Melnick explained that the ruling overturned an “order saying Border Patrol COULDN’T remove Texas razor wire to process migrants. It didn’t affirmatively rule that the Border Patrol COULD remove Texas razor wire.” Or, as the New Republic's Matt Ford put it, the Supreme Court “lifted an injunction” on the Department of Homeland Security, so there's “nothing in this case for Texas to obey or defy at the moment.”

This simmering confrontation is the new backdrop for an old story. During election years, conservative media outlets generally ramp up their attacks on immigrants. Separately, over the last year, conservatives have become increasingly comfortable calling for, threatening, or warning about a coming civil war in the country. Responses to the recent court ruling have married these two trends.

As the news broke on January 22, conservative YouTube streamer Tim Pool said it “looks like a Fort Sumter-esque type scenario,” referencing the first battle of the Civil War, adding that “it does feel like it could be escalating to this federal versus state conflict.”

That evening, former Fox News star Tucker Carlson posted on X (formerly Twitter), asking: “Where are the men of Texas? Why aren’t they protecting their state and the nation?”

The same night, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) wrote that “the feds are staging a civil war, and Texas should stand their ground.”

Then on January 23, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon appeared to favorably reference that post, saying “as Clay Higgins said” there is “kind of a civil war between the federal government and the state of Texas.”

Hours later, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk fantasized about Gov. Abbott openly defying the court’s ruling at the barrel of a gun.

Video CitationFrom the January 23, 2024, edition of Salem Media Group's The Charlie Kirk Show, streamed on Rumble

“So someone says right here, ‘Charlie, what would happen if Texas ignores the ruling? Will the government go to war with Texas?’” he asked.

“The federal government would come in, and some people would say, ‘Well, that's the seeds of a civil war.’ Is that what you want? Where does this end?” Kirk added moments later. “By the way, I'm all on board.”

“If we had an actual governor of Texas that was willing — 100% defy this,” Kirk continued, before advising Abbott on the logistics.

“If you're going to defy, here's how it works: press conference flanked by your most loyal Texas Rangers. ‘I am ignoring the Supreme Court's decision,’” Kirk said, adopting Abbott’s point of view. “‘I will enforce the border of Texas. If you're going to arrest me, you have to go through the Texas Rangers.’”

“If we had more governors on the border, it would be even more powerful,” he added, implicitly invoking the Confederacy. “Get every red state on board. Fly in every Republican governor.”

On Wednesday afternoon Abbott issued a statement invoking “Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself,” which he claimed is “the supreme law of the land.” Throughout the day, at least nine governors backed Abbott on X, even if they fell short of Kirk’s demand that they travel to the border. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp all posted their support for Texas, as did Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

In the same episode, Kirk told his audience that they had “better buy weapons,” and “have a lot of guns at your disposal.”

That afternoon, The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh echoed Kirk. “Red state governors will need to ignore the Supreme Court and do what needs to be done to protect their citizens and the border,” Walsh said. He later added, “The last civil war was unimaginable until it wasn't.”

In the early evening, Bannon returned to the topic with guest Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). “That Supreme Court decision that was made has now put the federal government at war with the state of Texas,” Greene said.

“If they fund a war in Ukraine when Zelensky is raising the white flag, asking for peace talks in Switzerland, and they weaken our border policy while the federal government is at war with Texas, that is truly, possibly the start of a civil war in this country,” she added.

Blaze TV’s Steve Deace also invoked the memory of the Civil War. “Basically, the Supreme Court has told Texas your choices are: be invaded or secede,” Deace said.

Video

CitationFrom the January 23, 2024, edition of BlazeTV's The Steve Deace Show

On January 25, Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade adopted the same framing on Fox & Friends.

Video

CitationFrom the January 25, 2024, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

“It feels like almost like a soft civil war,” Kilmeade said. “You’ve got all the Republicans saying, ‘Can we secure our borders?’ the Democrats saying, ‘I want this to go away’ and blaming Republicans, the President against the governor of Texas — the most independent state in the union. I mean, this is getting a little crazy.”

Fox News sounded little different than the fringe. “This is a constitutional crisis,” said conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, in a video titled: “Supreme Court Decision Provokes Civil War in Texas.”

The story was the same in the right-wing blogosphere, too, with conservative news site PJ Media asking, “Is Joe Biden Mounting a Civil War at the Border?”

Conservative influencer Jordan Peterson posted: “So is it the case that@TheDemocrats are truly ready to go to war with Texas?”

While right-wing media figures fantasize about a new civil war, their rhetoric has real implications for immigration policy. They are stoking xenophobia and nativism, and endorsing cruel policies that are already injuring and killing some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

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https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/greg-gianforte-henry-mcmaster/

Residents in South Carolina and Montana next month will lose access to federal unemployment benefits over what those states' Republican governors call a "severe workforce shortage." Experts say the move by Montana's Gov. Greg Gianforte and South Carolina's Gov. Henry McMaster is a "huge mistake."

As ABC News reports, South Carolina and Montana are the first states "to end participation in the unemployment enhancement programs." That program offered U.S. workers access to extra unemployment funds as part of the American Rescue Plan signed by President Joe Biden in March.

In astatement announcing South Carolina's "return to pre-pandemic unemployment program," McMaster complained: "In many instances, these payments are greater than the worker's previous paychecks."

"What was intended to be a short-term financial assistance for the vulnerable and displaced during the height of the pandemic has turned into a dangerous federal entitlement," he said.

In an effort to incentivize Montanans, Gianforte is offering a one-time "'return-to-work bonus' of $1,200 will be paid to people who rejoin the labor force and maintain employment for at least one month," according to ABC News. That money will also come from the federally-funded American Rescue Plan.

But Economy Policy Institute senior economist Heidi Shierholz says McMaster and Gianforte are making "a huge mistake."

"The idea that states are just going to forego that and allow all that money to be sucked out of their economy is just terrible economics," Shierholz told ABC News. "I just deeply hope that you don't see more states following this path because it's a huge mistake."

Shierholz said the narrative of a "severe workforce shortage" driven by increased unemployment benefits is based on a false premise. Currently, federal unemployment benefits offer laid-off workers an additional $300 per week, down from $600 at the end of last of July. According to Shierholz, if money was the motivator, that decrease from $600 to $300 would have made a marked difference in the unemployment rate last year.

"You should have seen a bump up in employment, and you can't see that in the data so it just points to that it wasn't really causing the labor supply effect," Shierholz said. "It's just difficult to imagine that something half that big is having any effect now."

