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February 20, 2025
To hear Sen. Tom McGillvray tell it, he lit the match on the Monday night Senate bonfire in which Republican leadership lost control of the floor to moderates for three-plus hours.
All it took was a return to the Senate rules debate that blew up the chamber on Day One of the legislative session. McGillvray had called for a Tuesday Senate Rules Committee meeting and submitted some amendments to make changes to the way the Senate operates. The chamber’s 18 Democrats coalesced with nine Republican outcasts and quickly added three of their own lawmakers to the committee, effectively making it impossible for Republican Majority Leader McGillvray to muster enough votes to do anything.
And on the floor that late Monday night, the Senate coalition pushed through 20 procedural, time-sucking votes as Republican leaders looked on helplessly. It was the Harlem Globetrotters dunking on the Washington Generals, the scoreboard blinking 27-23 again and again.
On Thursday, there were no fireworks as the Senate Rules Committee, which McGillvray chairs, finally met to hear his legislation.
Only one member of Senate Rules rose to question the majority leader: Senate pariah Jason Ellsworth wanted to know if McGillvray believed the Senate should follow the Montana Constitution.
The majority leader answered in the affirmative and two minutes later gaveled the Rules Committee to a close, while Ellsworth pocketed McGillvray’s response.
Ellsworth’s hook had been set. Percolating in the background was an attempt by Senate leadership to resurrect a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into Ellsworth. The Hamilton Republican and former Senate president had attempted to award $170,100 in Senate work to a business associate in the final days of 2024. The arrangement sparked an investigation that concluded Ellsworth failed to disclose the relationship with the contractor, and that Ellsworth allegedly abused his power as Senate president to bypass state contracting laws, a misdemeanor.
On Thursday the Ethics Committee, on which McGillvray is vice chair, announced during the Senate floor session that it was moving ahead with its investigation into Ellsworth, this after the state Department of Justice agreed to take up the misdemeanor matter while leaving the non-criminal stuff to the Senate.
Ellsworth rose with microphone in hand to play his hold card from the Rules Committee.
“One thing we did today. We discussed in our Rules Committee, do we follow the Constitution?” Ellsworth said, noting that the state Constitution dictates lawmakers follow their own rules. McGillvray had answered in the affirmative.
“So, I’m going to read our rules,” Ellsworth said, pulling out his glasses to magnify the fine print. “It states the issues referred to the Ethics Committee must — must — be related to the actions of a senator during a legislative session.”
Ellsworth’s contract dealing hadn’t occurred during the session. And now, he was calling on the majority leader to follow the rules.
And there it was, a new Senate bonfire just two weeks before the 90-day Legislature hit its halfway mark.
—Tom Lutey
Things to know about The Nine
Early in the session, Capitolized noted that most of the nine Republicans in the state Senate who’ve coalesced with Democrats in the chamber to form a 27-member voting block capable of prevailing on major issues were already scarred from intraparty battles.
To get to the Senate, Sen. Josh Kassmier, R-Great Falls, had to defeat the vice president of the Montana Republican Party, Lola Sheldon-Galloway. He did so with the endorsement of Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte.
Several policies the governor now supports, including the extension of Medicaid benefits to the working poor, need the support of the Senate 27 to pass.
Sen. Gregg Hunter, R-Glasgow, had to defeat Rhonda Knudsen in a Republican Hi-Line fight that dealt a political blow to the mother of Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen. Despite losing to Hunter, Rhonda Knudsen still made it to the Senate as a Senate majority aide, a gig that pays $42.63 an hour, more than three times the $13.11 hourly pay for legislators. Hunter was also endorsed by a political committee aligned with the Solutions Caucus, a group of lawmakers that works on bipartisan coalitions to pass substantial bills, like Medicaid expansion.
Sen. Russ Tempel, a Republican from Chester, has cast key votes not only for Medicaid, but also votes against three different anti-abortion bills.
Point being, the nine Republicans effectively running the Senate when it comes to major issues aren’t circling the wagons in defense of Jason Ellsworth, who’s sometimes wrongly portrayed as a ringleader.
What most of the nine have in common is a belief in the functionality of government, or in some instances experience in local government. Sen. Shelley Vance, R-Belgrade, was in charge of Gallatin County elections for decades. Kassmier, who controlled the Senate floor for three hours on Monday night, got his first exposure to politics working for former U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, a Republican.
What stuck with Kassmier about the Burns experience was that Burns, U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, a Democrat; and Rep. Denny Rehberg, a Republican; worked together — when they could — on issues important to their state. Montana’s delegation didn’t always agree, but they agreed their differences shouldn’t distract from serving the state, Kassmier remembered.
Kassmier said the point of taking control of the Senate on Monday was to get bills assigned to committees. They were House bills transferred to the Senate nearly a month earlier that hadn’t been distributed. He picked 20 bills at random and marshalled the coalition to make committee assignments.
Senate President Matt Regier and his leadership team didn’t have the votes to retake control of the floor. At one point, Kassmier stopped rising to answer questions from frustrated Republican peers. He was seated in full recline in his Senate chair, swatting away angry queries with a simple “no.”
—Tom Lutey
