Stoking conspiracies an embarrassment to state
Mr. Gianforte, You signed onto the amicus brief to the Supreme Court, trying to throw out millions of votes in states that didn’t go for Trump in an effort wreck our democracy.
I have to ask how you thought it would benefit you? Your party tried to overturn the will of the American people to keep an aspiring autocrat in office. You must be aware that all the state AG’s, both Dem and GOP, certified their election results and found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Trump’s lapdog AG even put out a statement saying that there was no evidence of voter irregularity that would affect the outcome of the election. Your, and your party’s refusal to acknowledge that Biden/Harris won the election, and your continued belief in a stolen election is doing nothing but undermine the bedrock principles of our election system that has served our country well for over 200 years.
It is dangerous. Do you not see that? Why can you not accept the fact that Trump is just a vile man that the majority of Americans do not want in the White House. He lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes last time, but due to the vagaries of the Electoral College, he was able to take the presidency. By the way, do remember how graciously Mrs. Clinton conceded the day after the election? This time he lost by 7 million votes and he still won’t concede.
Continuing to undermine our electoral process and stoke dangerous conspiracy theories will do nothing but further divide an already fractured country. You have only debased yourself in the eyes of a lot of your constituents through this action. Why? Please stop it. It is embarrassing.
Gifford Cochran
Bozeman
Rejecting mandate won’t be good for businesses
Greg Gianforte’s claim to fame is his purported business savvy. But if he rejects Governor Bullock’s mask mandate, the Republican governor-to-be will reveal himself to be no friend to Montana businesses.
Masks are one of the least invasive, most effective interventions available against the spread of COVID-19. Worn consistently, a mask protects both the wearer and the (masked) people around them. And most Montanans accept the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask, demonstrating the “personal responsibility” that Gianforte claims will solve all problems.
However, a few Montanans —most of them Republicans and an alarming number of them our legislators —apparently need the firm guidance of a mandate to make the “personally responsible” choice. Absent that, they roam the state unmasked and potentially contagious. In doing so, they put everyone else at risk. This dreadful disease has killed nearly 1,000 of our friends and neighbors so far and is stressing our health care system almost to the breaking point.
If the governor-elect eliminates the mandate—following the lead of well-known public health mecca Mississippi—business owners will have to figure out on their own how to protect their employees and customers, since they can’t require anyone to be “personally responsible.” It’s yet another burden on businesses already suffering from close to a year of cratering demand caused by COVID-19.
Gianforte and the Republicans seem strangely committed to spreading COVID-19 with their version of personal responsibility, even as we’re on the precipice of conquering it with vaccines. Why? To please the tiny minority of Montanans who fret that wearing a mask will make people laugh at them? But a tough guy like Greg Gianforte — so fearless he’s willing to assault a reporter —can’t
be bullied into harming Montana businesses to make a political statement, right? I guess we’ll find out in January.
Nicole Rosenleaf Ritter
Bozeman
Gianforte put party loyalty before rights
Last week Texas and 17 other Republican states, including Montana, brought suit against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin on grounds that these four battleground states created an environment where voter fraud was “enabled and likely to occur” and as a result they “destroyed that trust and compromised the security and integrity of the 2020 election.”
This suit was brought despite the fact that not a single verifiable piece of evidence exists that any voter fraud occurred, and despite the fact that 63 lawsuits, including two before the Supreme Court, have been rejected due to a lack of evidence of a single instance of voter fraud.
Our own Greg Gianforte was one of 126 House Republicans who supported the Texas law suit.
So, we now have a governor who believes that other states have the right to sue Montana if they don’t agree with the way we vote, and who is opposed to states’ rights in general.
Apparently, he is willing to disregard millions of individual votes if they don’t agree with his personal political preferences.
If you needed any evidence that that Gianforte was a political hack who put his blind loyalty to his political party before basic American rights, privileges and institutions, well, now you’ve got it.
Guy Crawford
Bozeman
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letters to the Editor 12/27/20
Gov. Gianforte should continue mask mandate
I suspect the next four years to be rough for Montana but Mr. Gianforte, why would you want to get rid of the mask mandate when numbers are coming down? It is a proven fact masks work and as a lifelong Montanan it makes sense to keep mandate to protect workers, police, teachers, and elderly. Please keep mandate until everyone who wants a vaccine can get one. It only makes
sense.
Mark Erickson,
Belgrade
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letter to the Editor 12/29/20