FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 25, 2020

MCV: Montana’s GOP Leaders Embrace Anti-Public Land Platforms

“If you claim to support public lands, you cannot support a platform that encourages their selloff”

(BILLINGS, Mont.) – Montana Conservation Voters is calling on Senator Steve Daines, Congressman Greg Gianforte, Auditor Matt Rosendale, Superintendent Elsie Arntzen and former state House Speaker Austin Knudsen to reject the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) newly adopted anti-public lands party platform.

The RNC this week refused to adopt a new party platform, opting instead to re-adopt its controversial 2016 platform, which openly encourages “universal legislation providing for a timely and orderly mechanism requiring the federal government to convey certain federally controlled public lands to states.” The RNC’s 2016 platform also calls upon “all national and state leaders and representatives to exert their utmost power and influence to urge the transfer of those lands.” [RNC Platform, Page 21, 08/25/2020]

The language is similar to the Montana Republican Party’s own publicly available platform, which says the party “supports the U.S. Congress and U.S. President, other public officials and citizens of Montana and the United States of America to fully exert their efforts and powers to support returning federally managed public lands to the states.” [Montana GOP Platform, Page 9, 08/25/2020]

“All Montanans should understand that calling for the ‘transfer’ of federal land management to states like ours is clear language advocating for the selloff of our public lands, and we’re not going to let politicians get away with glossing over their support of their own party platform as they seek public trust,” said Aaron Murphy, MCV’s executive director. “Bottom line is if you claim to support public lands, you cannot support a platform that encourages their selloff.”

MCV is calling on Daines (seeking re-election), Gianforte (running for governor), Rosendale (running for U.S. House of Representatives), Arntzen (seeking re-election) and Knudsen (running for Attorney General) to either publicly reject both party platforms, or to stop claiming they support public access to public lands.

“Politicians don’t get to dupe Montana voters by supporting public lands and a political position opposing public lands at the same time without having to answer uncomfortable questions,” Murphy added.

Murphy added that no GOP candidate has publicly opposed the controversial acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, William Perry Pendley, who has a long record of trying to sell off public lands. Though the White House pulled Pendley’s formal nomination, he continues to run the BLM without any resistance from Daines or Gianforte.

“Senator Daines and Congressman Gianforte can stick their heads in the sand all they want, but we’ll be busy making sure Montanans understand the hypocrisy of their elected leaders,” Murphy said. “You don’t get it both ways.”

MCV notes that three candidates, Arntzen, Rosendale and Knudsen, previously served as state lawmakers who earned unacceptable marks from the organization.

Montana Conservation Voters is a statewide non-partisan organization working to elect and support leaders who will fight for our public lands, our clean air, our clean water and our communities.

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