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Articles by Matthew Monforton
Matthew Monforton: Legislators must reform Montana’s judiciary now, not in 2025
Montana courts have struck down common-sense conservative legislation for over a generation. Former University of Montana Law School Professor Rob Natelson recently noted that the Montana Supreme Court has an “unbroken record of upholding every liberal initiative.
Guest column: Legislators must reform Montana’s judiciary now, not in 2025
Montana courts have struck down common-sense conservative legislation for over a generation. Former University of Montana Law School Professor Rob Natelson recently noted that the Montana Supreme Court has an “unbroken record of upholding every liberal initiative. It has an almost unbroken record of striking down almost every conservative initiative….
Op-Ed: Let's Cap Our Property Taxes - And Save Our Homes
Our property taxes now increase by double digits every year. They are being driven in large part by wealthy out-of-state transplants with sacks of money from selling their Seattle and Silicon Valley homes. Montanans of all economic backgrounds are now considering selling their homes to forestall tax foreclosure. Without change, the number of Montanans facing the same dilemma will skyrocket in the coming years.
Let’s Cap Our Property Taxes – And Save Our Homes - Flathead Beacon
Our property taxes now increase by double digits every year. They are being driven in large part by wealthy out-of-state transplants with sacks of money from selling their Seattle and Silicon Valley homes. Montanans of all economic backgrounds are now considering selling their homes to forestall tax foreclosure. Without change, the number of Montanans facing the same dilemma will skyrocket in the coming years.
Our property taxes now increase by double digits every year. They are being driven in large part by wealthy out-of-state transplants with sacks of money from selling their Seattle and Silicon Valley homes. Montanans of all economic backgrounds are now considering selling their homes to forestall tax foreclosure. Without change, the number of Montanans facing the same dilemma will skyrocket in the coming years.
Guest opinion: Let's cap our property taxes
Our property taxes now increase by double digits every year. They are being driven in large part by wealthy out-of-state transplants with sacks of money from selling their Seattle and Silicon Valley homes. Montanans of all economic backgrounds are now considering selling their homes to forestall tax foreclosure. Without change, the number of Montanans facing the same dilemma will skyrocket in the coming years.
Viewpoint: Let's cap our property taxes, and save our homes
Al Olszewski Our property taxes now increase by double digits every year. They are being driven in large part by wealthy out-of-state transplants with sacks of money from selling their Seattle and Silicon Valley homes. Montanans of all economic backgrounds are now considering selling their homes to forestall tax foreclosure. Without change, the number of Montanans facing the same dilemma will skyrocket in the coming years.
Democrat Court Packing Will Eviscerate the 2nd Amendment
As Republicans contemplate replacing the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Democrats are threatening to pick up where FDR left off over 80 years ago by adding as many as four left-wing justices to the Supreme Court. Conservatives and gun owners in particular should take Democrats at their word. No provision of the Bill of Rights is more vulnerable to a Democrat-packed court than the Second Amendment.
SCOTUS Boots Montana Democrats From the Schoolhouse Door
One of the few diamonds extracted by those of us in the 2015 Montana Legislature now glistens in one of the few rays of sunlight emanating from this otherwise dark Supreme Court term. We enacted a $150 tax credit in 2015 to Montana taxpayers who donate to organizations that award scholarships to families attending private schools, whether secular or religious.
Steve Bullock Deserves the Same Scrutiny Roy Moore Received
Days after Montana Lt. Gov. Angela McLean announced her mysterious resignation in late 2015, Gov. Steve Bullock explained during a press conference that “it wasn’t that good a fit.” David McCumber, the editor of the Montana Standard and the Billings Gazette, wasn’t buying it. “There’s something there,” he told Bullock. Indeed there was. The details are here.
Montana Republicans Can Choose Religious Freedom or Religious Discrimination
To the delight of Montana’s conservative Christians, Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-MT), who is running for governor, just selected Kristen Juras as his running mate. Juras previously ran for a seat on the Montana Supreme Court in 2016.