And Shierholz is far from the only expert who warns that hiring issues in South Carolina and Montana won't be solved by depriving residents of enhanced unemployment benefits.

ABC News reports:

William E. Spriggs, an economist and professor at Howard University, said in an interview with ABC News that there is no data to prove that unemployment checks are preventing Americans from returning to work.

"There's no job shortage, in terms of workers. There's a wage shortage," said Spriggs, adding that research shows many employers "want to pay rotten wages and have rotten hours."

Last week, the Washington Postpublished an analysis that likewise dispelled the framing of a "worker shortage" based on enhanced unemployment. "At the most basic level, people are still hesitant to return to work until they are fully vaccinated and their children are back in school and daycare full-time," the Post analysis declares.

Many Americans, the Post reports, are "re-assessing what they want to do and how they want to work, whether in an office, at home or some hybrid combination."

Still, McMaster and Gianforte are blazing ahead with plans to reopen their respective economies by depriving citizens (and their states) of extra funding during the worst public health crisis in a century. As ABC News reports, experts say "declining to take federal money is going to have a deep effect on the living standards of residents and their families, and likely will worsen those states' overall economies."

But for all the hand wringing about disincentivized workers by those states' Republican governors, Shierholz said the bottom line is "employers are just angry that they are unable to find workers at relatively low wages."

"The jobs being posted are more stressful, more risky, harder jobs than they were pre-COVID," she added. " ... When the job is more stressful, then it should command a higher wage."

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/montana-sen-steve-daines-backed-policies-that-benefited-him-and-gop-pal-rep-greg-gianforte/

igor salon

senSteve Daines of Montana, one of the richest members of the U.S. Senate, has repeatedly backed policies that benefited both him and his longtime business partner Rep. Greg Gianforte, who is Montana's lone congressman and the richest member of the House of Representatives. The two Republicans are both involved in tight political campaigns this year: Daines is running for re-election against Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat and former presidential candidate, in a race that could well decide control of the Senate. Gianforte is running for governor against Democratic Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney.

Daines and Gianforte have done business together for decades and co-own a real estate company that appears to have benefited from the 2017 Republican tax bill, which they both supported. Daines made his vote for the bill contingent on increasing a tax deduction for "pass-through" entities, which allow business income to be treated as personal income, a deduction that appears to have saved him thousands in taxes. Daines has also sponsored several more obscure bills that benefited Gianforte, who has an estimated net worth of $189 million.

Daines and Gianforte own 75% of Genesis Partners, a commercial real estate firm, with Daines holding about 25%, according to the Helena Independent Record. Daines and Gianforte were listed as "active" managers on the company's 2019 annual financial report filed with the Montana Secretary of State's office. Daines valued his assets in Genesis between $4 million and $17 million and reported between $430,006 and $4.1 million in rent or royalties and capital gains income from the firm in 2019, according to his most recent personal financial disclosure.

Both Daines and Gianforte voted to back the 2017 Republican tax bill, which was a**"boon to commercial real estate owners.**" The bill doubled the depreciation deductions for commercial real estate investors for heating, ventilation, air conditioning and fire protection systems. After the tax law went into effect in 2018, Genesis Partners received a building permit valued at $300,000 that included work on the HVAC and fire suppression systems at its property at 110 Enterprise Boulevard in Bozeman, Montana, its first such permit since 2004. The company later sold the property in December 2019, according to Daines' financial disclosure, after its value jumped from $1.75 million in 2018 to $2.08 million in 2019, according to the Montana Department of Revenue.

Genesis also received a building permit valued at $80,000 that included work on the fire sprinkler at a nearby property at 136 Enterprise Boulevard that same year, its first such permit since 2009. The value of the property increased from $4.94 million in 2018 to $6.44 million in 2019, according to the Montana Department of Revenue, while the Republican tax law allowed for additional savings on the company's tax bill.

Daines had threatened to oppose the tax bill because it did not "cut taxes deeply enough" for pass-through entities, Politico reported ahead of the vote. The GOP secured Daines' vote by expanding the increasing the deduction for pass-through entity owners from 17% to 20%. The deduction would have shaved about $37,946 from Daines' taxable income in 2017, according to an analysis by the Billings Gazette.

Daines has also supported legislation that benefited Gianforte, who has been his close friend since the late 1990s. Daines worked at the Bozeman tech firm RightNow Technologies before Gianforte sold the company to Oracle for $1.8 billion, as Salon's Roger Sollenberger has previously reported. Both lawmakers have backed policies that Oracle lobbied for since coming to Congress. Daines left the firm before the sale but retained his stock, which resulted in a big windfall. He is now one of the richest members of Congress, with an estimated net worth of $6.9 million.

Daines' and Gianforte's campaigns did not respond to questions from Salon.

In 2017, Daines sponsored a bill that could benefit the Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO), the credit monitoring agency. Gianforte is a member of FICO's board of directors and owns nearly $7 million in the company's stock.

The Support for Rapid Innovation Act was intended to encourage the Department of Homeland Security to support private sector cybersecurity research. Daines did not refer to FICO by name but touted the company's technology during a hearing on the bill and called for similar technology to be adopted by DHS for cybersecurity purposes.

That same year, Daines co-sponsored the Modernizing Government Technology Act, which was passed as an amendment to a defense funding bill. The bill established "IT working capital funds at 24 federal government agencies and allow[ed] them to use savings obtained through streamlining IT systems, replacing legacy products and transitioning to cloud computing for up to three years for further modernization efforts."

That bill created a new pool of federal money to dole out to big tech firms, and was a big boost to multiple companies in which Gianforte owns stock. Red Hat and ServiceNow — Gianforte's biggest tech holdings — along with Cisco and IBM all lobbied for the bill.

Red Hat also lobbied for "procurement reform" in 2017 and later lobbied on issues related to the implementation of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Act (FITARA). In 2017, Daines sponsored Senate version of the FITARA Enhancement Act, which expanded the original law.

Gianforte reported that his stock in Red Hat was worth about $1.8 million in 2016. A year after Daines' bills passed, that value increased to $3.64 million. His stock in ServiceNow was worth $782,280 in 2016 but increased to $1.6 million by 2018.

Gianforte also reported owning $2.4 million in stock in financial institutions in 2018. Daines sponsored numerous bills aimed at deregulating the financial sector. He sponsored the CLEAR Relief Act of 2017, "which provides a [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] qualified mortgage safe harbor for small financial institutions with $10 billion or less." Numerous banking groups lobbied for the bill, portions of which were later passed as part of a larger legislative package.

