24 June 2022 — 0343 mdt
Gianforte’s administration still refuses to explain
why his Italian holiday was kept so secret
By James Conner
Yesterday, the Helena Independent Record’s Sam Wilson reported that Gov. Gianforte and his administration, citing security concerns, continue to stonewall inquiries about why his vacation was kept secret.
“I didn’t disclose where I was because I was on a personal, private trip,” Gianforte said Wednesday. “It would have violated the safety protocol and thus potentially opened us up to security concerns.”
He declined repeatedly to elaborate on that security protocol or explain what type of risks he could have created by revealing which country he was in. He referred follow-up questions to the Montana Highway Patrol. Neither MHP or the Department of Justice immediately responded to requests for information on Wednesday.
The governor said he has been the subject of threats that were deemed credible by law enforcement in the past, but declined to elaborate on them or say whether they informed his policy of not disclosing his location. He also wouldn’t say whether the policy was in place prior to his trip or whether his office had any discretion in crafting it, also referring those questions to MHP.
Some security concerns and measures are, as I noted on 16 June, reasonable.
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.
I’m beginning to suspect, however, that a secondary reason for the secrecy may have been depriving the news media of his whereabout to prevent reporters and photographers working abroad from paying him a visit at his vacation villa. I can understand that, but I’m not altogether sympathetic with it.
What his office in Helena could and should have done was to issue a statement something like this:
Gov. Gianforte and his wife are in Europe for a week’s vacation. He is staying in touch with his office by telephone, email, and video conferencing. Lt. Gov. Juras is watching the store until he returns.
That or a similar announcement would have honored the right of Montanans to know where their governor is and what he’s doing, but it would not have compromised security or made him a target for reporters and the paparazzi. Did Gianforte’s staff fail to recommend issuing such a statement? Or did he reject such a recommendation?
Given the truculence of Gianforte and his staff, Wilson and other Montana reporters will need to work the story around the edges if they follow up on the security issue, interviewing independent security experts such as state Rep. Frank Garner, the former chief of police in Kalispell, and officials willing to talk off the record.
How did the Gianfortes get to Italy?
Did the Gianfortes travel to Italy by private jet? That’s a possibility, but it’s expensive: charters of long range private jets such as a Gulfstream start at $2,000 per hour. When I wrote my 16 June post, I reckoned they traveled by a private aircraft. Having given the issue additional thought, I now think they flew to Salt Lake City or Spokane (or Seattle, Denver, or Minneapolis) on his personal aircraft, and there, where they would have been just another unremarkable couple in the crowd, boarded a commercial flight to Italy.
One final question. Does Gianforte speak Italian? And if he does, how well does he speak it?