OPINION: Gianforte's history proves he doesn't support discrimination

Greg Gianforte successfully built and grew a business that employed hundreds of Montanans. Thanks to his hard work and dedication, he proved that a world-class business could be built in Montana. The spark of RightNow Technologies ignited Montana’s growing high-tech sector. Many Montanans have benefited directly or indirectly from what RightNow Technologies accomplished here.

This is especially true for former RightNow employees like Susan Carstensen. Carstensen served as a CFO while Gianforte served as CEO, and was made a millionaire by the sale of the company. Despite gaining so much from working for Greg Gianforte, she is not endorsing his bid for governor. In fact, she is endorsing the incumbent governor, Steve Bullock, citing political disagreements and claiming, interestingly, that her former boss supports discrimination.

Now, Ms. Carstensen is entitled to her opinions and she can share those opinions. However, her claim that Gianforte supports discrimination is actually proven wrong by her own success at RightNow Technologies.

Carstensen is a liberal woman with a long record of supporting Democrats. She and Gianforte likely don’t agree on many issues. However, he still made Carstensen second in command at RightNow, putting the company finances in her hands. Why? Presumably, because she was the best and most qualified to do the job, and the success of RightNow is a testament to that.

Even by Carstensen’s own account, she had a good working relationship with Gianforte, despite their differences. This really speaks to the character of Greg Gianforte, and it’s proof that he does not believe in discrimination. RightNow Technologies was a complete meritocracy. People of all different types were hired and promoted only based on their ability to do the job.

Contrast this with Gov. Bullock. The governor also had a female second in command. Despite being nearly universally well liked across the state and a rising star in the Democratic Party, Angela McLean was forced out of her position. While neither Bullock nor McLean will say why exactly McLean left her post, this presumably occurred because she and the governor had some disagreements. Emails released the public show that a strained relationship had developed between the state’s two highest officers.

Unlike Greg Gianforte and Susan Carstensen, who worked together successfully despite their disagreements, Bullock pushed McLean out and took actions against her that sound like something out of a high-school drama, such as locking the lieutenant governor out of her official Twitter account.

The irony here is that the record shows that Greg Gianforte worked better with a liberal woman than Gov. Bullock!

To really test what type of character people have, you have to look at how they conduct themselves in their personal lives. Gov. Bullock and his surrogates can try and claim all they want that Gianforte believes in discrimination or doesn’t believe in equality for women. However, his record in business clearly shows these claims to be false.

On the other hand, Gov. Bullock can talk a good game about non-discrimination and equality for women, but the way he treated his female lieutenant governor paints a far different picture of his character.

Joe Dooling, of Helena, is the Lewis and Clark GOP chair.