Daines also sponsored the TAILOR ACT of 2017, "which requires financial regulators to tailor their rules to consider the size, risk profile, complexity, and business model of financial institutions impacted." That bill was approved by the Republican-led House but stalled in the Senate.

Daines was also behind the Home Mortgage Disclosure Adjustment Act of 2017, "which exempts small community banks and credit unions that issue less than 500 mortgages annually from onerous demographic reporting requirements." Portions of that bill were later rolled into a separate legislative package.

Daines also pushed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Accountability Act of 2017, which aimed to "address regulations passed under Dodd-Frank and make the bureau accountable to the American people by bringing it under the Congressional appropriations process." The bill never came to a vote.

Daines was also a key player in the Trump administration's rollback of the Dodd-Frank regulations passed after the Great Recession, and was singled out by President Donald Trump at the bill's signing ceremony even though he was not a co-sponsor of the bill or a member of the Senate Banking Committee.

The two lawmakers have also enjoyed an unusually close relationship in Washington. Gianforte and his wife Susan were two of Daines' earliest financial backers when the latter announced his first run for Congress in 2010. They also made maximum donations to Daines' campaign when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2014 and again the following year after he was elected. Gianforte even hosted a fundraiser for Daines that was headlined by former House Speaker John Boehner, the National Journal reported, noting that Gianforte could "benefit from Washington connections through his friendship with Sen. Steve Daines."

Daines, likewise, endorsed Gianforte in his failed 2016 gubernatorial bid and campaigned for him in 2017 when Gianforte won his congressional seat in a special election, despite body slamming a reporter during the campaign.

The two lawmakers also launched a joint Gianforte Daines Victory Committee in 2018.

Since Gianforte's election to the House, Daines has flown on Gianforte's private plane at least nine times, according to his 2017 and 2018 personal financial disclosures. Daines reported that he reimbursed Gianforte for all the flights, often paying more than $2,000 for air travel that would have cost a fraction of that price on commercial airlines.

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/montana-gop-lawmakers-made-fortunes-at-tech-giant-oracle-and-became-its-best-friends-in-dc

salon

montana Republicans Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte share a tight financial and legislative history with each other and with the tech giant Oracle that goes back years. That relationship has netted each of them several million dollars and made Gianforte one of the wealthiest members of Congress.

Both have also used their offices to support legislation and other initiatives for which Oracle spent significant time and money lobbying, and from which the company stood to gain financially — including through defense contracts.

Additionally, both are up for election this year: Daines is running for re-election to the Senate, in a tight race with current Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, while Gianforte is trying to move from the House — where he serves as the state’s lone representative — to the governor’s mansion.

Gianforte made his fortune from RightNow Technologies, a Bozeman-based tech company he co-founded with his wife in 1997, where Daines served as an executive for 12 years. In 2011, Gianforte sold the company to Oracle for $1.5 billion, at the time holding between 20% and 25% of the company’s stock, which was valued at between $300 million and $400 million, according to statements he made to the Billings Gazette.

that sale sent 100 jobs to Texas, according to a report in the Missoulan, but Gianforte stayed, working in a consulting capacity until March 2013, per his LinkedIn page.

The sale went a long way toward making Gianforte the wealthiest member of Congress, a title he held until last year when he was displaced by appointed Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., whose husband is CEO of the New York Stock Exchange

The Gianforte Family Trust holds more than $190 million in assets, as of its 2018 tax filing, and supports a number of ultra-conservative organizations and efforts, including helping to build a creationist museum in Glendive, Montana, that depicts humans coexisting with dinosaurs.

Daines reported that between 2011 and 2012, when he stepped away from the company to run for Senate, RightNow and Oracle paid him a combined $550,882 in salary. He also reported earning between $2 million and $10 million over those two years, according to disclosures.

Since 1998, Daines and Gianforte, through their company Genesis Partners, have shared a stake in a Bozeman office complex called Genesis Business Park, which rented space to RightNow and subsequently Oracle. The complex currently hosts an Oracle campus, which Gianforte told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle in 2015 had a 10-year lease, which is apparently set to expire next March.

Between 2015 dna 2018, Daines pulled in between $485,000 and $5.1 million per year in rent from the office park, and 2012 through 2014 earned between $100,001 and $1 million, according to his federal disclosure forms.

Gianforte reported earning between $50,000 and $100,000 from rent and capital gains through Genesis Partners, per his disclosures.

In fact, Daines officially filed his candidacy for Senate from the Oracle offices in Bozeman, which he had leased to the company. From the Missoula Independent:

Critics have since speculated that [Daines’] years at the company and the money netted by executives through the Oracle purchase were the springboard from which Daines launched his political career. In fact, according to a February 2014 article in the Billings Gazette, Daines officially filed his candidacy for the U.S. Senate from his iPhone while at the Bozeman offices of Oracle.

While in congress, Daines and Gianforte have pushed legislation that would benefit Oracle, including bills lobbied on by Oracle, federal reports show.

Daines introduced an amendment to a 2017 spending bill (SB 2943) that included spending to “ensure higher quality cybersecurity” for Department of Energy and Pentagon nuclear command and communication systems. Oracle had previously been awarded DOE contracts to do software work for the National Nuclear Security Administration, as well as DOD contracts for electronics and communications equipment.

Oracle reported that it lobbied on that bill for those specific issues, expending nearly $2 million on lobbying that quarter alone, government disclosures show.

The Montana legislative duo also supported billions of dollars in federal government procurement on which Oracle had lobbied.

Daines also voted to allocate billions of dollars for procurement as part of the fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAAs), Gianforte effectively voted in favor of the 2017 and 2020 NDAAs, both of which Oracle lobbied on.

Specifically, Oracle lobbied on issues related to IT, cloud and cybersecurity procurement policies, spending nearly $2 million lobbying on both, according to disclosures.

Furthermore, Daines used committee markups in 2015 and 2016 to increase funding for cybersecurity measures by nearly $2 billion, while Oracle touted its cybersecurity work with the federal government — specifically the Pentagon.

Daines also worked to boost cybersecurity innovation in the private sector, introducing legislation to get cybersecurity interests a seat at the table of a Workforce Advisory Board.

Oracle, whose complete cloud services division took in about $27.4 billion per year, lobbied on “cloud computing issues” throughout Daines’ time in Congress.

Daines similarly supported millions of dollars in funding for artificial intelligence (AI) programs, which Oracle stood to benefit from substantially, as the company offered an array of products incorporating AI and machine learning.

Daines has routinely advocated for private sector advantages on those issues, while Oracle promoted its government collaborations and spent millions lobbying for spending increases, including nearly $2 million for AI.

