Matt Rosendale Interview

June 2, 2021

People’s Post:  What is the most pressing issue facing our country today?

 

Rep. Rosendale: I think about spending. There's a couple of really big ones but I think the spending. When you start talking about the trillions of dollars added to the national debt we are weakened and our currency is weakened and that impacts our national defense.  It impacts our economy and it impacts our financial stability.  It sucks our resources from national security so it's all intertwined.


People’s Post: How many Americans do we have left in Afghanistan? 


Rep. Rosendale: Sure oh, they're not giving anyone a number. My best guess is somewhere between 100 and 200 individuals. 


People’s Post: And so what your hands are kind of tied?


Rep. Rosendale: Nearly every Congressional office is trying to bring the Americans home. It's shameful.


People’s Post: So when I'm asking you what you're doing to get them out? What are you doing to bring attention to it?


Rep. Rosendale: So my office here, which consists of different people across the state, tells us when different people are in a country like Afghanistan then at that moment if you call the state department and say we've got this person and we need to get them out then they start giving some assistance. But they're not being proactive in seeking out these individuals. Trying to bring them home. I can tell you I've looked at the information because I have different batches of threads of communication between my office and the Freedom Caucus.  Many offices are doing the exact same thing. They're identifying individuals that are there, American citizens, and they're using every avenue possible whether it's private groups or some of the retired military that are still in Afghanistan


People’s Post: And the state department has been blocking some of that, correct?


Rep. Rosendale: I can't say that. I don't know, I can't say that they've blocked anybody. I can tell you they were not being very proactive about going out searching and identifying these people to make sure they got out.


People’s Post: Do you know of the January 6th Patriots that have been held in prison? Being held without bail.  So I heard you say what everybody can do but what can you do?


Rep. Rosendale: I have not gotten a way to identify these individuals. It's almost like we have to get a spreadsheet and find out who's been overcharged. Because by overcharging them, that's the way they've been able to keep them in jail. If somebody walked in after barriers have been removed and there was no security standing there, which was on video, and all the sudden you just walk in then you shouldn't be charged with whatever. I mean I'm not an attorney but Is that breaking and entering or malicious destruction? You simply walked in. So they overcharge them. So I have to be able to gain access to them.


People’s Post: And so how do you do that?  When you say you've been denied access, who's denying you access? 


Rep. Rosendale: Honestly, my staff has been requesting this access.


People’s Post: Do you know how many deaths have been associated with the covid vaccine? 


Rep. Rosendale: That I do not know. 


People’s Post: Do you know if there have been any?


Rep. Rosendale: I think that there have been okay but the accuracy of those reports are questionable. I have become tainted, if you will.  With so much information about Covid I don't know what to believe, honestly. The only place we are getting accurate numbers about it, I think, is on how many people are in the hospital right now that have been diagnosed with Covid? Short of that I don't know how much accurate information we're getting. 


People’s Post: So if a constituent would ask you, “Do you think it's safe to take the vaccine?” 


Rep. Rosendale: That is something they have to discuss with their doctor. I am not a doctor. It's not up to me to make that determination. Their doctor can discuss with them whether it's in their best interest To have a vaccine or not. And it's nobody else's business. Whether they get it or don't get it. 


People’s Post: So you're against the mandates? 


Rep. Rosendale: I'm absolutely against the mandates. I took that publicly numerous times to try to prevent any type of mandated passports.


People’s Post: How do you see a way out for businesses having more than 100 employees having mandates for vaccines? 


Rep. Rosendale: I think you're going to see lawsuits develop in certain states that establish the rules like the president stated last weekend In the executive order. There have to be rules implemented in order to implement that mandate. As soon as those rules are released I think you are going to see a lot of lawsuits on the state level from the state attorneys general. Then I think you're going to see the private businesses file some lawsuits as well and I think they're going to march into the courtroom and implement a cease and desist until they can argue this out.


People’s Post: When you say the rules are you talking about the executive order? So he has made the threat and signed the order but without rules to implement? There have to be rules to implement?


Rep. Rosendale: That's correct. A President just can’t declare a new process.  He was able to rescind the Keystone Pipeline because that had already been implemented. But to implement something new, there has to be rules to show how It is to be implemented. 


