Greg Gianforte

Recent Posts

Gianforte: Congress’ newest misdemeanor

Gianforte

In case you were wondering whether Greg Gianforte will ever live down his body slam of a reporter for the Guardian, here’s a clue. The Associated Press reported last week that Gianforte drew boos from the Republican side of the aisle during his brief speech following his swearing in as Montana’s representative in the U.S. House. The murmurs apparently had nothing to do with misdemeanor assault but came in response to Gianforte’s call to “drain the swamp” and for a bill denying pay to members of Congress if they fail to balance the budget. Background noise is pretty hard to evaluate in a recording, but you can judge for yourself here. Perhaps an easier way to determine how Congress feels about tying members’ pay to balancing the budget is to look at the identically titled bill touted by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont. Continue Reading →

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Prairie Lights: When ‘taking responsibility’ is not enough

RMC

If Congressman-elect Greg Gianforte appears in Justice Court in Bozeman this week to enter a plea on a charge of misdemeanor assault, he won’t be able to say anything deliberately untrue without putting himself at risk of being charged with perjury. So, is there nothing we can do about the deliberate untruth his campaign released in the immediate aftermath of Gianforte’s attack on a newspaper reporter? (more…) Continue Reading →

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A postmortem look at the special election results

Apology

Until just about 24 hours before the polls closed, the race for Montana’s sole congressional seat seemed to be focused on health care, Donald Trump and gun rights. Republican businessman Greg Gianforte appeared to be headed for a victory in the race against another political newcomer, musician and Democrat Rob Quist. Then came Wednesday night. (more…) Continue Reading →

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Prairie Lights: New life drives away post-election blues

Ed

Allow me to be the last person in Montana to publicly state his views on the recent special election. I’m so tardy because I was in Sacramento, Calif., on business, business of such importance that I couldn’t bring myself to jump on Facebook first thing Friday morning to lament the election of the Bible-thumping pugilist from New Jersey. (more…) Continue Reading →

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Sailing on the good, but sinking, ship ‘Healthcare’

DC

Nothing summarizes the emptiness of Montana’s special election for the U.S. House better than the candidates’ stances on what may be the second-most important issue to come before Congress in the next two years: healthcare. Those 30-second TV ads leave little time to flesh out plans for reforming healthcare. But the candidates’ websites, with virtually unlimited and cheap space, aren’t much better. (more…) Continue Reading →

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