Gianforte visits Superior group to discuss local issues

The Mineral County Republican Central Committee hosted a meet-and-greet for Greg Gianforte last Friday, May 5 at the Mineral County Fair Grounds. He is running for the vacant seat in congress against oppenent Rob Quist and addressed many issues facing voters today including management of the national forests, healthcare, vets and the economy.

“Clearly we have not been managing our forests well and as I’ve met with people in the timber industry, it’s the same thing over and over again, they can’t get logs. All of the timber sales get challenged in court by these environmental extremists and they’ve been empowered in part because of Equal Access to Justice Act. I believe there are modifications we can make to the act to make it harder to issue frivolous lawsuits.”

He explained to the group how the Equal Access to Justice Act works. If a person or a small business is wronged by the government, they can sue. If they win, all of their legal fees are paid. However, if assets are over a certain level, they don’t have that protection. However with nonprofits there are no caps and even if they have hundreds of millions of dollars they can still sue the government.

For example, with a timber sale they can sue on a hundred different points and if they win on just one of those points, they get one hundred percent of their legal bills paid, “this has become a revenue stream for these environmental extremist,” Gianforte said.

He also talked about the Farm Bill which allows for more collaborative agreements between the federal government and the states. He said we should look at expanding those and so we can manage our forests again. However, he does not support deed transfer to the stay and feels that public lands should stay in public hands and that better decisions are made when they are made on a local level.

His opponent, Rob Quist, also opposes any transfer of Montana’s public lands to private hands. He also wants to see the development of and investment in Montana’s timber industry to preserve timber jobs. In a previous interview he said he would explore innovative ideas to harvest beetle kill areas and use those resources to help improve infrastructure projects in local communities.

“It’s all about forest management. Rather than just letting our forest burn, we’ll have healthier forests, more habitat, more hunting opportunities, more timber for the mills and puts more people to work,” Gianforte said.

In an interview prior to the event he discussed other revenue options for the county including telecommuting. People in places like Mineral County can work remotely for national firms. He said on one website there were over 3,000 jobs listed that anyone could apply for, who work from home using a telephone and a computer. Jobs like graphic artists, customer service and insurance appraisers.

“These may not replace traditional industries but it is another cylinder on the engine that might add a little more diversity to the economy and vitality back into our communities.”

Gianforte had made invitations inviting people to come back to Montana and work. The mayor in Shelby had asked him for 1,500 of the invitations and handed them out during a class reunion. Around six families ended up moving back to the area and brought jobs with them.

“Imagine if a half dozen families moved back to Superior each year for the next ten years, what an impact that would have on the local economy,” he said.

He also talked about the need for more skilled labor for places like the Mineral Community Hospital, teachers and manufacturers at the Tricon Lumber Mill, “we need better connections between schools and jobs needed in communities. Education is best handled at the state level and small businesses need reduced regulation, lower taxes and we need to get health care costs under control. That’s how we’ll develop a thriving economy.”

Quist has said that he believes, “public education is the bedrock of investing in our children’s future, and will fight to expand investment in Montana’s public schools and teachers.”

Several members of Friday night’s meeting talked about their frustrations with Choices and veteran care. Gianforte said he would like to start an advisory committee regarding these and other issues, “we need to take care of our vets.”

Along with his wife Susan, they built an international company with 1,100 employees with 550 in Montana. During the company’s growth, he had hired Steve Daines and worked with him for 12 years.

“We were in the trenches together that whole time, we took on some of the largest corporation and brought in some of the highest paying jobs here. I look forward to working with him again and putting that team back together. I spent my whole career negotiating contracts. We did a thousand contracts every 90 days, 25 to 30 of them were over a million dollars. I’m running and so I can use my negotiating skills on behalf of Montana to preserve the freedoms that we enjoy.”

His opponent, Rob Quist grew up on a ranch near Cut Bank, MT and co-founded the Mission Mountain Wood Band. He also is founder of RQGN a small business in Kalispell and said he understands the challenges Montana’s small business owner’s face. He said he would bring the values of rural Montana, those of hard work, the importance of family and caring for a community with him to Washington, D.C.

While wrapping up his talk, Gianforte said Donald Trump, Jr. would be back out to Montana in a couple of weeks and they’ll be going to Helena, Butte, Great Falls and Sidney. He said the article about them shooting prairie dogs was reported by the Associated Press. A reporter had called him and asked if they were really going to shoot them? He told the reporter that they are classified as rodents by the department of agriculture and that they dig holes in pastures and ponies step in them and break their legs. Animal rights activists said this time of year the prairie dogs are pregnant. When the story got picked up by newspapers like the Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe and Washington Post, the word “prairie” got dropped and so the headline read, “Donald Trump Jr. shoots pregnant dogs in Montana”.

After his talk, the group of about 40 people enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches and cake.

Reporter Kathleen Woodford can be reached at mireporter@vp-mi.com.