Before I get to the lawsuit being filed against Governor Gianforte’s administration, I want you to imagine a scenario.
Imagine you have a family member who has been missing for seven months and as each excruciating day/week/month goes by, you wonder why you haven’t been allowed to even LISTEN to the 911 call that alerted first responders to your family members’ personal belongings.
Well, that is the actual situation Rebekah Barsotti’s family is dealing with as MORE questions continue emerge.
Now, with that scenario in mind, here are the groups suing the Governor’s office over the VERY REAL problem of delaying access to public records request.
On Tuesday, in Lewis and Clark County District Court, the Montana Environmental Information Center and Earthworks filed a complaint saying the Governor’s Office and the Department of Administration have taken too long to respond to a Nov. 29 request for public records.
Montana’s public records laws give citizens access to all state documents and communications involving public agencies, except sections that contain information related to citizens’ personal privacy. This helps people keep a closer watch on agency actions.
Now, regarding that 911 call, there is a question about the caller’s privacy, but if it’s just a “missing persons” case, and not an active criminal investigation, is there a strong argument for NOT ALLOWING the family ANY access to the phone call?
If only this family had the money and political backers that these environmental groups have to litigate for access. But they don’t, so they can’t get politically righteous like this:
“We have a fundamental, constitutional right to examine the records of state government in Montana, including any communications that the Governor’s office may have had with Hecla Mining,” said Anne Hedges, MEIC director of Policy and Legislative Affairs, in a release. “As the old saying goes, sunlight is the best disinfectant for mold in government. The public should know whether the governor dropped the Bad Actor matter at the request of an Idaho-based mining company and left Montana taxpayers and sovereign tribes holding the bag.”
The two organizations requested a number of documents and communications between Gov. Greg Gianforte, Hecla Mining Corporation and its CEO, Phillips S. Baker Jr. They also requested documents related to any influence the Governor’s Office might have had over the Department of Environmental Quality’s enforcement of Montana’s “Bad Actor” law in a case filed against Hecla and Baker in 2018.
It’s nice these groups can afford to sue for access. One of the results, though, will be an already paranoid Gianforte administration getting even MORE tight-lipped about allowing the public the access we have the right to exercise.
I’ve teased this future fiction a few times, and now, here it is, and it’s NOTHING like Harmon’s Histories because this, friends, is BILLY’S BEYOND!
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General Wooten and the New Cascadian army have shocked King Pengen by invading Montana from the south, rapidly moving up the former highway 93 corridor. Wooten’s forces, currently pausing at Traveler’s Rest, are preparing to make the final push into the Zula valley. King Pengen’s options are sparse.
“Damn it, Von Wussberg! You assured me Wooten’s scoundrels would never take the risk of an incursion, especially from the south!” Pengen slams his cyborg fist upon the rustic oak roundtable in the Big Sky room where the preparatory contingency planning had obviously been all for naught. Von Wussberg shrinks back toward the grand panoramic window now steel’d over with crude welding scars. Amateur haste.
“I was told the men from the Rattlesnake enclave and University holdout neighborhoods didn’t even mount a defense. They took their rifles and fled to the hills to join the irregulars.”
“Unacceptable! Have you frozen their digital food credits? Have you yanked their antigen updates from the nano-swarm? WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO PROTECT THE REALM, WUSSBERG?!?”
“Sir, I, uh, I’ve taken some liberties to deploy a plan B of sorts.” The pause is punctuated by the whirring gears of King Pengen’s mechanical eye as it audibly zooms in to scrutinize the beads of sweat forming on Von Wussberg’s brow.
“What SORT of plan B have you concocted without my knowledge or approval, Wussberg? I only allow for this sort of individuating away from the hive mind if it works. Will it work?”
“I don’t know if it will work, but I had to try something. The realm isn’t buying the leaflet barrage anymore, and our best narrative wizard is in a deep depression after their child slave succumbed to the pinches.”