Guest Column: Espinoza case shows Democrats’ hostility toward faith
Matthew Monforton, Guest Column Published 10:31 a.m. MT Jan. 28, 2020 If all you’ve read about the Espinoza case is Raph Graybill’s column in Sunday’s Tribune, you might think Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte were the plaintiffs rather than Kendra Espinoza, a single mom in Kalispell. Espinoza’s young daughters had attended Stillwater Christian School because of a scholarship program those of us in the Legislature enacted in 2015.
MTGOP's Snoozer Debate Likely Seals the Candidates’ Fates
Last night’s Republican gubernatorial debate between Rep. Greg Gianforte (MT-AL), Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, and State Senator Al Olszewski featured something largely absent in most political debates: candidates who routinely tried to answer moderators’ questions rather than jumping into unrelated topics. Which was unfortunate, because the evening consisted of sterile inquiries by moderators who quarantined conservative issues like a Chinese coronavirus.
4 Questions MTGOP Gubernatorial Candidates Should Be Asked (But Probably Won’t)
Montana’s Republican candidates for governor, Congressman Greg Gianforte (MT-AL), Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, and State Sen. Al Olszewski, will have their first (and, so far, only) scheduled debate in Billings on Thursday. It’s a Republican primary, so it would be really cool if there were a few questions that Republican voters care about rather than the entire evening consisting of mainstream-media pap.
Trump’s State-of-Mind Defense Might Make Him a Key Witness
According to several reports published in recent days, Donald Trump’s allies in Congress plan on mounting a state-of-mind defense to prevent his removal by the Senate. In other words, they’re going to concede the obvious: Trump withheld pre-approved military aid to Ukraine while pressuring its officials to investigate Joe Biden’s son and publicly announce they were doing so. The defense will be that Trump intended to further American interests rather than his own.
Sessions Can Offer Conservatism Without Cultism
Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump’s former Attorney General and, prior to that, long-time Alabama senator, wants his seat back. Whether he deserves it remains to be seen. Sessions racked up a strong conservative record since his first election to the Senate in 1996. He’s been a leader on lower taxes, lower spending, religious liberty, the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage, and just about every other issue conservatives care about. Including, of course, immigration.
ABA Slanders Fail to Impress Senate Republicans
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee weren’t swayed by an eleventh-hour hit job issued last night by the American Bar Association (ABA). Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) described it as a “shameful exercise in political bias.” Sen.
Kelly Makes the Case for Trump’s Removal
Whether or not he meant to, former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly has shown why the Senate needs to remove Donald Trump. Soon. When Kelly was on his way out the door in December 2018, he told Trump that “whatever you do, don’t hire a ‘yes man,’ someone who won’t tell you the truth – don’t do that.
Forget Greenland. Trump Should Make a Play for Alberta.
Donald Trump has proven a master at diverting media attention from one controversy by igniting new ones. With Democrats closing in on an impeachment vote, now might be a good time for Trump to try changing the subject again. And rolling out Manifest Destiny 2.0 would be a great way to do it. Trump tried a few months ago with an offer to buy Greenland. Alas, neither Greenlanders nor their Dutch patrons were thrilled.
A Dress Rehearsal for Amy Coney Barrett’s SCOTUS Hearing
Two years ago, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) hectored Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump nominee for the Seventh Circuit, because “the dogma lives loudly within you.” Feinstein was referring to Barrett’s Catholicism and not too subtly suggesting that Catholic judicial nominees should look for another line of work, not withstanding the Constitution’s admonishment that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” Barrett’s faith,...
Montana Dems Sold Their Souls to Save Their Stevie
Sometimes numbers paint stories more vivid and collar-grabbing than do words and pictures. Like how, in response to Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo movement, state Democratic lawmakers (and a fair, though fewer, amount of GOP ones) around the nation – much to their credit – have pushed legislation targeting the predators that target so many women in so many industries. Well, at least most Democratic lawmakers (more on that anon).
