16 June 2022 — 1634 mdt
Democrats: this is no time for Partisan Gotcha!
Welcome home, Gov. Gianforte. Let's all work
together to dry out and repair Montana.
By James Conner
I hold all governors to the same standard. Policy matters. Party does not.
Not everyone takes that approach, which is why social media, where behavior is not governed by the restraints that govern face-to-face encounters, is rife with calumnious, hyperbolic, and often wildly off the mark, criticisms of politicians from the other party.
That dynamic is now being employed to denounce Gov. Greg Gianforte for being out of the country on vacation when near Biblical downpours flooded parts of Montana. There are unsubstantiated reports he was in Africa, and other reports that he was in Europe.
The announcement that he’ll be back in Montana tonight has not shut down the denunciations of his absence.
But it should. He would not have planned to be gone during historic flooding. And he seems to be coming home as fast as he can.
Coming home from where is a fair question, but so far Gianforte’s staff, citing security concerns, are not answering it precisely.
That’s understandable, and not wholly unreasonable. As a rich man with reasonably liquid assets, Gianforte would be a prime kidnapping target in certain areas of the world. He therefore needs to travel under the radar, possibly, indeed probably, by private aircraft.
Gianforte owns a 2017 Pilatus 12/47E, a turbine powered single engine aircraft that cruises at 300 mph and has good short takeoff and landing performance, which he uses for official travel in Montana. He also owns, or owned, a small, fast, jet (a HondaJet if memory serves me correctly), that he used for commuting to Washington, D.C., while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Neither aircraft has the range for overseas travel. Wherever he went for his vacation, which was planned for months, he probably chartered a long range business jet such as a Gulfstream, and may have traveled the last miles to his destination by a Cessna 172 genre aircraft and finally by a Land Rover type vehicle.
Presumably he carried a couple of satellite telephones for staying in touch with Helena. He certainly should have carried a couple.
His wealth notwithstanding, he may not have had an easy time arranging the logistics of a sudden return to Montana. Getting to an airfield may have been easier than securing a reliable charter for the long flight home. Charter aircraft can be booked weeks and months in advance.
If I were President Biden, I would direct the Air Force to fly a governor home during a crisis.
Coming home, of course, was the right decision. He can receive oral and written reports wherever he is, but he must be in Montana to eyeball the flood damage, to meet with officials, and especially to meet with the people displaced by the flood. Lt. Gov. Juras has been doing some of that, but her presence is no substitute for the governor’s presence.
Given the situation, I think Montana’s online Democrats who are pouncing on Gianforte for taking a vacation without first getting God’s assurance that nothing untoward would happen to Montana during his absence are being unfair and counterproductive. They’re playing Partisan Gotcha!, taking cheap shots, and the voters, who hate Partisan Gotcha!, know it.
My message to Gov. Gianforte: welcome home, Governor. I’m sorry your vacation was cut short. I’m ready to work with you and everyone else to dry out and repair Montana. Let’s get to work.