Harrowing Report Reveals How MTGOP Provided Special Treatment for Their Well-connected Friends
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
CONTACT
press@montanademocrats.org
It Sure Pays to Be Friends with MTGOP
Helena, MT – A recent ProPublica report details the stunning lengths to which AG Knudsen was willing to go to abuse his power and threaten doctors, nurses and healthcare providers into providing special treatment for a long time MTGOP staffer. And it reflects an insidious trend of “pay-to-play” attitudes among the GOP elite.
Attorney General Knudsen:
After a long-time GOP staffer came down with COVID, Montana’s Attorney General himself, Austin Knudsen, personally got involved with her treatment and contacted a hospital lobbyist to set up a phone call with St. Peter’s CEO. Knudsen texted a hospital board member that he was ready “to send law enforcement in and file an unlawful restraint charge.”
Lieutenant Governor Juras:
Just last week, a report by the Daily Montanan detailed how Lieutenant Governor Kristin Juras personally harassed a federal court on behalf of lawyer friends. The Ninth Circuit hosted a Judicial Conference where they required registrants be vaccinated. Juras personally petitioned the Department of Labor to force them into loosening their requirements. According to the report, the Department appears to have “gone even a step further than normal” in their enforcement.
Governor Gianforte:
Gianforte’s approach to Montana’s public resources have followed a predictable arc: ignore environmental experts and bend the rules to be favorable to his rich, well-connected friends and donors. He pushed for rule changes to the 454 program that would make it easier for private landowners to sell commercial bull elk hunts, allowing monied interests to exploit bull elk for their personal gain, at the expense of resident hunters. The Montana chapter of BHA had this to say on the change: “The power structure between Governor Gianforte…and the donors to the Gianforte campaign and the Republican legislature. It’s not accidental that many of the folks who are getting these buy-pass tags –they’re called 454 agreements– are donors to this administration.”
Ryan Zinke:
If you look up “pay to play” in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of Ryan Zinke. Honestly, where to begin? In the most recent news, Ryan Zinke was caught lying to investigators who were looking into reports that he had purposefully stalled two Connecticut tribes’ plans to build a casino, after pressure from his friends at MGM International, who were building a competing casino nearby.
“The MTGOP elite will break the rules, abuse their power, harass Montana business owners and hardworking healthcare professionals. They will rewrite hunting rules and stymie local businesses.” says Sheila Hogan, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party. “And they will do it all in service to their well-connected friends.”
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