Democrats' Racial Incitements Threaten Philadelphia Police, Not The 2nd Amendment
Philadelphia police attempting to execute a narcotics warrant in a “troubled” neighborhood yesterday got a surprise when a felon with a 12-page rap sheet, including a lengthy prison sentence for federal weapons charges, opened fire. Six officers were wounded.
Montana Woke Senate Candidate Agrees With New York Race Baiter That Trump is Offensive
Wilmot Collins became Helena’s first black mayor a little over a year ago but quickly grew tired of the job and threw his hat in the ring for Senate. And despite being the Democrats’ front-runner to challenge Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) next year, Collins isn’t much interested in that job, either.
SCOTUS Will Soon Slap Montana’s Court of Religious Animus – But Will It Matter? - The Resurgent
Kendra Espinoza is a low-income single mom in Montana whose two daughters have been bullied in public school – and are trapped there because of her lack of means. The Montana Legislature tried helping folks like her by enacting a tax-credit scholarship program in 2015. That program provided state taxpayers a modest $150 tax credit for donating to organizations providing scholarships to students attending private schools – like the Christian school Espinoza wants for her daughters.
NEW: The 9th Circuit Spotlights a Presidential Candidate's Hostile Workplace
Steve Bullock’s presidential campaign rollout two weeks ago hit a clinker when Bullock tried to identify his biggest accomplishment during his two terms as Montana’s Democratic governor. But he has learned the hard way that there are even worse responses than sixteen seconds of awkward silence. Like the responses he gave during a press conference days after Lt. Gov. Angela McLean abruptly resigned without explanation in November 2015.
Is Montana’s “GOP” Attorney General About to Switch Parties?
Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, who will be term-limited next year, ended speculation about his future a few weeks ago by announcing his candidacy for governor in 2020. What some are still wondering, however, is which party’s banner Fox will ultimately fly. Especially after yesterday. Fox ran as a Republican in his prior AG races in 2012 and 2016. But he’s never embraced many of the party’s principles, and large segments of the party have never embraced him.
Does America Need More Ilhan Omars? And Are We Allowed to Ask?
“Is it possible to write honestly about the Israel lobby’s power in D.C. without using any anti-Semitic ‘tropes’ at all?” That’s the question self-described conservative Andrew Sullivan asked this weekend in the Intelligencer. Talk of the “Israel lobby” didn’t just pop up out of nowhere, of course, but was injected into the nation’s discourse by what Sullivan acknowledges as anti-Semitic tropes recently used by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
Georgia Republicans Abdicating Their Sense of Right and Wrong to a Commission
What would you do if your fourteen year old daughter told you she had been raped? To what lengths would you go to see that justice was served? What if, five years later, your daughter still had no justice? What if your daughter had to be in weekly therapy and had to still hold on to the memories of that violation because her alleged assailant had never gone to trial? One family in North Georgia is living this life watching their daughter still deal with the rape she says happened.
Montana Democrats Plot to Keep Harassment Victims Gagged
One of the most sickening consequences of working for Harvey Weinstein was that, after he was through victimizing you, his attorneys took their turn. Victims with the courage to complain and demand compensation were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) barring them from warning others. Because most of Weinstein’s victims needed money, and knew they would be blacklisted in Hollywood, they signed on the dotted line.
Why our politics can't handle Chris Cillizza
Chris Cillizza wrote about Jussie Smollett saying “he had been beaten and left with a noose around his neck by two men shouting slurs and pro-Trump messages in Chicago last month, he noted Democratic politicians couldn’t issue sweeping condemnations quickly enough.” California Sen. Kamala Harris called it “an attempted modern-day lynching.” So did New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.
