Welcome! Here are the topics for today’s commentary:
- No Kings Rally
- Great Falls Municipal Election
- Rob O’Neill & Butte
- One More Thing
NO KINGS RALLY:
Cities and towns across the country are expecting to see “No Kings Day of Defiance” rallies on Saturday as part of a nationwide protest against the Trump administration. Organizers behind the “No Kings” movement are calling the protests a reaction to the large military parade taking place in Washington, D.C., on Saturday in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States Army. It’s estimated the parade will cost around $45 million, potentially more since the Army has to pay for any damage its vehicles do to the streets. (Source)
Great Falls will be having a “No Kings” rally on Saturday from 12:00-2:00 by the U.S. District Court building. Click HERE for more details.
Everybody knows the parade in Washington, D.C., is to stroke Trump’s ego.
GREAT FALLS MUNICIPAL ELECTION:
According to reporting from The Electric, the field is set for the Great Falls Municipal Election. There will be no need for a primary election. The General Election is on November 4.
Here are the candidates, according to The Electric:
Mayor – Incumbent Cory Reeves filed for reelection, and Jasmine Taylor filed to challenge him.
Commissioner (2) – Incumbent Joe McKenney filed for another term as city commissioner, and Mathew Pipinich, Pete Anderson, and Casey Schreiner filed for commission seats.
Mark Dunn has filed for reelection as a Municipal Court judge.
There are also 45 openings for Neighborhood Council members.
I think it is essential to recall that Mayor Reeves and Commissioner McKenney voted for a 27% utility increase, in addition to an increase in sanitation rates.
ROB O’NEILL & BUTTE:
I have followed the story of Butte native and former Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill for several years. You may remember that O’Neill claims he was the SEAL Team Six member who shot Osama bin Laden.
I don’t know if he was the one to kill bin Laden or not. I have listened several times to him describe the event. To say the least, he is entertaining. I respect him for his service to our country. Most Navy SEALs don’t talk about their missions very much.
O’Neill recently received some publicity by posting the following message on X:
I grew up in a mining town. Unions were good. It’s so frustrating to go home to Butte, MT and see how blind they are to the demons that have hijacked the democrat party. Pure evil.
Lee Newspapers also reported that after that message, O’Neill sent a direct message to a Montana Standard employee stating, “I’m a registered independent and the democrats have completely lost their way. They need leaders.”
I have to agree with his assertion about the Democrats. They do need leaders. Even the national Democrats are in turmoil. (Source)
From the reporting, it sounds like O’Neill will provide an opinion piece to the Montana Standard to clarify his remarks.
Once again, O’Neill has become the story. Another successful mission!
Read the reporting from Lee Newspapers HERE.
ONE MORE THING:
Why age gracefully when you can age like an old cheese – full of character and slightly offensive. (Source)
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The Western Word 
Term limits might not be such a bad idea at the local level.
People like Tryon (and others) tend to get too comfortable in their position and soon costs for services doubles.
City seems to think that throwing more money at something is going to improve it’s lot when the reality is that the overall mindset needs to change before we can see any improvements.
I came to Great Falls from Missoula in 1989 and the mindset at the City of Great Falls is the same now as it was then.
Our City Utilities i.e. water/sewer has doubled in 6 years (w/no increase in usage on our part) … Our City Utilities were actually higher than our electric bill was on the last billing cycle.
… and as far as thinking outside of the box?
One day I might just bring a box to a commission meeting and hand it to Tryon so he can familiarize himself on what a box actually looks like.
Thanks for your comment. Great information. It’s getting tough to live in GF these days. —JmB
This latest utility increase was just the latest McKenney et al has stuck us with. It’s like 10%, 12% every single year. For every year of their service. Not to mention they tried to stick us with that giant ever expanding public safety levy for $10 million no wait! $13.5 million no wait! still infinitely expanding like the universe. It woulda been even bigger if some commissioners had their way.
Either City spending growth is totally out of control or our “conservative” commissioners are getting a real good lesson in government fiscal reality that’s far different from their party line of waste fraud abuse cut cut cut.
Great comments. I don’t know what happened to all the fiscal conservatives in the GOP. I sure don’t see very many these days. – JmB
I see Tryon claims the City commission is “thinking outside the box”. Apparently that’s his term for the novel plan of continually raising taxes and fees on the citizenry. Wow, no politician has ever thought of that before! Not even the ones in Washington he continually runs his mouth about.
I think we need new people running the city. From the city manager to the department heads to the commission. -JmB