People’s Post: Good to know 


People’s Post: What do you know about Dr. Fauci funding the research on Covid in the Wuhan lab?


Rep. Rosendale: Dr. Fauci didn't fund the lab. He took taxpayer money so we actually funded it. He took our money and gave it to the Wuhan lab. I've got major major concerns with this and I don't think we'll ever get the truth out of China and the Wuhan lab. 


People’s Post: Do you think we're still giving money for research in China in the infectious disease field?


Rep. Rosendale: Trump's chief of staff said that one of the first things they did was to eliminate that funding. Whether anything is still being redirected there I'm not certain.


People’s Post: Are you going to find out?  Can you find out?


Rep. Rosendale: I can certainly make an attempt. The gain of function research is still going on I suspect. China is never going to tell us what they're doing and I believe that the virus escaped from that lab. Was it released or did it escape? Did they do that intentionally or did it escape accidentally.

 

People’s Post: Do you have an opinion on that?


Rep. Rosendale: That I don't know. I don't know. I do believe it came from that lab and it was because they were doing a gain-of-function experiment to make sure they could increase the intensity of these viruses. 


People’s Post: Is Dr. Fauci going to be held accountable for these actions in your opinion?


Rep. Rosendale: It's an opinion but no, I don't have a lot of confidence. I really don't. I can tell you that the national debt is another grave concern that I have. Also, the lack of the Department of Justice to actually charge and prosecute people who have actually committed crimes goes to the very foundations of our country. And it really really concerns me. 


People’s Post: Going back for a second. How can we find out if we're still funding research in China?


Rep. Rosendale: It's easier for the folks who are sitting on the Appropriations Committee and the Budget Committee to find out where the money is going. I can ask questions but they dig into that stuff. We have some very very capable people that dig through those things.


People’s Post: Can I get an answer to that?  These are questions that people came up with and so we want to be able to go back to them.


Rep. Rosendale: We will give it our very best effort to find out if there is. But I can tell you that money goes all over the place in our budget. You can't spend three and a half trillion dollars and know where that all went. Okay? That's the problem with spending money in gobs like that. You can't track it. I mean we're spending four and five trillion dollars each year in the budget not including all of these additional expenditures. They do the one-offs. You can't track that. They're sending money out to the states right now and they  don't know how it's being spent. 


People’s Post: What's been your biggest accomplishment while you've been in office? 


Rep. Rosendale: We were able to get the Republicans, even though my Veterans Affairs committee didn't give me the support, to withhold taxpayer money to support the use of the morning after pill they wanted to add to their big health package.  We determined in my office that they were trying to sneak this in. I went to the committee and said we need to vote this down. We're in the minority so I told the highest ranking Republican that they were trying to include the morning after pill in the bill and my constituents didn’t want to pay for it. He said this was part of the package and he argued the point with me. I fought for it and he voted to support it. So, I went out and pushed the whole conference to vote against it and we were able to defeat it.


People’s Post: Will you be voting for Kevin McCarthy for majority leader next year?


Rep. Rosendale: We'll see if Kevin McCarthy runs for majority leader next year. When I came in in January, there were no contested elections. And we had to go back after the fact and remove Liz Cheney. I was the first one to step up and say we need to remove Liz Cheney. I think that says that I'm not afraid to challenge leadership.


People’s Post: Should Montana be a part of the convention of states? 


Rep. Rosendale: People think this is the cure all and it’s not.  People want to put in additional provisions that make people do things. Our constitution is an extremely well thought out and strong document. Let's go ahead and uphold the Constitution now. We will eliminate problems. There is a process with which you can amend the Constitution in place right now.  I can propose an amendment right now and we go back and we get 35 states to sign off on it. That’s how you can amend the constitution.


People’s Post: And you feel that is the way to do it?


Rep. Rosendale: Absolutely.


People’s Post: Thanks so much Congressman Rosendale for answering our questions today.

The sun is setting over a vineyard with a dirt road in the foreground.