Daines and Gianforte both supported rolling back net neutrality,which Oracle publicly supported — and though many tech companies share the same interests, Daines and Gianforte used their offices to oppose policies supported by Oracle competitors, most specifically Google.

One such measure was the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, which held website operators liable for third-party content that promotes sex trafficking. According to the Verge, Oracle publicly supported that bill in an effort to harm their competitors, specifically Google:

Why Oracle would come out so publicly in favor of the bill is less obvious, since the law lacks even a tenuous connection to their business model. However the company’s animosity towards Google is well-documented, from its $9 billion lawsuit over Android, to Oracle’s funding of the Google Transparency Project, which put out a report earlier this year claiming that Google had bought academic influence through grants. In a bizarre way, Google has become the favorite target of those who support SESTA.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported in 2015 that Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock had met with Oracle competitors Google and Facebook ahead of his 2016 re-election bid, apparently in an effort to lure more tech competitors to Montana’s Northern Rocky tech apparatus. Bullock defeated Gianforte in that election, and is now running against Daines in one of the nation’s most closely-watched Senate races.

Daines once sent a letter to Google voicing concerns about their personal health information protection mechanisms, requesting the company provide information on the subject. Coincidentally, Oracle also criticized its chief rival’s data collection, and played a key role in launching an Australian government probe into Google over its collection practices.

In 2017, Daines called on Oracle CEO Safra Catz to join a tech jobs summit that he hosted.

Gianforte co-sponsored and voted in favor of an Oracle-backed immigration bill, the Fairness For High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019, on which Oracle lobbied, according to federal disclosures.

Gianforte also supported intelligence authorization legislation that Oracle lobbied on, voting in favor of an intelligence authorization act in 2018, 2019 and 2020, per Senate records.

In addition to the millions of dollars that Daines and Gianforte made from their business relationships with Oracle, including ongoing rent, the company has contributed financially to the two lawmakers’ election campaigns.

Daines for his part has taken over $56,000 in campaign contributions from Oracle over his career, making the company one of his top 10 contributors, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Oracle employees have contributed $10,700 to Gianforte over the course of his two congressional bids.

Daines currently appears to hold a lead over Bullock in this year’s Senate race, and President Trump is expected to easily carry Montana. But the state has a history of being politically unpredictable, and Democratic Sen. Jon Tester successfully held his seat in 2018.

Gianforte faces a tougher challenge against Democratic Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney, in a race currently rated as a “toss-up” in the RealClearPolitics average of polls.

Gianforte first won his House seat in a tight 2017 special election, after former Rep. Ryan Zinke joined Trump’s cabinet for his spectacularly scandal-studded stint as secretary of the Interior. On the eve of Gianforte’s election he made worldwide headlines for body-slamming Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs, and was convicted of assault in Montana state court the next month (after winning the election). The judge handed down a fine and sentenced the representative-elect to community service and anger management therapy.

As a result of the terms of the settlement, Gianforte gave the Committee to Protect Journalists $50,000, about 1/4,000 of his total estimated net worth.

http://origin.lcv.org/article/lcv-launches-244k-ad-campaign-urging-gianforte-stop-assault-public-lands/

LCV LAUNCHES $244K AD CAMPAIGN URGING GIANFORTE TO STOP ASSAULT ON PUBLIC LANDS

Alyssa Roberts, 202-454-4573, aroberts@lcv.org

U.S. House pushing radical attack on Antiquities Act that would undermine public lands protections, empower presidents to abolish national monuments

March 14, 2018

missoula, Montana – The League of Conservation Voters today launched a $244,000 ad campaign urging Congressman Greg Gianforte (MT-AL) to stop his assault on public lands in Montana and across the country. Gianforte is supporting a radical bill expected to come to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives that would dramatically limit what land can be protected under the Antiquities Act and empower presidents to shrink or even abolish existing national monuments.

The campaign includes one of the first-ever advocacy pushes using ads on the mapping app Waze. Montanans who are traveling near public lands like Glacier National Park or the Crazy Mountains will see geo-targeted content about how Gianforte’s votes threaten our majestic public lands – and will have the option to learn more when they’re no longer behind the wheel. The ads will also run on Facebook, Instagram, Pandora, local news websites and video streaming services through April.

WATCH: “Shadow ':(style="box-sizing:border-box;font-weight:700"/maxresdefault.jpg)'

[vid] Greg Gianforte is assaulting our public lands by pushing a radical anti-parks agenda that has no place in Montana or anywhere else,” said League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski. “If this radical attack on the Antiquities Act becomes law, our access to public lands and national monuments could disappear forever. Members of Congress who support this extreme attempt to undermine public lands should be ready to face the backlash.”

The campaign launches as Gianforte faces protests for introducing two additional bills that amount to the largest attack on public lands Montana has ever confronted – removing protection for nearly 690,000 acres that provide clean drinking water, sustainable habitat for fish and wildlife, and support the state’s $7 billion recreation economy.

“Montana’s public lands are central to our way of life, and Congressman Gianforte’s assaults are shameful,” said Montana Conservation Voters Executive Director Clayton Elliott. “On top of voting for legislation that threatens public lands protections nationwide, Gianforte has written two bills of his own that amount to the largest attack on Montana lands we’ve ever seen.”

Despite his short tenure in Congress, Gianforte has already pushed several proposals to sell out public lands and threaten protections for national monuments. As a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, Gianforte voted for H.R. 3990 which arbitrarily limits the scope and size of land protected under the Antiquities Act while giving presidents authority to shrink or abolish existing national monuments, including those in Montana. Gianforte also refused to support a resolution demanding that the Trump administration be transparent about their unprecedented national monument review, which included Montana’s Upper Missouri River Breaks.

More background on Gianforte’s legislative record of assaulting our public lands can be found below.

TRANSCRIPT:

“Shadow”

There’s a shadow creeping across Montana.

Somebody’s attacking our way of life and assaulting our public lands and national monuments.

It’s Washington politician Greg Gianforte.

He’s attacking our national monuments and public lands. Putting D.C. politics ahead of Montana families.

If Montanans don’t take a stand now, our access to public lands and national monuments could disappear forever.

Tell Greg Gianforte: these aren’t Montana values. Stop voting to assault our public lands.