“Yes, I’m aware of the restlessness spreading among the stacks. Can’t we find the Grand Martel another child slave to inspire their calming mind tales? I can’t have a local insurrection ON TOP OF General Wooten’s advances. DAMN IT, THIS BETTER BE GOOD, WUSSBERG!” Wussberg nods nervously while keeping his head bowed and eyes averted from the raging assemblage of flesh and metal that comprises the once mortal Mayor.
“Sir, I went to consult an ancient text in that shining jewel to your GREATNESS, the Library Defense League Center, for a special recipe. Do you remember the scourge of amphetamine abuse that plagued your fair realm before you transmuted into your current glorious form?”
“Yes, Von Wussberg, I do. I remember the madness of those times quite well.” Pengen pauses, gears whirring, as he accesses deeper files of memory in his data banks. “I remember much opposition before the GTO (Great Turning Off) plunged our world into darkness for those many months of uncertainty and fear. No one knows how many perished during those dark times.”
“Yes, well, I took the chemical recipe to our water extractor engineers and, although it took a few tries, and killed a fair number of pigs, we have achieved an acceptable batch of what the street gangs used to call “meth” and it’s currently being distributed to the Wolf Boyz in the Broadway Zone.”
Von Wussberg risks a glance upward from his perpetually bowed countenance and is relieved to the core to see King Pengen approximating what, for his flacid face and encroaching optical machinery, appears to be a smile.
“I am pleasantly surprised, Vonny. How quickly can you round up the women folk? It’s been ages since we gave Merc-Ville a good gorgy. That should build up enough credit in my off-books account to buy their protection if I have to fallback to The Bunker, AND it will teach those Rattlesnake/University pussies a valuable lesson in loyalty.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ll get the trashmen to prepare the offering. Anything else?”
King Pengen ruminates for a few long seconds before letting out a long sigh. “Yes, tell the scamper out front I’m almost ready for The Gwendra to feed. My recovery has been completed for this cycle.”
“As you wish, sir.”
And with that, Ryan Von Wussberg exits the chamber before the ringing of the bell because no mere mortal is EVER allowed to view the The Gwendra’s feeding ritual. All Von Wussberg knows is this: if her strange abilities fall to the influence of General Wooten and the New Cascadian Army, all is lost for Zula.
I’m finally going to share a video I teased two weeks ago. This video already required ONE disclaimer clip at the beginning because the Sunday I recorded my walk of shame (in penance for the previous Friday’s megaphone failure) Missoula’s GREAT Mayoral leader, John Engen, hadn’t announced his cancer diagnosis yet.
The second disclaimer is in regards to “Sheriff Man Guy”, a song inspired by the real life Sheriff of Mineral County, Mike Toth. After the song concludes I wish Toth well because I assumed he was returning to work as Sheriff after his stint in the hospital (details at the link). Also, I assumed the Sheriff job was a full time gig.
As of this writing, I’m not certain of ANYTHING happening in Mineral County, especially the current status of Sheriff Mike Toth. One rumor has him resigning, and another source indicates Toth has simply removed his hat from the ring (Toth was appointed after the last Sheriff resigned, and Toth was running for the office this year).
If you check out the brief article, this part of near the end sounds familiar: “…there has been some confusion in the community surrounding the resignation…”
And if you check out this local article, it sounds like Toth was planning on being pretty busy as of January 5th, 2022.
Toth had expectations that his position would be a working-sheriff, meaning he would be on patrol with the Deputies, but that just isn’t possible anymore as being sheriff in Mineral County carries more administration responsibilities than ever before.
“I’m not a politician and that might be a downfall, but I’m a cop and I know how to run an office. I know how to give the service the people deserve. The deputies are friendly and want to meet and work with everyone. We all care and we’re here for public safety, and I’m a phone call away for anyone.”
Back in Missoula, we are getting a glimpse of a new breed of GREAT LEADER, one who may take the helm after Engen is forced to step down.
