Busse outlines new vision for Montana

Democratic candidate for governor Ryan Busse and his running mate, Raph Graybill, state that if elected, they will advocate for a right to abortion, tax equality, education reform, environmental protections and increased Native American representation in government. According to his official campaign website, Busse is running “as an advocate for ALL Montanans and as a champion for our Montana way of life.”

After sitting down for a conversation with the Exponent on Oct. 2, Busse explained that he first stepped into politics 20 years ago through a “fight over the industrialization of the Badger-Two Medicine in north-central Montana.” According to Wild Montana, Badger-Two Medicine is a culturally significant area for the Blackfeet people and sections of that land were industrially developed for oil and gas extraction. This dispute officially ended in September of 2023 after a 40-year battle, with all federal oil and gas leases permanently retiring.

Busse said that he joined the 2024 ballot with the motivation of fighting for Montana's “live and let live nature.”

“I love this place, it made me a better person. I worked in the firearms industry for 25 years. I'm an effective manager and team builder. I love this place and I believe the state deserves a chief executive who wants to make it better and believes in effective government and that's me,” Busse said.

Graybill, the lieutenant gubernatorial candidate, is a former auxiliary Police Officer and current attorney. The official campaign website asserts, “Since Gianforte became governor, [Graybill] has blocked 14 different unconstitutional laws that invade Montanans’ constitutional rights. [Graybill] is also undefeated against Gianforte in blocking the Governor’s unconstitutional abortion bans.” Graybill’s fight against abortion bans compliments Busse’s own stated beliefs of being “100% for a woman’s right to choose and the right to an abortion.”

Busse explained that one of his top priorities is environmental protections. "We have to have a governor who respects science,” he said. “This one does not. He's dismantling fish and wildlife parks, driving good scientists out. I mean, he funded a creationist museum, so he doesn't respect the basic tenets of science. I think we need to make sure that we have good access to our public lands and to our environment.” Later in the conversation, he continued: “We need to make sure we appoint a good Fish and Wildlife Commission, which we don’t have a good one now.”

“One of the things I promise to do is put Native American representatives on every single board and commission that the government appoints. Governor [Brian] Schweitzer did a very good job of that. Gianforte has a horrific job of tearing that apart. So, Native voices aren't heard in large part in many appointed boards and commissions,” Busse said.

Busse said that fixing property taxes would be his first order of business as governor. “A lot of times, for some folks, taxes can seem like kind of an arcane, boring thing, but they sure aren’t now in Montana because they’ve affected so many people and affected renters and homeowners and we have to fix that.”

“[Then] we need to make sure the Department of Labor is utilized to develop good labor to build houses. And then we need to give communities control over their own communities so that they can build affordable housing,” he said.

Busse feels that following this equalization of property tax, school funding will also become more equal. However, he believes after that, there is still more to be done. “We’ve got to look at what it takes to increase and fix our public school funding formula, because it’s broken. We can’t keep laying off teachers and having the lowest paid entry-level teachers in the country,” he said.

Busse acknowledged the Republican-dominated political atmosphere of Montana and stated, “I think some of the best years in Montana have been with divided government, with a Democratic governor and Republican legislature, because it forces good ideas to the top.”

For more information about the Busse campaign, go to busseformontana.com.