Letters to the Editor

Republican Legislative Leadership Disappointed by "Meeting" with Governor Bullock

HELENA, Mont. - Last week, Republican Legislative Leadership sat down with Governor Bullock to discuss Montana’s failing economy and budget issues due to the Governor’s closures.

While Leadership appreciated the rare opportunity to discuss the pressing issues facing Montanans with the Governor, this meeting merely served as a press conference for the Governor’s campaign with hand-picked members of the Press, and provided no opportunity to have substantive conversations about the challenges facing Montana families.

Speaker Greg Hertz issued the following statement in response to the meeting:

“As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, Governor Bullock has been faced with many decisions on pressing issues for our state – issues that Montanans deserve transparency from their leaders on how they are being handled.

As the sole authority tasked with distributing $1.25 billion in relief to Montanans, Governor Bullock has given the opposite of transparency to Montanans, conducting all of his meetings in private.

While Governor Bullock continues to sit on this relief in Helena, Montanans are suffering all over the state. We encourage the Governor to drop the politics and get back to work for Montana.”

To date, Governor Bullock has only disbursed 3% of these funds to Montanans, while a backlog of nearly 10,000 applications for grant requests from businesses and individuals await their fate by the pen of the Bullock Administration.

Republican Legislative Leadership maintains its support for the recommendation of Senator Daines and the United States Treasury, that Montana give $500 million of the $1.25 billion directly to communities and counties to disburse promptly and accurately according to local needs. Governor Bullock has instead chosen to maintain complete control over the distribution of these taxpayer dollars, yet has failed time and time again to deliver them to Montanans with any sense of urgency. Governor Bullock’s task force designed to advise him on the spending of these dollars last met in April.

Republican Legislative Leadership urges Governor Bullock to change course immediately on the budget by reducing spending like all other Montanans during this crisis, and again offer more transparency to Montanans on his private meetings regarding the remaining $1.25 billion in taxpayer dollars given to Montana.