Here is the future GREAT LEADER, the Queen of Condescension, Gwen Jones, putting the out-of-line newbies in their place:
Council member Gwen Jones suggested both Jordan and Carlino do more research to understand what led to the security contract and why it took its current form. She also said the city’s efforts were making headway on the challenge of homelessness – something that got overshadowed this week due to comments on security.
“There is a much bigger picture here of how many people were housed this last winter,” Jones said. “I’d hate for use to get hung up on the narrative of a ‘security force’ when a lot of thought went into it.”
Ooooohhhh, that be DAMN ICE COLD shade thrown by a real professional. But will it be enough keep the JordaLino duo from getting uppity, or will it perhaps piss them off enough to earn the eager Ice Queen a sustained insurrection against her protectionist stance for the cabal?
Only time will tell, time I hope you spend watching a journa-tuning mea-culpa to modern day GREAT LEADERS in Montana.
And Sunday I’ll be sharing a delightful piece of predictive fiction I’ve been tweaking, so stay tuned and thanks for reading/watching.
Let’s begin with the glaring falsehood that jumped out at me in this Missoulian-enabled damage control piece giving voice to Emily Armstrong, the current cheerleader for the city’s 10 year plan to end homelessness, which, wouldn’t you know, is up this year.
The glaring falsehood is based on my direct knowledge of whether or not one of the schools near the Poverello Center was ACTUALLY requesting extra security from the city. Here’s the quote (emphasis mine) from the Missoulian article:
City council member Kristen Jordan wanted to know why the private security staff are patrolling neighborhoods around the shelters rather than just the shelter sites. She also wanted to know why the city didn’t just hire more city police officers to do the job that Rogers is doing.
Armstrong said that the reason why they patrol neighborhoods was because the city got lots of requests from neighbors around the shelters. She noted that schools near the shelters have asked for security to just patrol the area as well.
That bold part really smacked me in the face. Why, you ask? Because, just two months ago, I spoke with Barbara Frank, the principal of Lowell school, and she had NO IDEA a private security firm was doing armed patrols in the West Side neighborhood.
And, to be a helper, I even sent Emily Armstrong an email on January 3rd, 2022, at 9:02pm, which reads in full:
Snarky? Yes.
Evidence that as of January 3rd, 2022, Barbara Frank was NOT actively begging the city of Missoula to contract private mercs to roll down alley ways in her schools’ neighborhood? ALSO yes, unless Barbara remembers a different conversation than the one I had with her about my concerns regarding this private security firm and the contract our city…sought? No, that’s not the right word. Bid? Yeah, I think that’s it.
Anyways, there’s lots more fun in that article, but it’s late, so I’m going to leave it there for now. I will note that Emily Armstrong referenced a “six-month review” of the city’s contract is coming up “soon”.
I had no idea, until reading this Harmon’s Histories piece, that Missoula’s longest serving Mayor, John Engen, has been relying on the disarming utility of fat jokes since high school. This style of self-deprecating humor was developed by Engen as he wrote for his high school newspaper (the Hellgate Lance), then his University newspaper (the Kaimin), then the Missoulian.
Here’s Harmon on the reporting style of John Engen:
Whether it was during his years at the Missoulian, UM’s Kaimin, or all the way back to the Hellgate Lance (the student newspaper at Missoula’s Hellgate High School), John always made me laugh.
Much of his humor was self-deprecating, dealing with his weight.
Now that Mayor Engen has started a new and quite effective weight loss program, how are his enablers responding? Will they rise to the occasion during Engen’s time of need? I’m looking at you, Gwen!
Under city regulations, Gwen Jones would step in as mayor on a temporary basis if Engen were to take a leave of absence. Jones represents Ward 3 and was elected council president earlier this year.
“There are different levels of stepping in. Right now, it’s just to support him by taking anything off his plate that we’re able to,” Jones said Wednesday evening. “With treatments, if he’s either out of town or not up to working in person, I can easily cover anything that needs to be covered.”
