(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Gianforte is intentionally not playing by the rules – Daily Montanan [1] ['More From Author', 'December', 'Russell Rowland'] Date: 2023-12-19 One of the bills that was passed in the latest legislative session was Senate Bill 442, which designated changes for doling out tax money from marijuana sales. The main emphasis of the bill was to allocate more money toward maintenance of county roads, as well as conservation and recreation programs, addiction treatment, and veterans’ services. The bill was introduced by Sen. Mike Lang, a Republican from Malta, and passed with overwhelming support from both parties, with 130 out of 150 legislators voting in favor. But just before the legislature adjourned, and in fact after the Senate was in session, Gov. Greg Gianforte vetoed the bill, to the surprise of almost everyone. Since Gianforte issued that veto, the Montana Association of Counties, along with two environmental groups, Wild Montana and the Montana Wildlife Federation, have filed a lawsuit challenging the veto, and the central focus of the suit is whether Gianforte followed proper procedure in issuing the veto because the Senate never got a chance to hear the veto read in their chambers. This denied them the opportunity to override the measure, an opportunity they are supposed to have with every bill. Even after the session was over, members of the legislature, including Sen. Lang, contacted the governor’s office, as well as the Attorney General, to try and initiate a polling process to overturn the veto. The governor has refused to entertain this option. So lawyers for both parties presented their cases a couple of weeks ago to District Court Judge Mike Menahan, who has given no timeline for his decision. This manipulation of the process is disturbing, but to me, another significant question is: What’s Gianforte’s problem with this bill? The fact that he held onto that veto until the last minute indicates that he was going to do whatever he could to block this change. But why? The closest thing we have to explanation is his veto letter, which states that Gianforte painted the bill as a “slippery slope” towards unrestricted spending by the counties, saying that directing marijuana revenue towards public works projects would make counties less likely to address needs with local tax dollars. One of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs in this lawsuit, Rylee Somers-Flanagan from Upper Seven Law in Helena, says that Gianforte doesn’t like having the state pay for services and programs that he thinks should fall under the county’s jurisdiction. Well, he certainly has a right to that opinion, which has shown up in many of the bills he’s supported through the years, but when he circumvents the normal legislative procedure to achieve his objective, that crosses an ethical line that I find troubling. Gianforte has a reputation for micromanaging the legislature. I’ve heard stories from several members about him contacting members and asking them to pull bills he isn’t happy with, having his team rewrite them, and of course, that’s his prerogative. But if I was a member of the Montana legislature, I would be offended that the governor is such a control freak that he doesn’t allow the members to do their jobs without interference. This particular situation also threatens to set a disturbing precedent where the governor can simply veto bills that he doesn’t like, completely bypassing checks and balances that have been put in place to allow the legislature to do its job without interference from the executive branch. That’s how government is supposed to work, and Gianforte seems determined to ignore that. It also brings to mind the question of who is paying to defend Gianforte in this case. According to Somers-Flanagan, taxpayers are footing the bill for at least part of Gianforte’s defense team, which makes the whole situation that much more disturbing. So here’s the scenario: A state Senator presents a bill, the legislature goes through all the complicated steps of passing the bill through committees, legislators in both houses debate, then do their homework to make an educated vote on the bill, and pass the bill with almost a unanimous vote, and one person decides he doesn’t like the bill. So he kills it, then blocks all efforts that have been instilled into the process to override that action. Gianforte has proven from the time he sold his business and started putting himself on the public stage that he’s one of those guys who thinks he’s the smartest one in the room. So considering that he sold his company for millions of dollars, used that money to get elected to Congress, and then as governor, let’s give him that. Maybe he is. But what that doesn’t, or shouldn’t, mean is that he is immune to the ethical responsibilities the rest of us face. But his behavior increasingly indicates that he thinks it does. From the time he threw that reporter to the floor, lied about it, and escaped the same accountability every other Montanan would have faced, he has pushed the envelope, from killing animals illegally, more than once, to feeding us misleading information about various policies. For a long time, it wasn’t the kind of behavior that had that much direct impact on Montanans, but lately he’s crossed the line. First he announced his big tax rebate, then immediately endorsed the largest property tax increase in decades, which will cost every Montanan for years to come. When he turned a blind eye to the obscene increase from Northwestern Energy, and the Energy Commission’s approval of that rate increase, he told us all we need to know about where his priorities lie, and it’s not with the average Montanan. When was the last time property taxes or utility costs went down? We are going to pay for these actions for a very long time. This veto is just one more indication that Gianforte thinks we are too stupid to notice what he’s doing. As the smartest person in the room, he’s smart enough to throw us a bone here and there so we believe he has our best interests at heart, but as we stand here with our pile of bones, wondering where all the meat is, I think it’s important for the governor to know that there are a growing number of Montanans who see what he’s doing. 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