Montana
Montana is Not “a Product” and Government is Not “a Business”
Photo by Brynn Pedrick
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte has boasted that “Montana is an easy product to sell” and recently referred to himself as our state’s CEO.
He’s dead wrong on both counts. Montana is a state, not a product — and government is not a business. We have elected officials whose duty it is to serve the people with the greatest good for the greatest number — not CEOs whose job is to maximize profits for corporate shareholders.
Of course Gianforte is not the first nor the last person to come to Montana and evince the attitude that Montanans don’t recognize the value of what we have — and then go on to “market” what we hold dear to wring financial profit from the state’s incredible natural assets and hardworking citizens.
In truth, the other side of marketing, which so many governors, both Republican and Democrat, have mistakenly believed was their job, is maintenance of those natural assets and our people — not auctioning them off to the highest bidder.
Like any asset, natural or otherwise, you simply cannot put more and more pressure on a finite resource before the resource itself is degraded. And right now under Gianforte’s administration, make no mistake, our resources and people are being degraded.
Gianforte’s view of Montana is not unlike that of the railroad, timber, and cattle barons or the Copper Kings. That view sees what can be cut, mined, drilled, grazed and taken from the land to produce profit for the takers — not what can and should be “maintained and improved” as mandated by Montana’s constitution.
But how has that worked out? Well, the railroad barons got vast holdings of federal lands to supposedly build lines and maintain rail service to “settle the West.” Yet today Montana has no passenger service on its southern rail line and there are no rail lines going up all the valleys in which the government so generously granted the railroad barons every other section of public land.
Even worse, those vast tracts of once-public lands have been mercilessly clearcut, leaving stumpfields and thousands of acres of knapweed infestations among the spiderwebs of eroding logging roads thanks to a decision by Plum Creek’s board of directors to “liquidate” their timber holdings.
And liquidate they did, with a vengeance and nodding approval from its CEO, just as Gianforte is now doing with state forests. That’s what CEOs do — liquidate assets to produce revenue. But Montana’s budget surplus means we don’t need to and shouldn’t be razing our forests for money.
Meanwhile, if you look at the “maintenance” part of the equation, the toll is tragic. Our deer are now laced with Chronic Wasting Disease, our once world-famous rivers are dry and hot irrigation ditches with crashing trout populations. And our parks and campgrounds are so overrun with tourists Montanans have to get reservations to go to places they’ve gone for years.
Nor are our fellow Montanans in any way, shape, or form “shareholders” since the “dividends” from marketing the state do not accrue to the populace, which now finds itself incapable of even affording a home in their own state. No, the profits from marketing Montana go to the developers, the subdividers, and the luxury resort and private hunting lodge owners.
And so the governor, like carpetbaggers of the past, sees Montana as a commodity to be sold and profits reaped. As for future generations, Christian evangelicals like Gianforte don’t worry too much about the future since they’re very sure the rapture is imminent. But “get as much as you can as fast as you can” is no way to run a state – especially with Gianforte as its “CEO.”
KALISPELL, Mont. — Country music star Walker Hayes will headline the 2026 Northwest Montana Fair concert, opening the Northwest Montana Fair & Rodeo in Kalispell.
Hayes is scheduled to perform Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026, at the Flathead County Fairgrounds. The 2026 Northwest Montana Fair & Rodeo runs Aug. 12-16.
Hayes is known for hit songs including “Fancy Like,” “AA,” and “You Broke Up With Me.”
“We are thrilled to bring Walker Hayes to the Northwest Montana Fair,” said Sam Nunnally, Manager of the NW Montana Fair & Rodeo. “Our goal each year is to create unforgettable experiences for our community and visitors, and this concert will be a highlight of the 2026 Fair.”
Tickets for the Walker Hayes concert will be available through the Northwest Montana Fair website at nwmtfair.com.
The Northwest Montana Fair & Rodeo welcomes more than 80,000 guests annually and is one of the largest summer events in the region, featuring concerts, PRCA ProRodeo action, carnival rides, exhibits, food vendors, and family entertainment.
BOZEMAN — Aaron Flint and Al Olszewski, Republican candidates for Montana’s Western District U.S. House race, squared off Tuesday in their party’s only scheduled debate before the party primary.
The two debated for about 90 minutes at Bozeman’s Calvary Chapel before an audience of about 120 people. Bozeman anchors Gallatin County, which is second in Republican votes only to Flathead County within the 18-county district.
Natural resource jobs, affordable housing and U.S. military attacks on Iran dominated the discussion. Each question drew 12 minutes of response. Both men called for an end to stock trading by members of Congress, and for federal budgets to be passed on time through regular procedures.
The Montana GOP sponsored the debate. Candidate Christi Jacobsen, Montana’s secretary of state, was unable to attend, according to state Republican Party Chair Art Wittich. State Senate President Matt Regier moderated.