BACKGROUND ON GIANFORTE’S ASSAULT ON PUBLIC LANDS:

GREG GIANFORTE IS A WASHINGTON, DC POLITICIAN

ACTUAL (NOT SATIRE) NEWS HEADLINE: “Greg Gianforte, Who Assaulted A Reporter, Is Now A Congressman.” [Washington Post, 6/21/2017]

GIANFORTE SIDED WITH HIS PARTY ON AN ASSAULT AGAINST PUBLIC LANDS

Greg Gianforte Joined Party-Line Vote For H.R. 3990, A Bill To Scale Back The Antiquities Act.In covering the House Natural Resources Committee’s markup of H.R. 3990, CQ reported: “The House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday advanced along party lines a bill that would scale back presidential authority to establish national monuments, 23-17.” Greg Gianforte was among the 23 republicans voting to advance the bill. [CQ Committee Coverage, House Natural Resources Markup 10/11/2017]

H.R. 3990 Would Authorize Stripping National Monuments Protections From Large Swaths Of Public Lands. According to a summary written by the Congressional Research Service, under the provisions of H.R. 3990, if enacted: “The President may reduce the size of any declared national monument: (1) by 85,000 acres or less; or (2) by more than 85,000 acres only if the reduction has been approved by each county and state within whose boundaries the monument will be located and reviewed by Interior or USDA under the National Environmental Policy Act.” [115:{th:(style="box-sizing:border-box;position:relative;vertical-align:baseline;top:-0.5em"):}: Congress, H.R. 3990]

Montana Wilderness Association’s John Todd: “The Bill [Gianforte] Voted For Puts The Breaks In Perpetual Jeopardy And Cripples One Of The Best Tools We Have For Permanently Protecting The Places That Define Us As Montanans And As Americans.” In a story on a committee vote on H.R. 3990, the Helena Independent Record reported: “The vote drew similar criticism for some in Montana’s conservation community, which campaigned against Zinke’s national monument review. ‘Today Congressman Gianforte dismissed the overwhelming support Montanans gave national monuments over the summer, when more than 24,000 of us spoke up in defense of the Upper Missouri River Breaks (National Monument) and other places vital to our outdoor heritage,’ said John Todd, Montana Wilderness Association conservation director. ‘The bill he voted for puts the Breaks in perpetual jeopardy and cripples one of the best tools we have for permanently protecting the places that define us as Montanans and as Americans.’” [Helena Independent Record, 10/11/2017]

National Wildlife Federation President Collin O’Mara: “If This Bill Passes, Even Existing National Monuments Could Be Carved Up, Paved Over Or Opened To Mining And Drilling…” In covering the House Natural Resources Committee’s markup of H.R. 3990, CQ reported: “Conservation groups have warned that Bishop’s bill would damage the Antiquities Act and open up decisions on how public lands are used — to the benefit of industry. ‘If this bill passes, even existing national monuments could be carved up, paved over or opened to mining and drilling under arbitrary criteria and a process that shuts out the public,’ Collin O’Mara, the National Wildlife Federation’s president and CEO, said shortly before the vote.” [CQ Committee Coverage, House Natural Resources Markup 10/11/2017]

GIANFORTE’S RECORD SHOWS HE IS NO FRIEND OF PUBLIC LANDS

Greg Gianforte Introduced Legislation To Remove Wilderness Protections From 690,000 Acres Of Public Lands. On March 4, 2018, the Associated Press reported: “Montana U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte has drafted two bills proposing to release almost 690,000 acres of wilderness study areas in Montana. One of Gianforte’s bills echoes Montana Sen. Steve Daines’ bill introduced in the Senate late last year. It proposes to release 449,500 acres of wilderness study areas all on national forest lands. The Billings Gazette reports that Gianforte also authored a separate act to release an additional 240,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management wilderness.” [Associated Press/KULR News, 3/4/2018]

Greg Gianforte Joined Party-Line Vote To Kill An Inquiry Into How Secretary Zinke Came Up With Monuments Review Plan. According to CQ News: “Natural Resources’ top Democrat Raúl M. Grijalva introduced a resolution (H Res 555) demanding that the administration release information and documents related to President Donald Trump’s April executive order calling for the review, as well as its recommendations. ‘We’d like to read the final report,’ Grijalva said. ‘We’d like to know who they talked to and what they said.’ In an earlier call with CQ, Grijalva said Democrats had ‘one correspondence after another’ requesting the information and had not received a response. ‘It goes beyond irony . . . it’s a pattern in this administration that you speak through both sides of the mouth,’ he said. The committee, in another party-line vote of 23-17, unfavorably reported the resolution, meaning that it will be sent to the House but will not get a vote, essentially killing it.” According to CQ coverage of the committee markup, Gianforte voted with the Republicans for the unfavorable report that would essentially kill the resolution. [CQ News, 10/11/2017; CQ Committee Coverage, House Natural Resources Markup 10/11/2017]

Gianforte Voted To Expand Oil And Gas Drilling On Federal Land. According to a CQ report on a House Natural Resources Committee markup session: “The House Natural Resources Committee advanced Wednesday a Republican-backed effort to expand oil and gas drilling on federal land and offshore after a series of Democratic amendments meant to ensure environmental protections were defeated. Republicans blocked 11 Democratic amendments to the bill (HR 4239), which moved out of committee, 19-14, along party lines.” Gianforte was among the Republicans voting to favorably report the bill. [CQ Committee Coverage, House Natural Resources Markup 11/8/2017]

Greg Gianforte Voted To Undermine Sustainable Forest Management Practices. Representative Bruce Westerman (R-AR) sponsored H.R. 2936, the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017, which would severely undermine sustainable forest management policies and roll back critical environmental safeguards for our nation’s forests. H.R. 2936 would allow large-scale timber projects to skip needed environmental reviews and would expand exclusions ideally meant for non-controversial forest management practices. Additionally, H.R. 2936 reduces public participation and input in the environmental review process, waives the ability for citizens to challenge harmful logging projects in court, and limits the rights of citizens to recover attorneys’ fees when they prevail in court. On November 1, the House approved H.R. 2936 by a vote of 232-188. Gianforte voted YES. The pro-environment position was NO. [House Vote #598, 11/1/2017; LCV 2017 Scorecard]

Greg Gianforte Voted For An Attack on Minnesota’s National Forests. Representative Tom Emmer (R-MN) sponsored H.R. 3905, the Minnesota’s Economic Rights in the Superior National Forest Act, which would allow mining on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and undermine key environmental protections for the Boundary Waters, Voyageurs National Park, and the Superior and Chippewa National Forests. Among many harmful provisions, H.R. 3905 would waive normal environmental review and public input under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and grant two federal mineral leases that were denied by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, and this legislation would add significant barriers to designate national monuments under the Antiquities Act in Minnesota’s national forests. On November 30, the House approved H.R. 3905 by a vote of 216-204. Greg Gianforte voted YES. The pro-environment position was NO. [House Vote #643, 11/30/2017; LCV 2017 Scorecard]

