Receptive local crowd greets candidate

Greg Gianforte wrapped up the first day of his eight-city tour at Thompson Precision near Kalispell on Wednesday, announcing his candidacy for the Republican gubernatorial nomination to a crowd of nearly 50 local Republican leaders, business leaders and other supporters.

Gianforte’s exploratory campaign during the last half of 2015 remained focused on the Bozeman businessman’s legacy of job creation — a theme he continued during his 20-minute speech.

“[My] company grew to more than 1,100 employees, with an average wage of $90,000 per year,” he said. “The lesson from that story is clear: When you combine the Montana work ethic with good leadership, anything is possible.”

That message resonated with many of those gathered in the high-tech manufacturing shop off of Whitefish Stage Road, where supporters were quick to list his business credentials as his main selling point.

Jayson Peters, chairman of the Flathead County Republican Central Committee, listed Republican Sen. Steve Daines along with presidential candidates Ben Carson and Donald Trump as evidence of a business-savvy political outsider’s appeal.

“I think what will be interesting will be to take someone who’s just been in business, and put him in the highest position in state government,” Peters said. “That’s a great thing. You look at the national political scene ... they’re excited about people who have been outside the political system.”

Despite no experience as an elected official, Gianforte is well known as the founder of RightNow Technologies, a software business he sold in 2012 for $1.8 billion.

Bob Herron, an insurance business owner and former Kalispell City Council member who sits on the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce board of directors, cited a strong “pro-growth” agenda as his reason for supporting Gianforte’s campaign.

“I think [incumbent Gov. Steve] Bullock has a lot of regulations, just like the president,” he said. “I think he [Gianforte] would fight as hard as he could to open up coal production, to open up natural resource production.”

Gianforte mentioned President Barack Obama several times during the speech, looking to connect his policies to those of Bullock.

Referring to federal regulations limiting natural resource production — specifically timber and coal — in Montana, he called the sitting governor “too chicken to stand up to them.”

Bullock has officially opposed many of those policies and criticized a recently announced moratorium on new coal leases on federal lands.

The crowd included a gaggle of local state representatives, including Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell, and Reps. Mark Noland, R-Bigfork, and Greg Hertz. R-Polson.

Anticipating that Gianforte will be the eventual Republican nominee for governor, state Democrats have criticized Gianforte as an outsider who grew up in New Jersey, and as a multimillionaire out of touch with everyday Montanans.

State Sen. Mark Blasdel, R-Kalispell, brushed aside that characterization, and noted Gianforte’s considerable donations of time and money to educational initiatives throughout the state.

“He’s got some innovative approaches to push — not just for high-tech, but for diverse businesses,” Blasdel said. “The reality is, he’s been doing business here for two decades and working side-by-side with Montanans.”