I haven’t tried to contact Greg Gianforte about doing an interview for my podcast, mainly because I don’t trust him to be honest about anything. I also think his people would probably ignore the request, because the one thing they have made clear from the time Gianforte entered the public sector is that they do not like to put Gianforte in a position where he can be confronted. They like controlled environments, with small gatherings, with handpicked participants. This was true even before Gianforte completely lost his shit on Ben Jacobs, a highly respected journalist for the Guardian, who asked Gianforte a simple question about a proposed health care bill the night before the election for Congress in May 2017.
Gianforte suddenly snapped, as you can hear from the recorded version of events. After telling Jacobs that he would talk to him about the issue later, Jacobs very reasonably pointed out that there wasn’t time, with the election being the next day. To which Gianforte responded by suddenly grabbing Jacobs, not exactly a threatening guy, throwing him to the ground, breaking his glasses, and shouting “Get the hell out of here. The last guy that was here did the same damn thing. Get the hell out of here.”
So apparently, asking Greg Gianforte a question that he doesn’t want to answer is an invitation to violence. I’ve always been amazed that this incident hasn’t gotten more coverage in Montana. I have tried to find a single incident in the history of America where a candidate for a major office assaulted a reporter, and I haven’t been able to dig anything up. And the fact that Gianforte lied about the incident afterward, not realizing that there was a recording, makes it even more egregious. Gianforte claimed that Jacobs grabbed him first, a version of events that was completely disputed by other reporters that were present, including a reporter from Fox News, just to bring in a bit more irony.
Gianforte later apologized, but he also managed to sway the Gallatin County law enforcement folks to charge him a much lesser crime than he should have been hit with, not to mention a pathetic sentence of a fine and some community service. He also made damn sure that mug shot never made an appearance on social media.
So here’s my point. Despite making a lot of decisions in the past four years that deserve some answers, Gianforte continues to make himself scarce when it comes to public scrutiny. He has organized events in every county in Montana, but they have all been carefully scripted, without prior notice of where he will be. He’s clearly a control freak, as almost anyone who has dealt with him as governor can attest.
So if I did have the chance to interview him, here’s what I would ask:
1) Why is it that the property taxes on your house went down last year, while the 75 houses around you all went up? (this is a matter of public record)
2) Why do you put so much effort into making life difficult and unpleasant for the LGBQT community when one of your own children identifies with that demographic? You even signed a bill into law after a private meeting with your son David, who pleaded with you to reconsider.
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