Greg Gianforte Voted To Allow A Road To Be Built Through A Wildlife Refuge Without Environmental Review. Representative Don Young (R-AK) introduced H.R. 218, the King Cove Road Land Exchange Act, a radical bill that allows a road to be built through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and Izembek Wilderness without environmental review. H.R. 218 de-designates and transfers hundreds of acres of the refuge in exchange for lower quality state land and allows for a single-lane gravel road through the previously protected land. Building the road through the refuge and critical wetlands is a misguided attack that sets an alarming precedent for wildlife refuges and wilderness areas throughout the country, especially since most of the transferred area is land protected under the Wilderness Act – the highest level of conservation protection for federal lands. The proposed road would be built through critical lands that protect key habitat for species including bears, caribou, salmon, and many different species of birds (including most of the world’s population of Pacific black brant and emperor geese). On July 20, the House approved H.R. 218 by a vote of 248-179. Gianforte voted YES. The pro-environment position was NO. House Vote #406, 7/20/2017; LCV 2017 Scorecard]

Greg Gianforte Sued To Block Public Access To The Gallatin River In 2009. In May of 2016, the Missoulian reported: “Gov. Steve Bullock and Democratic organizers took aim at Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte on Monday after an anonymous liberal blog surfaced a 2009 lawsuit filed by a family-owned company to kill a public access easement in Bozeman. East Gallatin LLC sued Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in May 2009 to remove an easement that provided public access along the East Gallatin River, arguing that users were damaging adjacent land, the original 1993 agreement by a previous owner was invalid and that the public had sufficient access via two other nearby sites. The complaint was filed to create a foothold for a case, but the papers were never served to the agency. The dispute was resolved after a department visit to the site in July 2009 led to trail and fence upgrades that did a better job keeping users off the rest of the Gianforte property and the agency updated records on the easement boundaries, according to state documents requested by the State Bureau.” [Missoulian, 5/10/2016]

ISSUE:

PARKS & PUBLIC LANDS

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/montana-congressional-candidate-greg-gianforte-has-close-ties-with-extremist-pastor

Montana Congressional Candidate Greg Gianforte Has Close Ties with Extremist Pastor

By Brian Tashman | May 19, 2017 2:02 pm

Yesterday, The Missoulian reported on Montana Republican congressional candidateGreg Gianforte’s ties with white nationalist activists. The article also mentions Gianforte’s relationship with Douglas Wilson, the founder of the Association of Classical & Christian Schools. Gianforte sat on the board of Wilson’s organization and his family foundation has given it over $30,000.

But as the Huffington Post noted back during Gianforte’s unsuccessful campaign for governor, Wilson is notorious for his remarks about racial minorities and women.

The Republican candidate for governor of Montana has ties to Douglas Wilson, an Idaho pastor who once wrote, “one could argue that the black family has never been stronger than it was under slavery,” and maintains that women are “created to be responsive and dependent to a man.”

…

Wilson and a co-author rewrote slavery’s violent history in a 1996 pamphlet called “Southern Slavery, As It Was.” They cite narratives that they claim show Southern slavery was “a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of food, clothes, and good medical care,” and note that “one could argue that the black family has never been stronger than it was under slavery.”

In the same document, they claim “feminists, in rebellion against God, invert the order of the home established by God. They do so in a way that seeks to rob women of their beauty in submission.”

Casey Sanchez of the Southern Poverty Law Center found that Wilson, a self-described “paleo-confederate,” lauded slavery in the South as a “life of plenty.”

Defending the Confederacy as “right on all the essential constitutional and cultural issues surrounding the war,” Wilson has distinguished himself from neo-Confederates in this way: “I would define a neo-Confederate as someone who thinks we are still fighting that war. Instead, I would say we’re fighting in a long war, and that [the Civil War] was one battle that we lost.”

He also declared his support for “execution for adultery” and the “exile” of “some homosexuals,” claiming that “sodomy is worse than slavery.”

On women and sexual violence, Wilson said that women who refuse to walk with a male escort are complicit in their own rapes: “One consequence of rejecting the protection of good men is that you are opening yourself up to the predations of bad men.”

He also wrote:

A final aspect of rape that should be briefly mentioned is perhaps closer to home. Because we have forgotten the biblical concepts of true authority and submission, or more accurately, have rebelled against them, we have created a climate in which caricatures of authority and submission intrude upon our lives with violence.

When we quarrel with the way the world is, we find that the world has ways of getting back at us. In other words, however we try, the sexual act cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasuring party. A man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants. A woman receives, surrenders, accepts. This is of course offensive to all egalitarians, and so our culture has rebelled against the concept of authority and submission in marriage. This means that we have sought to suppress the concepts of authority and submission as they relate to the marriage bed.

But we cannot make gravity disappear just because we dislike it, and in the same way we find that our banished authority and submission comes back to us in pathological forms. This is what lies behind sexual “bondage and submission games,” along with very common rape fantasies. Men dream of being rapists, and women find themselves wistfully reading novels in which someone ravishes the “soon to be made willing” heroine. Those who deny they have any need for water at all will soon find themselves lusting after polluted water, but water nonetheless.

True authority and true submission are therefore an erotic necessity. When authority is honored according to the word of God it serves and protects — and gives enormous pleasure. When it is denied, the result is not “no authority,” but an authority which devours.

Rather than reject a right-wing activist propagating such extreme views on slavery, women, and homosexuality, Gianforte seems content with praising and funding his endeavors.

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/05/montana-sets-spending-record-for-house-contests-in-state/

cost of the House special election race in Montana — where voters are going to the polls today — is officially record-breaking.

It’s unclear how Wednesday’s misdemeanor assault charges against the Republican candidate, Greg Gianforte, will affect the outcome, particularly since a large number of voters cast their ballots before today. It’s very clear, though, that this race has been a magnet for donors: Gianforte, a wealthy software entrepreneur, and his Democratic opponent Rob Quist, a folk singer, together raised $6.7 million through May 5, and another almost $900,000 from then through May 22.

Spending by the candidates stood at $5.2 million as of May 5, the date on the most recent reports of their expenditures.

And outside spending in the race has soared to $7.2 million, with $1.4 million of that coming in just the nine days between May 17-25. Combined with the somewhat dated candidate spending figure, that brings the cost of this faceoff to a minimum of $12.4 million, more than has been spent on any House race in the state going back at least as far as 1990.

