Gianforte stumps in Havre for governor

Rep. Greg Gianforte R-Mont., was campaigning for governor in Havre Thursday, discuss his Montana Comeback Plan at Tilleman Motor Co.

Kristen Juras, Gianforte's running mate, introduced him to the small crowd at the event.

"I am excited," Juras said. "I am excited about the prospect about Greg Gianforte becoming our next governor." 

Gianforte was elected to the U.S. House in a special election in 2017, after he lost to Democrat Steve Bullock in the 2016 race for governor. He was re-elected in 2018.

He is not running for his seat in the House, instead running again for governor.

He faces Democratic Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney and Libertarian Lyman Bishop and Robert Barb, who is running as a Green Party candidate, in the general election.

Juras said Gianforte is going to be great.

He is not a lifelong professional politician, she said, he's a businessman, adding that Gianforte will bring new and innovative ideas, approaches and customer service to the governor's office.

"Our Montana Comeback Plan is evidence of what he can do," she said, "As you know, our state is diverse, from agriculture to natural resources, manufacturing, hi-tech, tourism, Main Street business - these industries are the pistons that drive Montana's economy, but after 16 years of one party rule in the Governor's Office our outstanding potential has been idling, our economy has sputtered and quite frankly, everything needs a tune up."

She said the state needs to get the economy going and firing on all cylinders again.

Their priorities are clear, Juras said, get the economy going again, get Montana open for business, get Montanans back to good-paying jobs, all while protecting the Montana way of life.

"Our Montana Comeback Plan is a hopeful vision for doing that, but we all know it's not going to be easy," she said. "At this critical time, we need a leader with proven business and leadership experience, someone who knows how to create good-paying jobs who has actually done it, a leader to committed to opening Montana for business again, getting our economy going all while committed to our way of life and to revitalizing the backbone of Montana - our rural communities." 

Gianforte said this is an important time for the country.

"I'm excited about creating better opportunities for all Montanans," he said. "This corona crisis has shut our economy, it's left a lot of people without paychecks and struggling whether to know if they are going to have a job or not, a lot of our small businesses have closed and some of them will not open again, our beef and grain prices have suffered hurting our farmers and ranchers."

Even before this crisis, Montana suffered from some of the lowest wages in the country, he said.

He said, as a consequence of low wages and fewer opportunities, too many Montanans have had to leave the state to find better opportunities elsewhere.

"Susan and I have raised our four kids in Bozeman, three of them don't live in Montana anymore," he added. "As a grandad, I'd like to be able to go T-ball games and have them around the table on Sunday afternoon. As long as they don't move back into the basement I'm OK."

The state needs to reverse these trends of low wages and lack of opportunity that have the kids leaving the state, he said.

He said the state needs to get its economy going and then open Montana up for business, and get Montana back to work in good-paying jobs all while protecting the Montana way of life.

The Montana Come Back Plan, he said, is his and Juras' business plan to get the economy growing again. 

"I'm the only candidate in this campaign that's actually built a business here in Montana and created good-paying jobs," Gianforte said. "I've spent my life in business, creating jobs, solving problems and serving others that's what I know how to do."

Over two decades ago, he and Susan started a business in their home in Bozeman. It outgrew their home and they created more than 500 good-paying jobs in Montana, he said.

He said it became one of the state's largest employers and it helped launch the whole hi-tech sector.

Last year, the hi-tech sector in Montana produced more than $2 billion in revenue, he said, and created jobs that doubled the state average. It is now the state's fastest growing sector, growing nine times faster than the overall economy in Montana.

"But, we didn't build RightNow Technologies alone, we had help from hundreds of Montanans, and we proved when you combine the Montana work ethic with good leadership Montanans can prosper," he said. "We need more of that in Helena. We hired the best people, we built the best teams and we trusted them and we listened to them. We listened to their ideas because the best ideas don't always come from the top, often they come from the people working on the front lines, and ultimately all those Montanans helped us build a better business and create a success story that Montanans have never seen before."

Last October, he and Juras put up a website MontanaBusinessPlan.com that asked all Montanans for their ideas which created the Montana Comeback Plan, he said.

He said they talked to people throughout the state - they heard from parents, grandparents, teachers, farmers, ranchers, small business owners and students, and from all walks of life and took the best ideas.

"We've looked in every corner of the state and what we learned was there is more that unites as Montanans than there is what separates us," Gianforte said. "We are united by the idea Montana has not been living up to its full potential. We are united by an idea that we can do better, I think better is always possible. We are united by the idea that we should bring the American Dream into closer reach for more folks. And we are united by the idea that we must preserve our Montana way of life."

People who are interested in reading the Montana Comeback Plan can visit  https://montanabusinessplan.com , and provide feedback and give ideas, he added.

"Our Montana Comeback Plan will get our economy going again," he added. "Our comeback plan will open Montana for business. Our comeback plan will get Montanans back to working good-paying jobs and our Montana Comeback Plan also charts a path to change the way we do business in Helena."

He said the state has good state workers, but they are not led well. They don't know where the endzone is on the football field and that needs to be very clear.

"Although I talk about jobs, jobs aren't created by government, they are created by business people, farmers and ranchers and entrepreneurs," he said. "We need to reduce the regulations so that they can prosper. The comeback plan also increases access to affordable health care. We need to bring down the cost of prescription drugs. We need to protect people with pre-existing conditions and preserve rural access."

He said their comeback plan is built on protecting the Montana way of life, which includes keeping public lands in public hands and increasing access to them, protecting the constitutional rights and fighting against federal overreach. 

"Together I know we can create more good-paying jobs for Montanans, we can create a brighter future for our kids and we can protect our Montana way of life," Gianforte said. "We need to work together to face these challenges and I know we can do it, and I'm firmly convinced that Montana with good, effective leadership Montana's best days are ahead of us."

In an interview after the event, he said, he is not going to second guess the decisions made up to this point when it comes to COVID-19, but based on what he's seen and going forward he thinks the right public policy is to focus on keeping the most vulnerable safe, but relying more on personal responsibility rather than government mandate.

He trusts Montanans to look out for their own health, he said.

He said with schools planning to be re-opened in the fall he thinks students want to go back to school and, even more, parents want them to go back to school.

"I think we must find a way to safely re-open schools, and I trust local school boards and superintendents with guidance from the state," he said.

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Editor's note: The Havre Daily News was not able to access a photograph of gubernatorial candidate Robert Barb, who is running as a Green Party candidate.