Prohibited Possession in Illinois: The Aurora Shooter
Strict firearm laws in Illinois reveal a stunning failure in enforcement. Last week Friday, a man was at his future former place of employment when he opened fire upon those who fired him along with others working in the warehouse. As America routinely deals with violence, various news outlets reported that Illinois’ firearm regulatory regime should have been sufficient to prevent this shooting. CNN says “The work day began as usual at 7 a.m. CT.
Yes, Jussie Smollett Lied
So we talked about “Empire” actor, Jussie Smollett and his harrowing tale of victimization, at the hands of roving MAGA maniacs, stalking the Chicago streets in the early morning hours of January 29. To recap, Smollett claims two white guys jumped him, roughed him up, put a noose around his neck, poured some sort of substance on him (possibly bleach), used racist and homophobic slurs, as well as saying this was “MAGA country.” In other words, blame the Trump crowd.
Montana’s “Republicans” Are Entrenching Felons Within the GOP Leadership
Erick Erickson’s post earlier today details the sickening story of how the Speaker of the Georgia House, who is also an attorney, has been able to delay the trials of accused child molesters, sometimes for years. The response from Montana’s RINOs? “Hold my beer….” Fake “Republicans” in the Montana Legislature, such as Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick and Rep. Frank Garner (pictured above) are pushing HB 318, a bill that would regulate the leadership of a party’s county central committees.
BREAKING: Elizabeth Warren Listed Race As ‘American Indian’ In 1986 Document
In a document obtained by the Washington Post via a Freedom of Information Act request, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was shown to have listed her race as “American Indian” on a registration card for the Texas Bar Association. Warren filled out the yellow card for the bar association by hand on April 18, 1986. At the time, Warren on the faculty of the University of Texas in Austin. Post reporter Amy Gardner tweeted a picture of the card bearing Warren’s signature.
The State of the Union
Tonight we will all gather round televisions and listen to the President give his annual State of the Union address. It will not be memorable because few of them are. It will be the subject of serious discussion in the news. There will be round table discussions with pundits and panelists talking about the implications. Republicans will praise it. Democrats will excoriate it. Stacey Abrams’ response will be touted as the greatest response of all time by Democrats. Republicans will pan it.
Has Montana’s #MeToo Moment Finally Arrived?
The #MeToo tsunami triggered by Harvey Weinstein, part-time movie mogul and full-time rapist, has crashed far beyond Hollywood and drowned celebrities and public officials in every corner of the nation. Well…almost every corner. A Montanan contemplating a 2020 presidential run has so far dodged the waves. But Governor Steve Bullock (D-MT)’s luck might be running out.
The Democrats’ Jew Haters Are on a Roll
Omar’s and Ellison’s expressions of hatred towards Israel are recycled bigotry, pure and simple. What David Isaac said in yesterday’s Washington Free Beacon about the British Labor Party applies with equal force to America’s Democrats: “Anti-Israelism is more than a gateway drug to anti-Semitism. It is the new anti-Semitism.” A generation ago, it was the “neocons” controlling America.
Billy Graham’s Successor Shouldn’t Be Excusing Religious Bigotry
The accolades are well-deserved. God has gifted Pastor Greg to do something Sunday after Sunday for decade after decade that almost no other evangelist does: preach a hip yet uncompromising Gospel – one that converts millennial atheists into Christ’s ambassadors to the beaches, In-N-Out Burger joints, and skateboard parks of California and beyond.
Textualists Survived a Political Dunkirk in 2016
The stakes are even higher now that Donald Trump has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy. When Gorsuch replaced the late Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court's ideological balance remained the same - one conservative textualist replaced another. This latest nomination, however, would result in five justices who believe in textualism – i.e., that statutes and constitutional provisions mean what they say and should be interpreted accordingly.
A “Bronx” Socialist Makes the Case for School Choice - Inadvertently
So what about single parents – often women and often immigrants – who want a better education for their children but don’t have an extended family to “chip in” for a home in a better district? And what about the many parents each year who recognize, as Ocasio-Cortez does, that “the zip code a child in born in determines much of their opportunity” and are so desperate to even the odds for their kids that they end up in the slammer for zip code fraud?