Among the highlights: Flint mentioned no fewer than eight times that he is endorsed by President Donald Trump. Olszewski mentioned Trump by name only a couple of times.
Never too far from Flint’s talking points were “far-left socialists,” whom he credited for “gerrymandering” the Western House District (which has delivered comfortable wins for Republicans since first appearing on the ballot in 2022). The 2026 election cycle was the target of Democrats on the state’s districting commission, Flint said. (Both Democrats on the commission that drew the district in 2021 voted against its current configuration.)
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The near faux pas of the night came during Olszewski’s discussion of good-paying jobs in trades and natural resources: “Trades jobs, natural resource jobs, you know, high-dollar, white-collar jobs, our remote workers who have moved into Montana, and we’ve adapted an economy around them. You know, these are the people, and those are the jobs that will bring our kids home, those high-paying white-collar jobs, or a good natural resource job in western Montana, in one of those mines, or, you know, you know, a sawyer or a hooker” — big pause — “as in timber, not the other way around.”
The line that didn’t land: Flint tried and failed to get audience applause for the 2024 defeat of Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester by Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy — an unseating Flint campaigned for.
“How many of you out there are so glad that we finally got rid of the flip-flop, flat-top liberal senator, Jon Tester? How many of you are so glad we finally did that?”
After a silence, Flint explained to people watching the debate on Facebook that the audience was just being polite.
“They’re waving because we can’t have disruptions. See, they’re good rule followers here in the Republican Party,” Flint said.
Asked how to alleviate Montana’s housing affordability crisis:
Olszewski: “The only way you can afford an expensive house is you’ve got to have a job that pays good money. Tourist jobs provide rent and roommates. Trades jobs, natural resource jobs, high‑dollar white‑collar jobs … those are the jobs that will bring our kids home.” Dr. Al, as Olszewski is widely known, said Wall Street investment buyers are distorting housing prices and the federal government has weakened the dollar.
Flint: “Thirty percent of the cost of a home is all due to red tape and regulations … It costs $100,000 to build a home before you even put a hole in the ground.”
Flint said reviving Montana’s timber industry would lower home values and added, “I support President Trump’s ban on these big Wall Street firms buying single-family homes. I think that’s something that we’ve got to get across the finish line.”
“We can deliver when it comes to making the Montana dream affordable again by delivering affordable housing. But another piece is promoting trades and trades education to build up our workforce.”
Asked how Congress should respond to the Iran conflict:
Olszewski: “I supported our president with what happened in Venezuela. There’s a $25 million bounty on basically someone that was killing our people through drugs, right? I’m not so happy with what’s going on in the Iran war. I’m not a warrior. I’m a physician from the military that fixed military people … What my perspective is, is that countries can win wars, but people do not. They don’t come back.” Olszewski said Congress will have to decide whether to authorize further use of military force and set terms in about 10 days.
Flint: “Let me just say this. We are sick and tired of these forever wars, and we do not want to see a long-term boots-on-the-ground Iraq-style nation-building exercise, and I think President Trump shares that mission as well. Let me also say this about Iran. First off, [former Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro is behind bars. [Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei is dead, but the far-left socialists are on the march in Montana.”
Asked about reforming Congress:
Olszewski: “What our congressmen and congresswomen have to understand is that if you’re in the House, the House belongs to the people, and they need to, first and foremost, represent you, not themselves, not special interests. It’s not about sound-bites. It’s about actually getting work done and governing.” Olszewski said the House needs to pass a budget based on 12 agency appropriations bills before the end of each federal fiscal year, a process known as “regular order.”
Flint: “We need to return to regular order and get single-subject bills and get these appropriations bills done one by one. If they can’t get a budget done, they shouldn’t get paid. And we need a ban on congressional stock trading. Because I think part of the reason why the American people are so frustrated with Congress right now is because … they believe that Congress is so useless, because we’ve got some of these politicians back there that are getting rich off the backs of taxpayers.”
Neither candidate offered a plan for cutting taxes, once a staple of Republican platforms. Both supported reductions in federal spending without identifying particular cuts.
Voting in Montana’s 2026 primary election begins May 4 and ends June 2.
POLSON, Mont. — Two motorcyclists crashed on Highway 35 near Polson after failing to negotiate a left-hand curve, leaving one man dead and another hospitalized, according to the Montana Highway Patrol.
Two motorcycles were traveling southbound on Highway 35 when both drifted into a guardrail. Both drivers were separated from their motorcycles and ended up on the other side of the guardrail.
A 58-year-old Polson man was confirmed dead at the scene. The second driver, a 45-year-old man, also from Polson, was taken to the hospital with injuries.
Alcohol is a suspected factor in the crash, according to the Montana Highway Patrol.
The crash is under investigation.
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