Big Sky Times

The state of Montana has one of the lowest economic growth rates in the nation due to the incompetence and corruption of its Democratic governor, according to a Bozeman attorney.

“The best way to characterize Gov. [Steve] Bullock’s tenure is that he’s gotten a pass from the press and from the Republican Party,” said Matthew Monforton. “He has been very lucky because of that.”

Bullock has been governor since 2013 and is currently running for a U.S. Senate seat against incumbent Republican Steve Daines.

“If Gov. Bullock were to prevail in November, he would vote in accordance with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi's instructions,” Monforton told the Big Sky Times. “It's that simple. Chuck Schumer is the one who personally recruited him. In fact, Sen. Schumer came out here earlier this year to personally plead with Gov. Bullock to run for the U.S. Senate. There’s no reason to think he’ll change his pattern of corruption if Gov. Bullock were to be elected to the U.S. Senate.”

Bullock's press secretary Erin Loranger did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Among the patterns that Monforton takes issue with is that Bullock lifted a 14-day quarantine on visitors to the state in May.

“The mainstream media covered the fact that Gov. Bullock opened the state but there's been no subsequent coverage by the media of the impact,” said Monforton in an interview. “Our [COVID-19] numbers are skyrocketing. When you start off with zero cases, lift the quarantine for persons entering Montana, and then the numbers skyrocket, it's pretty clear what the cause of that increase is.”

As of July 14, there were 1,952 coronavirus cases statewide and 34 fatalities, according to the Montana Department of Public Health.

“Another issue the Montana press should be looking into but isn’t is why Lt. Gov. Angela McLean resigned in December 2015,” Monforton said. “She was the most powerful person in the state, second to Gov. Bullock, so this was a significant setback for women and yet there was virtually no outcry either by the press or by Montana Democrats. Montana female Democrats, in particular, should have been protesting and weren't.”

McLean left the position, according to Monforton and media reports, after confronting Bullock about affairs he was allegedly having with subordinates

Mike Cooney has since replaced McLean as lieutenant governor.

During the time Bullock has been in office, the number of employee settlements has allegedly skyrocketed, according to media reports and data provided by Monforton, with potential employee settlement expenditures increasing by $600,000 in only three years. 

“We have no idea who the state employees were and what the reasons were for those settlements and the underlying claims that led to those settlements,” Monforton said. “All we know is that the amount of those settlements have skyrocketed under the Bullock administration.”

Bullock vetoed the HB 532 bill in May 2019, which would have allowed employees to discuss the settlement of harassment cases statewide.

“I'm not saying harassment cases are against Gov. Bullock because we don’t know, and that’s the problem,” Monforton said. “We should know about them and in other states in this country, we would have all this information but in Montana, we don't.”