Another Bleak Week for Gianforte
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 8, 2024
CONTACT
gaby@montanademocrats.org
Helena, MT – It was another bad week for Governor Greg Gianforte. Between his new abysmal polling numbers, some grim updates on his housing crisis, another loss in court, and public pushback from a fellow Republican legislator – things are looking pretty bleak for the billionaire, jet-setting governor.
Gianforte’s Numbers are Plummeting
New polling from Emerson College found that the number of Montanans who disapprove of Gianforte’s performance as governor has jumped ten points since the fall, to a dismal 37 percent.
This should come as no surprise. Gianforte has spent the last year creating a legacy of imposing record-high property taxes on Montana homeowners and working hard to strip away Montanans’ constitutional rights to privacy and reproductive freedom. Not to mention the 127,214 Montanans booted off their health insurance and a staggering 70% of those losing coverage thanks to the bureaucratic bog caused by Gianforte’s Department of Health and Human Services.
Gianforte’s Touts Montana’s Housing Crisis as ‘Montana Miracle’... Again
Gianforte was on KGVO this week taking an embarrassingly premature victory lap while referring to his housing crisis as a ‘Montana Miracle’.
"We've taken really decisive action to make housing more affordable. We're getting a lot of national recognition. In fact, one national publication called it the ‘Montana Miracle.’ I wouldn't say we've solved the problem, but we've put more pieces in place than any other state in the country." [Timestamp 39:58]
That same day, KBZK reported Bozeman home prices are reaching an all-time high, with rising costs across Gallatin County and the region. With median home prices closing in at nearly a million dollars in Bozeman, the idea that Gianforte’s administration is making any sort of gains in tackling his housing affordability crisis is downright absurd.
Another Loss in Court
Last week, a slate of 2021 laws restricting abortion introduced and passed by Montana’s Republican leaders in the Legislature and Gianforte were deemed unconstitutional and struck down by a district court.
This week, a district court judge said Gianforte and Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen “interrupted the political process in an impermissible way” by blocking a chance for lawmakers to override Gianforte’s veto of SB 422 – the popular, bipartisan bill that distributed marijuana tax revenue to conservation efforts, veterans assistance, and infrastructure programs.
The losses keep stacking up for Gianforte and it’s not a good look.
Lots of ‘Tiptoeing and Missteps’
Republican State Senator Jeremy Trebas from Great Falls has some harsh words about a few fellow Republicans running for national and statewide office this year.
In an interview with Big Sky Chat House, Trebas takes swipes at Governor Gianforte saying, “I think he's done a lot of tiptoeing and I think he's made some missteps—him or his department head, anyway…”
The interview is another example of Gianforte’s dwindling popularity, even among members of his own party.
Trebas takes more shots at Gianforte, complaining, “I think he often sticks his finger up in the air and makes policy decisions more that way than by intentionally looking at what's in our platform, or asking what's a Republican value, or what's a conservative value, or what does his base say? I think he's really shy to make a move without polling results.”
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