Gianforte stumps in Malta ahead of May 25 special election

Republican Greg Gianforte of Bozeman, Mont., is running for Montana's sole congressional seat in a special election on Thursday, May 25 to replace Ryan Zinke who was named Secretary of the Interior following President Donald Trump's inauguration. Last week, Gianforte and his wife, Susan, held a luncheon with Phillips County residents at the Great Northern Lodge Room. Prior to the luncheon, Gianforte sat down with the PCN for a Question and Answer session (the questions were submitted by PCN readers.)

PCN: "What is your opinion on health care and how you will affect the ACA (Affordable Care Act)?"

Gianforte: "We've seen health care costs just spiral out of control. I believe we need to repeal and replace Obamacare and my criteria are really simple; anything we do has got to reduce premiums for average Montanans, it has to preserve rural access, and it has got to protect people with pre-existing conditions. There has been a lot of discussion recently about this bill. I opposed the first House plan because I don't think it did those three things.

"I'm an engineer so I like to collect data. This last proposal, I didn't have enough information to vote for it, so I would have voted against it, but we do need to repeal and replace and it has to do those three things."

PCN: "The US Congress has a tremendous amount of influence over the conduct of Federal Bureaus with regard to protecting constitutional rights. With that in mind and your tech-based background, what will be your top priorities with today's surveillance state?"

Gianforte: "This is necessary that we balance national defense with individual rights for privacy and just because something is possible, technically, doesn't mean it's constitutional. We have to balance those two things.

"I believe that national defense is one of the four reasons for our federal government. I believe we need a strong military. We should be hesitant to send our military into harm's way, but if we do, we need to give them all the resources to prevail and get home safely.

"My opponent on the other hand (Democrat Rob Quist of Cut Bank, Mont.) has called for massive cuts to the military. There is a pretty clear distinction there."

(Gianforte added that the four reasons that the federal government exists are for national defense, to make and enforce laws, infrastructure that can't be paid for in any other way, and a social safety net for people who can't take care of themselves.)

"I believe, as our founding fathers believed, that we should have a limited federal government. The number one issue I hear as I travel the state is that we are seeing way too much federal overreach.

"Whether it is micro-managing our grazing allotments on BLM, or waters of the US, confiscating property rights or what we saw with the clean power plan or the Keystone Pipeline. I know how important pipeline revenues are to our rural counties in eastern Montana. I think better decisions are made if they are made closer and this is all born out of the 10th Amendment which is state rights."

PCN: "What are your plans for Montana's monuments?"

Gianforte: "We know that monuments over 100,000 acres are under review by Sec. Zinke and his administration and I think where these monument designations have been established in the 11th hour of presidential terms and what has been sorely lacking has been input from the local community.

"I think it is critically important that we get that input as we do these reviews. The reaction, for example, to Pompey's Pillar (National Monument) was very positive. It was a limited designation to preserve something of historical significance.

"The Break's Monument (Upper Missouri River) was a vast swath of land and honestly, it is probably fair to say, that the reception up here was lukewarm. I think the critical thing is local input.

"Along those lines, you know we have a lot of BLM up here and an awful lot of ranchers have allotments, in fact Lesley Robinson (who ran with Gianforte in his bid for Montana Governor in 2016) and her family have an allotment along the CMR, there's some discussion about moving the head of the BLM to a western state and I would argue that maybe it should be Montana, because I think we make better decisions if the bureaucrats were here instead of in Washington D.C."

PCN: "Will you be willing to cross party lines if it is in the best interest of the people you represent?"

Gianforte: "Yes, and let me give you an example. I am for responsible, natural resource development. I have toured mines all over the state. I think we should be managing our forests for timber and for better habitat.

"Recently, I had a lot of input from folks just outside of Yellowstone Park about the proposed Emigrant and Crevice mines (Paradise Valley, South of Livingston) and I spoke with Democrat county commissioners, Republican county commissioners, local legislators, business people there and, generally, I'm pro-natural resources development. The community there was nearly universally opposed to those mines. It would have brought haul-trucks right through Chico Hot Springs on the way to Whitehall and after hearing everyone, touring the mine area, I came out publicly and said I don't think that is the right place for a mine. That is an example.

"I'm an engineer, and what engineers do is they collect data and then they make a decision. For me, local input is critically important.

"I would also say, if I am elected, if I have the honor to serve Montana, I've said clearly I will not move to Washington D.C. I think something happens when you move there and start drinking the water. You kind of go native. So we are going to maintain our home in Bozeman and I am going to commute each week. Congress is in session two out of three weeks, that third week I have committed to travel the state of Montana and I will get to every county at least once a year to do town halls and hear what people are thinking.

"One of the things I learned in my business career was the bigger that something gets, the further you are from the truth and if I am not sitting across the table from somebody at the Great Northern, I don't really know what they are thinking.

"I'm not coming at this with any particular ideology, I am coming at this with a desire to serve the state.

"I do have core principals. I believe that if we let people keep more of their own, hard-earned money, we have less regulations and we have more state's rights, we are going to have a stronger economy and we are going to preserve our way of life, but those are principals, not a particular ideology."

PCN: "What can be done to raise the wheat prices so we can at least break even?"

Gianforte: "We need better trade deals. I mean, most of our market for wheat is outside the U.S. and I don't think America has been well represented in our trade agreements. I am a big fan of bilateral agreements as opposed to multilateral agreements because when you have a whole bunch of people trying to agree on something, and somebody goes rogue, there is no way to bring accountability. But if two people have an arrangement, and somebody goes rogue, you could take action.

"I think about this recent action here with Canada where they were really dumping softwood here in the U.S. and it had a dramatic negative effect on our timber industry in Montana.

"I am a free trade and fair trade guy, however, when a foreign power dumps product here or acts unfairly, I'm fully supportive of action that defends America's interests.

"The way to increase grain prices is to increase demand for grain and we do that through trade agreements."