A visit with Rep. Greg Gianforte

Republican Congressman Greg Gianforte has served as Montana's sole representative in Washington DC for a year and half, after defeating singer Rob Quist in a May 2017 special election for the seat left vacant by Ryan Zinke, President Donald Trump's pick as Secretary of the Interior. Gianforte is currently running for re-election this year against Democrat Kathleen Williams of Bozeman.

Gianforte, who prides himself on getting out to all the counties in Montana and not spending weekends in Washington DC, took the time to stop by the Blackfoot Valley Dispatch for a visit while enroute to Missoula from Choteau.

There were plenty of election-year topics the BVD could have pursued, from the differences between Gianforte and Williams, to the partisan discord in Washington highlighted by the Kavanaugh hearings, to President Trump's latest visit to Montana, which effectively rekindled the controversy around Gianforte's "body slam" of a reporter, but those have been covered by plenty of other publications and campaign ads. Although the conversation included some of the expected campaign talking points, for this article, we focused on Gianforte's positions on some of the topics Lincoln residents may be interested in, such as public access and the rural economy.

Earlier this year, Gianforte drafted two bills in the House that would release around 700,000 acres of Wilderness Study Areas in Montana. His efforts have been become a topic of debate during the campaign due to criticism that he introduces the bills without public input, but he said they are making progress in getting them opened back up to multiple use.

"The reality is these lands have been in limbo for 40 years. They were studied. The ones that are in the bill have been determined to be unsuitable for wilderness, which really cuts the public off from access.

"When the state legislature passed a resolution asking the federal delegation to get these out of limbo, then the county commissioners in many of the counties did the same thing, I knew I had to act. The legislation would predesignate these lands for recreation and public access and put them back into Forest Service, BLM inventory.

"The legislation would kick off a public input process what would allow each community to decide, how should these lands be used."

With the three of the five alternatives to Helena-Lewis & Clark National Forest Plan Revision including five possible Recommended Wilderness Areas in the Lincoln Ranger District, public access has been a topic of concern for many Lincoln residents lately. Although Gianforte didn't address RWA's or Inventoried Roadless Areas specifically, he said he follows three principles when it comes to public lands.

"The three key principles that the people of Montana have given me: number one, Public lands have to stay in public hands. Secondly, we ought to be working to increase access for the public to public lands and thirdly, the voice of the local community should really be sought and trusted.

"That's why, if we were going to do anything with these lands, we'd need to hear from the local community as to what we're gonna do."

Likewise, he said there needs to be more effort to find a way for locals to be heard when it comes to commenting on plans that can be thousands of pages long.

"The local folks, they're working jobs, they're busy. The environmental groups, many of them funded from out of state, they have full time lawyers who do nothing but pour through those documents. We have to find ways to make sure the local voice gets better heard. That's why, particularly with the road access, we've been working to try to get the gates off some of these roads."

In relation to gated roads, Gianforte said that as the Chairman of Subcommittee on Interior, Energy, and Environment, which has oversight on food and drug safety, energy policy, public lands, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of the Interior, it was a top priority.

"My first hearing I held was on why has the Forest Service gated one third of the roads in Montana. One third. 21,000 miles of road.

The message I got was that we should be working to help Montanans have more access to public lands, not less. We should be managing these lands for multiple use. Unfortunately, what the Forest Service is doing is gating the public out of these lands, and it prevents people with disabilities from getting access."

A supporter of natural resource development, Gianforte said he's also fighting to get back to managing the forests.

"You had that Stonewall Project in Lincoln where they spent eight years trying to get a management permit, then one judge overturned it because of the lynx, saying there's no imminent danger of fire. And you know the story, the thing burned. That's why I introduced a bill this last summer ... that would allow for landscape size salvage timber operations that eliminates judicial review, so these environmental extremists can't sue and shut down projects. That passed out of the house. It's now in the Senate.

"I also passed a bill I co-sponsored that would give county commissioners the authority to do forest management projects on Federal land. Right now, that authority in the Farm Bill is only extended to the state government, but I think better decisions are made locally so let's give the county commissioners the ability. That passed the house too. It's now part of the Farm Bill in the senate. We're hoping they will approve it.

"The third thing I did in the same area, I think it's unfair that these environmental extremists sue, and the government pays all their legal fees. I introduced a bill to change the Equal Access to Justice Act, which has been weaponized by environmental extremists, so that if you sue and settle, no legal fees are paid. You have to get a court judgement. That also passed the house. It's now part of the interior appropriations bill in the Senate.

"Again, I follow the key principles, let's keep public lands in public hands, but the local voice is really critical if we want to stop the frivolous lawsuits that are preventing us from being good stewards of the land and creating jobs in our communities."