Ginny Merriam, the city’s communications director, said the City Council president has in the past stepped in to serve as mayor on a temporary basis. Former council president Marilyn Marler did so roughly five years ago when Engen was recovering from illness.
I bolded the part where Martin “Gomer” Kidston does his pal Engen a solid by describing the alcoholism Engen disappeared for a month to get treatment for as simply an “illness”. What actually happened is Engen’s problem with alcohol abuse got so fucking bad, an intervention happened, the details of which were never explicitly shared with the voting public. Instead we got shit like this:
After weeks of vague explanations for Mayor John Engen’s disappearance from Missoula City Hall, Engen is back in the office and is admitting his absence was due to treatment for alcoholism.
The public wasn’t the only party left out of the loop on why the mayor was not at work, according to city councilman Harlan Wells, even the city council was not informed about the the cause of the absence as Marilyn Marler took over as interim mayor.
Yep, even City Council members were kept in the dark as Engen sought treatment, then immediately pivoted to running for his FOURTH term as Mayor.
Now, during Engen’s FIFTH term, we get an Engen sycophant ready to exploit this medical diagnosis for political points. Nice.
“I don’t know that we’ll all vote unanimously on things, but (council) is a good group of people. Given the seriousness of the situation and how important the mayor is to this community, I imagine everyone on this council understands how important it is to work together. It’s our job to keep the city running and be a functional council. I think we are a functional council, and everyone understands how important it is to remain functional,” Jones said.
I like how Gwen Jones uses the word FUNCTIONAL three times in this quote. It’s very inspiring and totally instills confidence that our lovely Council will be able to get things done as Mayor Engen refuses to acknowledge reality.
Here’s an example of how our FUNCTIONAL City Council will keep their focus on the important things, like cramming 19 units of housing into a plot of land despite the outcries of the neighborhood and the lack of street infrastructure to accommodate this density:
“I feel like we’re putting the cart before the horse. Putting a bunch of new homes on a road that can’t handle the traffic is a concern. I wouldn’t want to live on River Road right now,” said newly elected council member Kristen Jordan. “This is a developer trying to make as much money as possible on a piece of land. I won’t be approving this.”
Members of the City Council acknowledged the deficiencies on River Road, but agreed that Missoula’s housing needs rose about it. River Road is scheduled for improvements, but no timeline has been given.
Yes, this lack of unanimous voting for the density-loving, sardine-can master planners is quite disappointing, especially now that the Mayor has cancer. If only Kristen Jordan understood that, since Engen is sick, everyone should just rally behind him and give him EVERYTHING he wants for our bustling community.
Since Jordan is new, I’m going to help her out by showing her how Council rallied behind Engen last July when he kept nodding off during a City Council meeting.
Missoula Mayor John Engen appeared groggy and disengaged during Monday night’s City Council meeting, something out of character for the typically acute city leader.
At times, his articulation was hard to follow and he appeared to nod off at several points. One hour and 20 minutes into the meeting, he apologized, saying he’d had a long day – most of which he spent testifying in court.
When faced with this Mayoral problem, here’s how Engen’s helpful enablers rallied to his side, making excuses and apologies for GREAT LEADER:
At times, other council members helped keep the meeting on track. At one point, council member Gwen Jones offered to read a second proclamation after the mayor struggled to read the first off his phone.
Other council members observed the mayor’s grogginess on Monday night.
“I think he is exhausted,” Jones told the Missoula Current. “I know he had a doozy of a day.”
“He had a beyond exhausting day coupled with caring for his mom, heat and smoke,” said council president Bryan von Lossberg. “I should have chaired (the meeting) to help him out.”
It’s going to be very important for our Council peeps to help out Mayor Engen in the months to come. For me, since I can’t envision a future without our GREAT LEADER, I’m going to share a piece of predictive fiction I wrote in the hopes that the future I see may come to pass.
I’ll post that little scrap of narrative on Friday, so stay tuned.
