5 July 2018 — 1527 mdt
Crowdsourcing opposition research
Over at The Montana Post, our state’s leading political blog, Nathan Kosted has two posts (3 July, 4 July) asking his readers for information on Rep. Greg Gianforte’s interactions with other people. Gianforte’s interaction with the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs last year is well known, but Kosted is wondering whether that incident was an aberration or part of a pattern of high handed conduct.
Crowdsourcing opposition research has risks, as it may encourage dirty tricksters to manufacture damning stories that if published would be exposed as frauds, earning Kosted and The Montana Post opprobrium and possibly the opportunity to defend a SLAPP suit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation). Kosted has safeguards in place that should thwart such mischief, so the probability he could be taken down like Dan Rather was seems low.
I’m not sure how much harm the revelation of additional incidents of less than gentlemanly conduct will hurt Gianforte. Voters have not forgotten how he roughed-up Ben Jacobs, how grudgingly he fessed up to the legal charges against him, or how he tried to avoid having his mug photographed by our criminal justice system. As I noted on 25 May 2017, he has the temperament of a hard driving executive who gets things done, not the temperament of a politician who builds a consensus for legislation. And, as I observed a few days later in Will Gianforte’s story be one of sin and redemption, or just of sin?, he faced a steep climb back from his fall from the straight and narrow:
Whether Gianforte can rehabilitate himself and his political career depends not just on convincing Montanans that he knows he did wrong, and that he’s genuinely remorseful for his conduct, but on proving through his actions that his trial by fire has made him a better man and occupant of elective office. That will take time and conscious effort, and a genuine change of heart akin to a religious conversion.
In the meantime, he’s going to have a very difficult time with public events and establishing a mutually respectful and productive relationship with the news media.
Since then, he’s avoided most difficulties with public events by not having that many public events.
His temperamental fitness to serve in the House of Representatives, as well as his votes there, are legitimate issues for voters this year. If Montanans think he’s a bad man, a bully, they may hesitate to return him to Congress even if they think he’s a bully and bad man who gets things done. The most effective argument against him, however, may be that he belongs to a political party, the Republican Party, that’s too dangerous to be trusted with the reins of power. Democrats fear making that argument, believing that in Montana Republicans outnumber Democrats, but with Republican leaders such as George Will and Max Boot now saying the nation’s best interests require a Democratic majority in Congress, there seems little risk, and much reward, in asserting that in addition to his other faults, Gianforte embraces a political philosophy and political party that must be thrown out of office to protect the nation.