From protests to politics: Montana is producing a lot of intoxicating whines

By Roger Koopman • April 21, 2025
In case you hadn’t noticed, Montana is a heavy whine-producing state. The vintners are many, from the Marxist professors and ranting radicals brought onto our campuses, to the farmers, corporate welfarists and chamber of commerce types, looking to government for special favors, subsidies and protections from competition. Montanans are intoxicating our politics with cases of expensive whine. Witness the “Republican” legislature’s latest budget bill (HB 2) that imposes on us an 18 percent increase in future spending. Another session where, thanks to the unholy alliance between Democrats and liberal Republicans, whining wins and freedom loses. We’ve made sots of our legislators.  When Bernie Sanders and “AOC” arrived in Missoula in their private jet recently, to lecture us on the evils of wealth-producing and environmental-polluting capitalism, these ultra-elitists decried the “oligarchy” of a democratically-elected president, who is actually trying to get a handle on profligate federal spending – including the billions of tax-funded largess going to their radical friends. Like all dedicated authoritarian leftists, Sanders and Cortez preach the gospel of envy and hatred, as true believers that everything good in society flows from government, and everything bad is the result of individual action by people who are entirely too free. As usual, they lied about the wealthy not paying their “fair share” of taxes. (Fact: the top 1 percent pays 46 percent of all federal income taxes.) Their sign-waving admirers believed every word of it. Ambling through the crowd of 2,500 at Bozeman’s 4/19 Hate Trump Protest, the whining signs and banners were so thick that it was hard for me to see their faces. Not a lot of love there – mostly profanity, swastikas and hatred. Spooky, really. Group-think to the extreme, while the frequent chant from the microphone was, “This is what democracy looks like!” A better chant might have been, “This is what Marxism looks like!” Unlimited government taxing and spending – while branding and slandering anyone who might try to bring spending under control. This didn’t look much like democracy to me – and certainly not like the free republic we once called America. Cynicism, skepticism, fear and distrust were all around me, aimed at anyone with a different point of view. That’s the message that rings out these days, and there is a chilling, spirit-killing aspect to it that is increasingly reflected in the politics of both parties, not just the Democrats. The whiners are winning, and the true heroes with their thumbs in the dike are few indeed, and deserving of our praise. Once there were legislators like Senator Casey Emerson -- creator of King Tool Company and the Montana Inventors Hall of Fame. Casey was the epitome of the American Spirit, who never quit believing in America. He always had a dream in his heart, an idea in his head, a bounce to his step and a sparkle in his eye. Most of his dreams in the world’s eyes did not succeed, but that only spurred him on all the more. He never whined, and I never once saw him carry a sign. All he desired – demanded – was freedom. Compare this to the floor comments you frequently hear from the GOP Government Solutions Caucus and their perennial leader, Republican Llew Jones of Conrad, explaining how much the teary-eyed recipients of their generosity need their help. Their latest “help” is a revamped House Bill 2 collection of slush fund accounts, designed to make it much easier to spend much more of our money. Their “generosity,” of course, isn’t based on personal giving, but on forcibly taking the earnings of others and bragging about it later. That’s what government does. We hear this kind of rhetoric all day long in Congress, our state legislature and from the governor’s office. I have some breaking news for these people. We don’t need paternalistic politicians telling us how much we require their help. Freedom is quite enough, thank you very much, along with a healthy measure of respect for our constitutional rights, our personal property and the liberty to be left alone. Let’s put our whine bottles down, and drink heartily from the fruit of freedom instead – nourishment for the soul that never runs dry. Roger Koopman is president of Montana Conservative Alliance. He served four years in the Montana House of Representatives and eight years as a Montana Public Service commissioner. He operated a Bozeman small business for 37 years.
The word study is written on dice on a wooden table.