In response to a question about his take on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Grizzly population being returned to a Threatened status by a federal judge, while Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem Grizzly population is being considered for delisting, Gianforte called delisting the GYE bears a win for the bears and for conservation and has set his sights on what he sees as the manipulation of the Endangered Species Act for profit.

"I was very pleased when the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Grizzly Bear was delisted. Based on the science, I believe it's time to delist them in the Northern Rockies, and return control of the species back to the state. Again, local decisions are better than ones made by bureaucrats 2000 miles away.

"The Endangered Species Act exists for good reason. No one wants endangered species to go extinct, but it seems that species get listed, and they never get delisted. It's sort of like Hotel California. You check in but you can never check out, so we need to bring science back.

"I sit on (The House Committee on Natural Resources). We passed nine bills out of committee that would reform the Endangered Species Act and would put common sense guard rails on it that again would prevent it from being manipulated by environmental extremists.

"Unfortunately, the environmental extremists have used the Endangered Species Act, as it has evolved, to profit at taxpayer expense. They sue and get their legal fees paid. It's become a business model for the environmental extremists. We ought to return the Endangered Species Act back to its original intent.

"Currently the Endangered Species Act pays legal fees at a premium level, because when it was enacted, environmental lawyers were rare. Well, they're not rare anymore. It's time to delist the environmental lawyers and pay a standard legal rate, rather than six or seven hundred dollars an hour."

"If we could actually get back to managing our forest, there would be healthier forests, there'd be more wildlife, more hunting opportunities. There'd be jobs at our mills again and there'd be less wildfire. Everybody wins, except the environmental extremists. I'm OK with that."

Despite Gianforte's stance on opening up more areas to natural resources development, he said he stuck to his guiding principles in working with Sen. Jon Tester to introduce the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act in the House.

"Why did I introduce that bill? I went down to Paradise Valley. Four hundred businesses had come together. Their livelihoods are dependent on the Yellowstone River, and they spoke with one voice. They said we do not want a mine on the doorstep of Yellowstone Park.

"My job is to be the voice of the local community, so that's why I introduced that legislation.

I had some key principles I wouldn't violate. I'm a staunch defender of property rights. We would not take anyone's personal property rights away. The legislation I introduced, basically says there are 29,000 acres of public land where the community said they don't want a mine there."

Turning to the economy, Gianforte touts the growth under President Donald Trump and believes the government's main job should be to get out of the way.

"The approach I have taken, working with President Trump, is to let people keep more of the money they earn by lowering taxes and peeling back regulations and these frivolous lawsuits so people can prosper. It's then up to the local economy and entrepreneurs who are running businesses to create that economy.

"At a federal level, I think we should be working to make sure people keep more of their hard-earned money. The only way we're ever going to balance the federal budget is to get our economy going. And then hold the line on spending. That's why I voted against the two-major spending bills this year, because I thought they were reckless. They had been loaded up with a whole bunch of domestic discretionary spending. That's just putting our kids and grandkids under a heavier back pack they have to carry along. We still have a big spending problem in Washington."

When looking at the economic gap that exists between urban and rural areas in the state, Gianforte, who capitalized on cloud computing early on with RightNow Technologies, sees improved rural broadband access and telecommuting as key.

"I was just over in Chouteau... and a gentleman came up to me and says 'Greg, I want to thank you for the invitation." I said what invitiaton? 'Well the one you sent me. I was living in Denver, grew up in Choteau and it was the invitation that said come home to Montana and bring a job with you.' He said "these ran my two boys." They both had Cub Scout uniforms. He said I'm now the Cub Scout leader. I moved from Denver back to Choteau. I telecommute back to Denver and live in Choteau."

"We've been exporting our kids out of Montana for the longest time, I think our most precious export is our kids. Most of them understand the quality of life we have here and want to come back home. I think there are things government can do to make that easier, particularly in providing better rural broadband, and encouraging people to come home and bring jobs with them."

Gianforte said young people have more options now that the internet has removed geographic constraints, but said he doesn't believe technology will replace the state's traditional industries.

"But it's a great compliment to them. It can complement ag, it can complement tourism and I'd like to work to bring back responsible natural resource development, because that has always been the backbone of Montana."

Despite the declining level of political discourse in the country, Gianforte said he sees hope in the future after talking to kids around the state.

"I've now done school assemblies in Harlowton, Lewistown, Great Falls and Billings. I've had 80 to 100 kids in each one and we'd spend an hour just Q&A and I'll tell you, every time I go sit with some high school kids, it gives hope for this country again. They're bright, they ask insightful questions, they are concerned about their future. As you'd expect there's a range of views. It's a cross section of our society."

*Note: Though it's an election year, the BVD hasn't taken to endorsing candidates. This isn't intended as such. We saw it as an opportunity for us to talk, one-on-one, with our sitting congressman.