I read with amazement that Rep. Greg Gianforte was in Wisdom, Montana on Feb. 24 to showcase support for a $3.3 million high-speed broadband project in rural Beaverhead County. I was even more astonished by a U.S.D.A. news release wherein he said that he would “carry on” his work to make sure that rural communities have reliable high-speed broadband.
I was surprised because Gianforte voted against that very same grant in 2018. In fact, the only member of Montana’s congressional delegation to vote for it was Jon Tester.
But even before that, during Rep. Gianforte’s first gubernatorial campaign, he toured Montana small towns for a “Regulation Roundup,” ostensibly to talk with small business owners about Montana regulations. As a small business owner, I attended the stop in Whitehall on Feb. 19, 2016. After listening to Mr. Gianforte, I asked him about his plans for helping rural Montanans access high-speed broadband. His response to me was that “if I needed high-speed broadband for my business, I should move to town.”
