Gianforte Already a Breath of Fresh Air in Helena

Montana Speaker of the House and incoming state senator, Greg Hertz (R-Polson) says Greg Gianforte will be a breath of fresh air when the Republican is sworn in as governor in January.

Here's what Hertz told KGVO's Peter Christian:

“It's going to be a breath of fresh air,” he said. There are a lot of rules and regulations that have hampered businesses over the years and have not allowed certain areas to expand and made it more difficult. So that will be one of Governor Gianforte’s primary focuses to reduce regulations and attract higher paying jobs.

Hertz is right. But you could also make the argument that Gianforte is already a breath of fresh air in Helena following 16 years of Democrat control. Here's what I think Gianforte is already doing to show he wants to bring people together to move Montana down the right path.

First, you may recall that Gianforte won the Republican primary by defeating Dr. Al Olszewski and Attorney General Tim Fox. Rather than sideline either of them or their camps, Gianforte chose Fox's chief of staff to head up his transition team. More recently, he named Dr. Al to his DPHHS advisory team. Additionally, he even named Bullock appointees (outgoing Democrat Gov. Steve Bullock) to his COVID Task Force.   Gianforte also joined me on the radio Thursday morning and informed us that he spent the last few days calling Montana legislators from both sides of the aisle to reach out ahead of the legislative session which starts in January.

Here's another interesting note. Brooke Stroyke is the spokeswoman for Governor-elect Greg Gianforte. She says Gianforte "was elected with the largest margin for a first-term governor in 100 years - since the election of 1920."