BREAKING: SCOTUS Agrees With FDR – Government Unions Are Parasites - TheResurgent.com
If you’re a conservative (or even a moderate) working for the government, the Left doesn’t want you in its restaurants, but it most certainly wants you in its unions. And it insists. And many states back that demand with the force of law. So while you cannot be forced to actually join a public-sector union, many states require you to pay dues. Thus, public-sector unions have operated much like the Hotel California: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.
The Constitution Permits Sanctuary States – For Guns - TheResurgent.com
As the Supreme Court noted in the Printz case, “a healthy balance of power between the States and the Federal Government will reduce the risk of tyranny and abuse from either front.” For now, the federal government is providing at least some balance against relentless efforts by states like Illinois to eradicate gun rights. But Republicans won't hold Congress forever and, indeed, may lose it in a few short months.
Montana's Tester Takes to the Sewer - And Gets a New York Beat Down
No one thinks of Tester as one of the sharper tools in the shed. But he rarely makes unforced errors. And Team Tester seemed to recognize, as recently as a month ago, that survival in a state Trump won by 20 points means flipping some of his voters or, at the very least, avoiding stunts that would motivate them to show up at the polls.
Beijing’s Suez Moment | The Resurgent
In his 2011 book After America, Mark Steyn predicted that “one day, Washington will be on the receiving end of Beijing’s Suez moment.” By that he meant China would one day humiliate America the way America humiliated Britain during the Suez Crisis in 1956. Reading between the lines of Steven Bannon’s exit interviews last week, that day may have arrived.
If the GOP Continues Funding Planned Parenthood, Christians Should Defund the GOP | The Resurgent
They told us to give them the House and they’d repeal Obamacare. We did that in 2010. Then they said they needed the Senate. We gave them that in 2014. Then they needed the White House. We got that for them in November 2016. Now they say they’ve hit a snag because Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, a hack appointed by Harry Reid (D-NV) in 2012, ruled that provisions of the Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill prohibiting taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood violate the Byrd Rule.
Video Shows Abortionists’ Savagery, So, Of Course, The Videographer & His Lawyers Must Be Jailed | The Resurgent
Upton Sinclair published “The Jungle” in 1906. Within months, Congress enacted the Pure Food & Drug Act in response to the book’s exposure of the filth permeating Chicago’s meatpacking and livestock butchering industry. David Daleiden’s videos are exposing the filth of today’s human butchering industry.
Trump SHOULD Tweet About The Judge Stopping The Rise Of The Oceans | The Resurgent
Donald Trump’s attacks on judges have generated blowback, some of it richly disserved, such as his questioning the impartiality of a particular judge due to the judge’s Mexican heritage. Even Trump’s newly minted Supreme Court nominee seems to be dismayed by some of the attacks, though that’s not entirely clear. But federal judges should not be spared exposure by Trump tweets simply because they are judges.
Trump Keeps His Promise to Restore Pastors’ Free Speech Rights | The Resurgent
The Nation, a hard-core leftist magazine, published last night what it claims is a copy of an executive order entitled “Establishing a Government-Wide Initiative to Respect Religious Freedom.” I normally don’t find myself hoping and praying that something The Nation reports might actually be true, but this is an exception. The executive order is intended to require federal agencies to apply a broad version of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
If McConnell Goes Wobbly Instead Of Nuclear, Senate Republicans Should Oust Him, Or Else Get Primaried | The Resurgent
President Trump fulfilled his most important campaign promise last night: This may be the most transparent judicial selection process in history. Months ago as a candidate, I publicly presented a list of brilliant and accomplished people to the American electorate and pledged to make my choice from among that list. Millions of voters said this was the single most important issue to them when they voted for me for president. I am a man of my word.
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