#MTGov Daily Rundown: Bullock Flies to Colstrip, Goes to Nearby Campaign Event. Did He Meet with Community Members?

Flight records for the state plane show that Governor Bullock flew to Colstrip yesterday, while his campaign announced that he was holding a campaign lunch in nearby Lame Deer. Once again, Bullock is using the state plane for campaigning...

See Bullock campaign announcement of an event in Lame Deer

Did Bullock stop in Colstrip and meet with community members? The last time Bullock went to Colstrip, things didn't go well.

"'Part of our problem is that we have lost sight of the value and we haven’t done what we should do to communicate the value of what we are to the rest of the state,' [Colstrip Mayor John] Williams said. 'Colstrip is out of sight out of mind, setting out here.'

The mayor called on Bullock to carry the message of the importance of Colstrip to the rest of the state. Williams' comments drew applause from a crowd of roughly 40 spectators." -Billings Gazette, 5/31/2016

"Terry Taylor, who owns a hardware store in Colstrip, said Bullock’s team, particularly the Department of Environmental Quality, had done more harm than good. He faulted the state for accepting $86 million from now-bankrupt Arch Coal for a lease on nearby Otter Creek coal, but then not granting the company a permit before a sour coal economy devastated it.

'We feel like you’re a very handsome, smooth, intelligent man, but we don’t feel like you’re getting excited about what’s going on,' Taylor said. 'We feel like the Department of Environmental Quality is letting everything happen to us and not fighting for us. The state of Montana took $80 million from Arch Coal. Can you imagine that Arch Coal would be broke if they had that money? This kind of stuff goes on time and time and time again and we’re really frustrated.'” -Billings Gazette, 5/31/2016

The article notes that "Taylor's comments drew the largest applause of the meeting."

Bullock also continues to use the state plane to attend campaign functions, which Greg Gianforte has pledged to stop when he's governor. In fact, on Wednesday, Gianforte held a press conference in Helena announcing his intentions to sell the plane once he's governor.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte on Wednesday called on Gov. Steve Bullock to sell his state airplane, rekindling a long-simmering debate on the Democrat’s airplane use and saying he would use the proceeds from the sale for school computers and infrastructure if elected Nov. 8.

'Governor, you abused it now you lose it,' Gianforte said during a news conference in front of the state Capitol in which he produced a blowup of a classified ad selling the plane." -Great Falls Tribune, 8/24/2016

Reporters reached out to the Governor's Office and were told he was "unavailable" because he was flying to Deer Lodge, a distance of less than 60 miles.

"Bullock flew on Wednesday to Deer Lodge, about 50 miles from Helena, and was not immediately available for comment. Abel said he was discussing resource conservation in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin and visiting the Montana State Prison." -Associated Press, 8/24/2016

This morning Greg joined Chet Layman on KBZK in Bozeman to comment more on the plane issue.