Gallatin County Study Commission 1st Public Hearing

By GCRCC • March 31, 2025
Gallatin County Study Commission to Hold First Public Hearing  Details of the Public Hearing: Date : Thursday, April 10 Time : 5:30 p.m. Location : Community Room on 3rd floor of Gallatin County Courthouse; 311 W Main St, Bozeman Virtual Access : Microsoft Teams link on www.gallatinmt.gov or www.gallatinlocalgovstudy.com , scroll down to calendar Public Participation : Open to all residents of Gallatin County For more details on the Study Commission, including meeting schedules, contact information, and virtual access to weekly meetings, visit www.gallatinlocalgovstudy.com . The Gallatin County Local Government Study Commission will hold its first public hearing on Thursday, April 10, at 5:30 p.m. in the Community Room on the third floor of the Gallatin County Courthouse, 311 W Main, Bozeman. The public has tasked the Local Government Study Commission with evaluating the existing form and powers of a local government, and how local government services are delivered, and comparing them with other forms available under Montana law. Members of the public are encouraged to attend in person or virtually. During this hearing, the commission will share an overview the study’s scope, introduce the current form and structure of the county government, and share examples of different county government models in Montana. The commission will also share a timeline for key milestones for the study process. Residents will have an opportunity to share feedback and ideas about Gallatin County’s government structure. All comments and feedback will be captured as part of the study. Residents will have many more opportunities to provide feedback at listening sessions that will be hosted around the county over the next year and a half. “We strongly encourage your participation in this discussion and invite you, a member of the public, to provide insights from your work and interaction with our county government. Your input will be invaluable in helping us form our understanding of how our local government structure supports or challenges your work.” says Vice Chair Study Commissioner Jackie Haines "The Montana Constitution is unique in that every ten years it allows the citizens of a county or municipality to review if the current form of county government could more efficiently, and effectively, deliver services to the county residents. The seven citizens elected to study our local government have begun the review process and invite the public to become involved with the process." says Study Commissioner Don Seifert About the Gallatin County Study Commission: In the June 2024 primary election, voters across Montana had an opportunity to decide on studying their local governments. This question is posed to voters every 10 years, as required in Montana’s constitution. Montana is the only state where voters regularly decide whether to evaluate their local government structure. In 2024, voters in 12 counties and 44 municipalities across the state voted to conduct a local government review. Voters in Gallatin County voted in favor of the independent study, as did residents of Bozeman and West Yellowstone. In the November 2024 general election, voters elected seven volunteer members to serve on the nonpartisan study commission for two years. The elected members of the Gallatin County Study Commission are (alphabetically): Janae Hagen, Jackie Haines, Jeff Krauss, EJ Porth, Don Seifert, Klaas Tuininga, and Steve White.

MT GOP Calls for Senator Ellsworth to Resign

By MTGOP • March 26, 2025
In light of the findings outlined in the recent Senate Ethics Committee report, the Montana Republican Party believes that Senator Jason Ellsworth is no longer fit to serve in the Montana State Senate. The Report has raised serious concerns regarding his conduct, and we firmly believe that for the good of the sate and the well-being of his constituents, Senator Ellsworth should step down from his position. We urge Senator Ellsworth to resign voluntarily in order to restore trust in the Senate and allow for a focus on the work that lies ahead for the people of Montana. Should Senator Ellsworth choose not to resign, the Montana Republican Party will fully support the Senate's decision to expel him, ensuring that the integrity of the Senate remains intact. This stance was reached following a unanimous vote by the Montana Republican Party's Executive Board. The Montana Republican Party remains committed to serving the interests of all Montanans and upholding the highest standards of conduct in our state government. -The Montana Republican Party Executive Board
A judge 's gavel is sitting on top of a black table.

Resolution for Rebuke & Censure of Senator Shelley Vance

By Gallatin County Republican Central Committee • March 15, 2025
GALLATIN COUNTY REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEE RESOLUTION FOR REBUKE AND CENSURE OF MONTANA STATE SENATOR SHELLEY VANCE SD34
A group of wolves standing next to each other on rocks.

