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When the dust settled after Montana's general election, the 2001 roster for the Montana Legislature included people who are beyond "conservatism." MHRN is familiar with some of the elected individuals. In 1998, the Network issued a report From the Margins to the Mainstream. It identified eight legislators with ties to the far right. The report was updated in 1999. Four of the legislators elected this year appeared in one or both of those reports: Rep. Aubyn Curtiss (R-Fortine), Rep. Bob Davies (R-Bozeman), Rep. Verdell Jackson (R- Kalispell) and Sen. Jack Wells (R-Bozeman).

"Patriots" Return for Another Term

Rep. Curtiss has consistently promoted ideas common to militia and freemen groups. In 1995, she circulated a petition asking Governor Racicot to grant amnesty to patriots to travel to an official forum where they could air their grievances against the government. John Trochmann, founder of the Militia of Montana, produced a copy of this petition during the 1996 Montana Freemen standoff as proof the patriots had legislative support. Curtiss has also asked the government to place distinguishing marks on its helicopters, saying mysterious black helicopters were a concern of her constituents.

Sen. Wells signed Curtiss' militia petition and has attended at least one militia meeting in Bozeman. He said he needed to be in touch with his constituents and "supporters." In 1995, he co-sponsored a resolution urging Montanans to arm themselves for service in the militia.

Rep. Davies made headlines in 1998 by saying President Clinton should be executed for treason, because the president allowed US corporations to sell technology to China. He's also written America is in the middle of a culture war between Christians and Humanists, and that homosexuality is being taught in schools. Davies is on the board of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, a gun rights group with ties to the Militia of Montana.

In February 2000, Rep. Jackson spoke at a Montana Christian Coalition-sponsored rally targeting the Montana Supreme Court as being too liberal. In May 2000, he testified against offering health benefits to same-sex partners in the Montana University System. Jackson claimed it was part of an immoral gay agenda. He is president of a Christian-Right public policy group, Montana Matters.

Bozeman's Joe Balyeat is a new member of the House of Representatives. He has a long history of involvement with right-wing politics. Balyeat currently serves as the chairman for the anti-tax Montanans for Better Government. He is also a director for the Montana Shooting Sports Association. In the past, he served as the vice-president of the Montana Christian Coalition.

Balyeat is a Christian Reconstructionist. Reconstructionists believe all civil law should be based on Old Testament Biblical law. This would extend capital punishment to homosexuality, blasphemy, adultery, etc. Also, people who aren't "Christian" enough would be denied citizenship or possibly executed.

Reconstructionists believe Christians need to bring this viewpoint to the political system. In his book on Reconstructionism Babylon: The Great City of Revelation, Balyeat claims Christians need to help God by taking leadership positions in government. "It must be godly men who rule over the earth, under the law/word of God," Balyeat writes. "Christians must abandon their short-term perspective and be willing to commit themselves long-term to grass roots political involvement and service." He also believes Reconstructionists need to educate their children or "not only will hell prevail against us, but abortionists and homosexuals and humanists and pornographers and tin-horn TV networks will as well."

During his election campaign, Balyeat frequently targeted the Montana Supreme Court for being too liberal. Part of his anger probably comes from the court striking down CI-75, a constitutional initiative that required voting on any tax. Montanans for Better Government authored CI-75. During his speech at an anti-Supreme Court rally in February 2000, Balyeat called the justices "seven political terrorists in black robes," "ultra-liberal supreme dictators," and "seven supreme despots" in his four-minute speech. The rally was organized by the Montana Christian Coalition.

It's not surprising the candidates mentioned above ran for office. After all, that's what democracy is about. What causes concern is that they are able to get elected. Even more alarming is that some get elected more than once, even when their views are well-known.

Although some far-right candidates did get elected, two fitting the profile were defeated. Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA), lost his race in Missoula. Marbut is a frequent contributor to the Militia of Montana's e-mail list. In an April 2000 message to his e-mail list, he wrote "WTO, GATT, and NAFTA are all moves towards the New World Order and the coveted global government."

He also contributes to the patriot Internet publication The Sierra Times. One of his columns was later carried in the Christian Identity tabloid The Jubilee. Christian Identity, based on a racist interpretation of the Bible, holds that Jews are the literal children of Satan, and people of color are subhuman "mud people." Another Marbut column in The Sierra Times attacked the federal government for wanting its citizens to remain "Îstabable', Îshootable', Îbeatable', Îrobable', and, of course, Îrapeable.'" His dislike for the federal government also surfaced in 1994 when Marbut wanted Montana to secede from the union.

Recently, Marbut began promoting the Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA). FIJA promotes jury nullification which says individual jurors can judge, not only the evidence in a court case, but the constitutionality of law. In essence, it allows jurors to ignore laws they don't like, undermining the entire judicial system. The Militia of Montana has sold videos by FIJA "experts" like anti-Semite Red Beckman.

Marbut's MSSA endorsed four of the candidates listed above: Balyeat, Curtiss, Davies and Jackson. Both Davies and Balyeat sit on MSSA's board of directors.

Another bright spot in the elections was the failure of the Constitution Party of Montana to win a seat in the legislature. This overall failure included Rick Jore. Jore, an incumbent Republican, switched to the Constitution Party in March 2000. During his two terms in the legislature, Jore consistently tried to limit or destroy the sovereignty of Montana's Indian nations and the public education system. Jore lost to an Indian Democrat, Joey Jayne. She beat Jore by about 50 votes.

The Constitution Party candidates didn't fare nearly as well. The only two candidates getting over 20% of the vote in their races were Bitterroot Valley's Dick Green (23%) and Flathead-area's Tim Martin (25%). The other eight Constitution Party candidates received 20% or less of the votes in their races, including five who got 10% or less.