While a vast majority of Quist’s individual contributions have been $200 and under, Gianforte has mostly seen larger individual contributions of $2,000 plus. Hidden in Gianforte’s 48-hour contribution notices, which list all contributions of $1,000 or more, is a $500,000 donation he made to himself. That’s on top of an earlier $1 million loan he made to his campaign. Quist has not made any contributions to his campaign, save the $140 he reported before April.

Republican party committees and super PACs have continued to dominate the outside spending in this special election to replace now-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. The top three outside spenders in the election — the Congressional Leadership Fund, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Committee — all have Republican ties; together they spent $5.6 million backing Gianforte. Pro-Quist outside spending groups altogether have spent less than $1 million.

The Democratic candidate recruited the support of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for one of his campaign events in mid-May, drawing thousands to the rally. In the 2016 primary election, Montana voted for Sanders over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

During one of his rallies, Gianforte was accompanied by Donald Trump, Jr. and Vice President Mike Pence. In his previous unsuccessful bid for Montana governor in 2016, Gianforte distanced himself from Donald Trump. But since Trump won the election in November, and was especially popular in Montana, Gianforte has aligned himself more closely to the president.

Like other special elections, the one in Montana has been viewed as a referendum on Trump. However, Gianforte’s recent arrest for assault muddies the waters. Late on Wednesday night, Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs tweeted he had been “body slammed” by Gianforte after asking him a question about the Republican health care plan. Audio of the incident was later released in which Gianforte can be heard yelling at Jacobs to “get the hell out of here.” The GOP candidate was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault after Jacobs reported the incident to authorities, and a Fox News crew that witnessed the altercation corroborated Jacobs’ allegations.

Some state newspapers immediately withdrew their endorsements of Gianforte, but about 37 percent of Montana’s registered voters had already committed to one or the other candidate, having sent their ballots in early. The polls will close at 10 p.m. Eastern time.

Montana Congressional Candidate Greg Gianforte Has Close Ties with Extremist Pastor

Brian Tashman | May 19, 2017 2:02 pm

Yesterday, The Missoulian reported on Montana Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte’s ties with white nationalist activists. The article also mentions Gianforte’s relationship with Douglas Wilson, the founder of the Association of Classical & Christian Schools. Gianforte sat on the board of Wilson’s organization and his family foundation has given it over $30,000.

But as the Huffington Post noted back during Gianforte’s unsuccessful campaign for governor, Wilson is notorious for his remarks about racial minorities and women.

The Republican candidate for governor of Montana has ties to Douglas Wilson, an Idaho pastor who once wrote, “one could argue that the black family has never been stronger than it was under slavery,” and maintains that women are “created to be responsive and dependent to a man.”

…

Wilson and a co-author rewrote slavery’s violent history in a 1996 pamphlet called “Southern Slavery, As It Was.” They cite narratives that they claim show Southern slavery was “a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of food, clothes, and good medical care,” and note that “one could argue that the black family has never been stronger than it was under slavery.”

In the same document, they claim “feminists, in rebellion against God, invert the order of the home established by God. They do so in a way that seeks to rob women of their beauty in submission.”

Casey Sanchez of the Southern Poverty Law Center found that Wilson, a self-described “paleo-confederate,” lauded slavery in the South as a “life of plenty.”

He also declared his support for “execution for adultery” and the “exile” of “some homosexuals,” claiming that “sodomy is worse than slavery.”

He also wrote:

A final aspect of rape that should be briefly mentioned is perhaps closer to home. Because we have forgotten the biblical concepts of true authority and submission, or more accurately, have rebelled against them, we have created a climate in which caricatures of authority and submission intrude upon our lives with violence.

When we quarrel with the way the world is, we find that the world has ways of getting back at us. In other words, however we try, the sexual act cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasuring party. A man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants. A woman receives, surrenders, accepts. This is of course offensive to all egalitarians, and so our culture has rebelled against the concept of authority and submission in marriage. This means that we have sought to suppress the concepts of authority and submission as they relate to the marriage bed.

But we cannot make gravity disappear just because we dislike it, and in the same way we find that our banished authority and submission comes back to us in pathological forms. This is what lies behind sexual “bondage and submission games,” along with very common rape fantasies. Men dream of being rapists, and women find themselves wistfully reading novels in which someone ravishes the “soon to be made willing” heroine. Those who deny they have any need for water at all will soon find themselves lusting after polluted water, but water nonetheless.

True authority and true submission are therefore an erotic necessity. When authority is honored according to the word of God it serves and protects — and gives enormous pleasure. When it is denied, the result is not “no authority,” but an authority which devours.

Rather than reject a right-wing activist propagating such extreme views on slavery, women, and homosexuality, Gianforte seems content with praising and funding his endeavors.

Tags: Douglas Wilson Greg Gianforte

https://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/gianforte-on-donating-to-suspected-white-nationalist-i-was-unaware/

Gianforte on donating to suspected white nationalist: 'I was unaware of some of his views'

JAYME FRASER jayme.fraser@lee.net May 18, 2017

[pix:

Taylor Rose poses with a campaign sign of his from the 2016 race for House District 3 in the Flathead Valley.

Taylor Rose for House District 3 Facebook

Congressional candidate Greg Gianforte is one of several prominent Montana Republicans who contributed money or support to the 2016 legislative campaign of a Columbia Falls man described by watchdog groups as a white nationalist.

“I was unaware of some of his views and we supported him because we supported all (Republican) candidates in the last election,” Gianforte said Wednesday.

Montana congressional candidate Greg Gianforte

Thom Bridge,thom.bridge@helenair.com

Taylor Rose of Columbia Falls had worked as a regional field rep for the Montana Republican Party during U.S. Sen. Steve Daines' first Senate run in 2014 and served in 2015 as an aide to the GOP in the Montana Senate before running for a Montana House seat this past fall, losing to Democrat Zac Perry.

Rose has not held any Republican Party jobs since, even as the GOP and newly elected officials scrambled to find enough party loyalists to fill posts.

Organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League, which monitor hate groups, have posted a handful of summaries about their research on Rose since 2010, calling him one of several young white nationalists avoiding discussion of their most controversial views during bids for public office around the country.

Those analyses highlighted Rose’s affiliation with groups that promote a return to “traditional European values” and a revival of “western civilization” that the watchdogs consider feeder organizations offering sanitized versions of white nationalist and racist philosophies. Rose has repeatedly denied those claims, arguing his views are based on political and religious histories, not race.