Wolves, Hyenas & Legislators Run in Packs

By Roger Koopman • March 3, 2025
At an early age, we taught our kids to learn from others and to think for themselves. I still remember telling one child, “Truth doesn’t fly in flocks. You need to seek and find it on your own. And never be afraid to test and re-examine what you believe is true. Belief has no value if you close your mind to the ideas and arguments of others. Living in truth involves not only faith, but also the courage to think for yourself.” Unthinking animals either herd up for security, or run in packs to pull other creatures down. Politicians do both. In the worst example I have seen in 48 years in Montana, the cowardly pack mentality has been on full display in the sixty-nineth session of the Montana State Legislature. Most of us are aware by now of the hostile takeover of the Montana State Senate by a coalition of every Democrat plus a wolf pack of liberal Republicans, who locked claws on vote after vote to deliver a functional majority for the Democratic Party. At one point, twenty separate pro-Democrat floor votes were recorded, all by 27-23 margins – an impressive show of Pack Power over their own Republican leadership. The nine GOP deserters are senators Vance, Gillespie, Kassmier, Lammers, Loge, McKamey, Tempel, Hunter and Ellsworth. First, the Pack held the Senate hostage for many days, eventually forcing leadership to change its own rules so that liberal Republicans could be inserted onto key committees to shift committee control. Then came the Jason Ellsworth affair. Sen. Ellsworth was caught arranging a sweetheart contract for a buddy of his by quietly diverting, at the last moment, over $170,000 from the unspent budget of the Judicial Reform Interim Committee, over the objections of its members. The project made no sense and would be performed from the friend’s home. When discovered, auditors were shocked, and the Senate Ethics Committee began an investigation, as was its constitutional duty. But the nine-member GOP wolf pack again locked arms with the Democrats and stopped the investigation in its tracks – thus assuring that the liberal Ellsworth would remain in the Senate for the entire session, doing the Democrats’ bidding. Other reports of Ellsworth throwing his political weight around started coming out. Clearly, he should have resigned, but the “the Pack” continued to give him protective cover, and he remains there still – larger than life – seemingly incapable of shame or contrition. Meanwhile, the pack of nine went about doing exactly what groups like Montana Conservative Alliance have been warning about for many years -- voting with the Democrat block and against limited government conservatives whenever key legislation comes up. I call them Mutant Elephants: elephant bodies, donkey heads. There they were for example, joining with the Democrats to pass massive Medicaid expansion welfare, and to defeat a bill providing work requirements. (More than 6 out of 10 current recipients are able to work, but don’t.) The state GOP publicly rebuked the nine Republican senators, but they missed the point. This undermining of the conservative Republican cause has been going on for over 50 years, with this just being the most obvious, leadership-smashing example. It’s really nothing new, but the media attention to the orchestrated aspect of this treachery is actually a good thing. Maybe GOP voters will finally take notice. In a larger sense, what we have in our state legislature is a great many legislators who don’t read the bills, don’t read the fiscal notes, and don’t show any natural curiosity for ideas or constitutional principles. They follow their leaders and their lobbyists and rarely do the work of a legislator or think for themselves. The Democrats are the most obvious example – almost never having a party member show independence of thought. It is, after all, easy to be a loyal Democrat. All you need to do is want to grow government in every direction, deny the biology of gender, and make it easier to kill human babies. But Republicans are supposed to be different. Some are – and I acknowledge those men and women as great legislators. Others are not. They run with the pack, and fail to do the deliberative, investigative work of independent-thinking legislators. They’ve put their own pride and positions above their constituents, and deserve to be sent packing. Roger Koopman is president of Montana Conservative Alliance. He served four years in the Montana House of Representatives and eight years as a Montana Public Service commissioner. He operated a Bozeman small business for 37 years.

Testimony in Support of SB218

By Anonymous • February 10, 2025
Let's assume that the explanations of the following facts are correct: Dr. Money's patient, the first infant who was transitioned into a girl, and this person's twin brother killed themselves in their late 30th. But it was only the result of transphobia and bullying. A star in the I'm Jazz reality show has a hobby of dressing as a Mermaid, a sea creature with no genitalia. But it's only this individual's artistic expression. An unusually high percentage of autistic kids, victims of sexual assault, and teens with low self-esteem identify as trans. Still, it has nothing to do with their desire to fit in or their beliefs that their bodies were the reason they were raped. Three gender clinics in Montana are listed on the map of clinics that provide HRT with "no therapist required." The individual who pinned the map on his X profile is lying. Less than 10% of transwomen do "bottom surgery." But, it's not because these surgeries are more barbaric than castration but because, as one transwoman explained, "a woman without a penis is an angel without wings." So, let's say that biology is cis-supremacist, transing kids is not child abuse, and only a tiny percentage of children will regret their gender transition when they are adults. In this case, financially compensating these people for their struggles would be a simple act of kindness and compassion, and the opposition to the bill must reconsider their position and support the extension of statutes of limitations to cover these cases." I have more materials that prove why pediatric gender-affirming treatments are child abuse that must be banned. I support HB218 because TQ+ affirming doctors know that what they do to children is criminal, that most of their patients sooner or later will realize that they were mistreated, and that market analysis that predicts the global sex reassignment surgery market size to reach $1.41B in 2025 and $2.51B by 2030 is wrong.
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