(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Cascade County Commission votes to restructure chairperson selection process – Daily Montanan [1] ['Nicole Girten', 'More From Author', '- November'] Date: 2023-11-28 Far-right Cascade County Commissioner Rae Grulkowski’s days as chairperson of the commission may be numbered. Commissioners Joe Briggs and James Larson, two traditional conservatives on the three-person commission, voted to pass an ordinance Tuesday to restructure how the chairperson is selected — from a set rotation to an internal selection process. Grulkowski said she was “disappointed” at what she perceived as lack of help from Briggs and Larson and a “two-against-one mindset.” The vote took place as the finalization of the recent municipal election sits in limbo, amidst what one county employee described as an internal “war” between factions supporting Grulkowski, or the “old guard” in Briggs and Larson. The Republican infighting in Cascade County is representative of larger divisions between traditional conservatism and a far-right conspiracy-driven movement. But Briggs made it clear in the meeting Tuesday county government is not where party ideology is implemented. The undercurrent to Tuesday’s meeting was differing ideologies over election administration after multiple elections overseen by newly elected Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant have been plagued by mishaps. There is an open lawsuit against her office over the administration of two May elections, and the Great Falls Public School District has asked the county to take over election administration, citing a lack of communication with Merchant. The recent municipal election canvass has yet to be completed, as the canvassing board made up of commissioners worked into the night Thanksgiving Eve only to delay completion over questions of vote tallies. The canvass was a topic of discussion amongst public commenters on Tuesday, with some in support of Merchant and the change, but others who pushed back. “I find it incredibly arrogant that this new administration under you, Rae, thinks that the legal opinion of the past 50 years in the state of Montana is incorrect,” said Anne Brust. Briggs has publicly stated he would be interested in putting elections administration under the commission’s purview with a hired administrator, a move more likely with a new chairperson, but one Merchant supporters warned against during Tuesday’s meeting. “Legally you can do it,” said one commenter. “You shouldn’t do it.” “The voters who placed you in your current office as the commissioners have long memories,” said another commenter. Grulkowski said she was disappointed the other commissioners did not, as the legal department had, help her prior to meetings. “This is an obligation that was presented to me. It was difficult. I was not going to relinquish it,” she said. Grulkowski became chairperson as a first-time commissioner because she is filling out the last two years of former Commissioner Jane Weber’s term. In the rotating schedule of who gets to serve as chairperson, Weber was next in line when Grulkowski was elected. The new ordinance will be implemented in 30 days, after which the commission will have the option to select a new chairperson. Administrative Assistant to the commission Cheyenne Phillips said during public comment she sees a lack of communication in the office and has been told to take her concerns to the Human Resources department but did not want to. “Everybody in our office seems to feel that there is a need to take sides, like it’s a war,” Phillips said. She said she’s new to the office, and said some there feel they are “working against them.” “I just feel that my views are different from others. And that’s just kind of where we stand, and that’s OK,” she said. “But I think when it starts to become this negative situation, where it started to affect other people in the building and other people in the county, that definitely becomes a more serious issue.” Phillips said she was told by Merchant to put the canvass on the schedule, and said that ball got dropped after she took time off to attend to one of her sick children. “I didn’t know what the canvass was, so in my honest ignorance, I was thinking ‘canvas,’ like a painting or something,” she said. She said communication would have helped in properly scheduling the election canvass meeting, but the originally planned date would not have met 48-hour public meeting requirements. Jasmine Taylor, a former Democratic candidate for the legislature, said Grulkowski tried to circumvent commissioners Briggs and Larson, who refused to participate in an improperly noticed meeting, by asking other elected officials to hold the meeting. “​​And that didn’t work out for you, and thank God it did not,” Taylor said. “Because can you imagine if we had other elected officials up there with a farce of a canvass that you held? “You cannot complain about your co-workers not coming to you when you go behind the scenes and behind their back and try to circumvent normal public processes in Cascade County.” Grulkowski later said she followed the procedure for when one of the commissioners cannot attend. “If one of us cannot attend, someone else must be appointed. And in order to appoint someone, you have to take steps to call to find someone that would want to be appointed, and I did exactly that as the Board of County Canvassers,” she said. Commenter Mark Winters said the commission shouldn’t vote to change the chair as it would be a “gift to Democrats.” “If you look at the comments here, most of the ones that are for the ordinance are probably from people that would never vote for any of the three of you,” he said. “We are your base. “I know you’re all true Republicans. This is not something that Republicans in this county want.” Nancy Anderson, former Democratic party chairwoman and Great Falls resident, said the party doesn’t see this ordinance as a gift, but rather as a step in the right direction. “Maybe more experience is needed, maybe more education. I don’t know, but this is not working,” Anderson said. Briggs clarified incorrect stats brought to the commission in the last meeting, saying he has served on the commission for 19 years, and been chairperson seven times, not eight as some had said. He said there are differences between Republicans but ultimately, party doesn’t matter in county government, and this commission is the first he’d served on without a Democrat. “The vast majority of our duties are administrative and management. This is not an ideological position. This is not the legislature,” Briggs said. “When we get in these chairs, we have to take our party hat off and serve the entire public.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/11/28/cascade-county-commission-votes-to-restructure-chairperson-selection-process/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/