“I am not affiliated with white supremacist groups or leaders,” Rose told the Flathead Beacon in October. “To say otherwise is slanderous. Youth for Western Civilization was a cultural group, not a racist group.We defined Western civilization by the classic definition of ancient Greeks and Romans, and we were pro-Christian. We did not say it was exclusively white. We were also very critical of Islam, but that is an ideological issue, not a racial issue. I can promise you that Liberty University would not have tolerated a white power group on its campus.”

***

During the 2016 campaigns of Rose and U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, the watchdog group reports fueled critiques by liberal-leaning blogs like MT Cowgirl and Intelligent Discontent. A joint mailer featured Rose on one side and Zinke, now U.S. Interior Secretary, on the other.

Those blogs have again highlighted the watchdog reports on social media, but this time to criticize Gianforte.

They also have highlighted 2016 reports by the Billings Gazette about another Republican legislative candidate, Robert Saunders, who came under fire for past comments seen by some as racist or insensitive.

Former classmates at Patrick Henry College recalled Saunders telling a black peer that earlier in America's history he would have owned her and that he once said President Barack Obama and his family should be “sent back to the fields to pick cotton," claims he both denied to the Gazette.

Saunders later apologized for a Facebook post in which he said vandals during the Ferguson protests and riots should have been shot with "two rounds through the brain" because "elimination of those people in self-defense would probably have cut Missouri’s welfare handouts — and long-term crime rate — considerably.”

Saunders also received campaign support from Gianforte and has since contributed the maximum $2,700 to his congressional bid.

“Back in 2015 and 2016 when Gianforte was trying to buy the Montana Legislature he and his wife donated to Flathead-area white supremacist Taylor Rose and Billings-area white supremacist Robert Saunders.While both lost their bids to bring their retrograde values to the Legislature, it’s troubling that Mr. Gianforte would financially support men like this and astonishing that the statewide press hasn’t pressed him to explain his donations,” Helena High School English teacher Don Pogreba recently wrote on his blog Intelligent Discontent.

In a letter to the Missoulian, Laurie Franklin, the spiritual leader of Har Shalom Synagogue, wrote about Rose and Saunders, as well as Idaho's Doug Wilson, whom some have called a neo-Confederate after he wrote in 1996 that black families might have been their strongest during slavery. He founded the Association of Classical & Christian Schools. Gianforte once sat the group's board because of his leadership of a private Christian school in Bozeman that his children attended.

“Mr. Gianforte never spoke against these two men to whom he had donated money, never denounced their racist words and actions,” Franklin wrote. “It’s not normal to support white supremacists. White supremacy is not a Montana value.”

***

Gianforte has previously distanced himself from Wilson, telling The Huffington Post through a campaign spokesman last fall that he was “unfamiliar with Mr. Wilson’s writings outside of their mutual involvement” in the Christian school organization that reports more than 200 members.

Asked twice Wednesday if he would have contributed to Rose’s campaign if he had known as much about his views as he does now, Gianforte would not say, but did denounce racism and discrimination generally.

“I will say clearly that hatred is wrong and it has no place in politics or government. I completely reject it," he said.

Gianforte said his contribution to Rose’s campaign was simply one of several such donations to Republican races across the state. Since 2000, he and his wife have made more than 500 contributions in Montana elections. Of those, 134 were made to support 114 Republicans on the November 2016 ballot.

A $170 contribution from Gianforte and a matching one from his wife are among about a dozen such personal donations from Republican leaders or state legislators to Rose’s failed legislative bid. State campaign finance records show most of that money came to the Rose campaign after the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League reports gained traction on social media in Montana.

Rose received strategic support from the GOP legislative campaign committee along with 20 other Republicans, most of whom were also new to the party or running in swing districts. It is not clear why, but after four strategic planning calls in July the committee stopped assisting Rose’s campaign, at least in a way that appears on public disclosure forms, even as they continued to support other candidates.

Two Flathead County GOP groups contributed a total of $700 in August and then Rose reported no more contributions until almost two dozen fellow Republicans donated in October, most in the days after the first report about his potential ties to white nationalists appeared in a local newspaper.

Although Rose has since deleted many of his social media accounts, they once featured photos with Gianforte and other top Republicans at party events and elsewhere around the state.

***

Some Republicans defended Rose publicly. Others quietly distanced themselves. From the start of his legislative campaign, Rose had been viewed as an odd Republican; it is unusual, for instance, for any Flathead-area conservative to campaign on a pro-union platform.

But some Republicans refused to believe Rose was racist, saying in mostly private conversations that the claims made by SPLC and ADL were false or at least misleading. In particular, some sympathized with Rose’s writings that are critical of Islam and speak to fears about immigration from Muslim countries.

The watchdog organizations are seen by some as being sympathetic to Democrats, especially when their research on hate groups is picked up as campaign attacks by liberal blogs.

Former Bozeman legislator Matthew Monforton said as much when asked about Rose being a white nationalist during a Face the State television panel a year ago.

“Uh, yeah, according to your phony Cowgirl blog, yes, but the rest of us think of him as a good conservative.”

Montana Speaker of the House Austin Knudsen, a Culbertson Republican who also chairs the Republican party’s legislative campaign committee, said Tuesday: “Frankly, I have a really hard time taking SPLC very seriously on anything.”

He did not remember much about Rose’s comments or how the committee reacted to learning about them “fairly late into the campaign,” directing questions to the group’s senior adviser, Jake Eaton.

Eaton, a Republican consultant and former director of the Montana GOP, likewise said he didn’t remember much, aside from a vague recollection of a local newspaper story. He said it might have been one published in October by the Flathead Beacon. All in all, he said whatever the discussion was during the campaign it wasn’t viewed as serious enough to warrant any response from the party’s leaders or its legislative campaign committee.

“To be honest with you, I don’t even remember it being a topic of conversation. I don’t think it was anything anybody was super aware of. It was one story in one legislative race,” Eaton said. “I feel like I’ve certainly seen a few stories at this point that definitely, if true, would be a little bit troubling.”

He said if the information had come out sooner in the campaign or drawn more attention from GOP leaders, party officials likely would have talked to Rose to see “what he actually thinks and believes and to decide if that’s an issue or not.”

As far as he knows, that never happened. GOP Chairman Jeff Essmann did not return multiple calls seeking comment.

“To suggest, like, that we recruited or groomed him or something would be a total mischaracterization. It’s somebody who paid $15 and ran as a Republican, ran as our candidate. That’s the process,” Eaton said, noting the legislative campaign committee does not vet candidates who advance from the primaries. Rose had no Republican challenger.

“Is this really a story?” Eaton asked. “That because Greg Gianforte wrote a check to a legislative candidate, when he wrote one to every candidate, that’s a thing? It seems pretty thin to me.”