GOP Chair Art Wittich, left, Rep. Terry Falk, center, and Sen. Greg Hertz discuss property tax legislation at the GOP Winter Kickoff event at the Heritage Inn on Feb. 7 in Great Falls, MT. (Jordan Hansen / Daily Montanan)
An important part of the political movement in Germany before and during World War Two was the belief that the “Aryan race” was superior to any other and that it was possible to create a “master race” through eugenics; that is, through selective breeding. That would mean that people having the ideal blonde-haired, blue-eyed features of the Aryan would be encouraged to breed and that other people with less desirable physical characteristics would be sterilized or killed.
It didn’t work out well.
Neither will the attempt of the Montana Republican Party to demand absolute purity within its ranks have good results.
The latest attempt of party leaders to remove two political gadflies from the November ballot has resulted in a defeat for the party leadership and an increase in bad blood between the party purists and the more moderate party members under attack. The latest defeat was begun by Senate President Matt Regier, R- Kalispell, asking Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen for a new legal opinion on the law of term limits.
Term limits restricting a person to no more than eight years in one elected office were enacted by the Montana electorate in 1992. The first time the eight-year limit was reached was 2000, and since then legislators had been legally jumping between House and Senate chambers every eight years. Why Regier waited until after the primary election to ask the question was pretty obvious, the Republican Party’s attempt to take out Senate candidate Llew Jones, R-Conrad, in a primary failed. Another method had to be looked at which the Attorney General was able to provide; create a legal obstacle to Jones being on the ballot. Knudsen found that a person who had spent eight consecutive years in the Senate and then another eight consecutive years in the House would have to sit out an election cycle before being eligible to run for the Senate again. This fit Llew Jones perfectly, and to make the idea even sweeter, it applied to Senator Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, another important Republican who didn’t follow orders meekly. Knudsen released his opinion less than two weeks before the Montana Secretary of State’s Aug. 20 deadline to certify the November ballot.
Jones and Fitzpatrick filed for a court injunction against the ruling which was granted by a Lewis and Clark County District judge. Knudsen then appealed to the Supreme Court to block the injunction. The state’s highest court said in effect, “a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on our part” and refused to take the case. So, Jones and Fitzpatrick will still be on the November ballot.
The worst of this began a few years ago when the Republican Party decided to breed for purity. Their first failure was to attempt to punish several Senate members by not giving them the committee assignments they had requested because their purity as true Republicans was in question. Understandably, they were peeved and they managed to form a block of votes which amended the rules to give the affected Senators the committee assignments of their choice. These nine Republicans then began voting with the Democratic minority to defeat many of the agendas of the Republican leadership. Moral: If you are going to kill a snake, make sure it’s dead.
Several of the dissenting Republican senators had just been elected to the Senate, meaning they would be back in 2027 and back with bad memories. Others would face opponents in the primaries and be subjected to defeat, as some were. In the 2026 Republican Convention the nine dissenting Senators were not allowed to vote, aggravating the situation further.
It is not wise to make enemies of people on your own side, whether or not they disagree on issues. Whatever the proposed agenda of the Republican Party is in the 2027 Legislature it has the potential to be stymied by Republican members who have been mistreated by party leadership.
There is a better way to run a Legislature than by making enemies out of allies.
by Jim Elliott, Daily Montanan
August 26, 2026
by Jim Elliott, Daily Montanan
August 26, 2026
An important part of the political movement in Germany before and during World War Two was the belief that the “Aryan race” was superior to any other and that it was possible to create a “master race” through eugenics; that is, through selective breeding. That would mean that people having the ideal blonde-haired, blue-eyed features of the Aryan would be encouraged to breed and that other people with less desirable physical characteristics would be sterilized or killed.
It didn’t work out well.
Neither will the attempt of the Montana Republican Party to demand absolute purity within its ranks have good results.
The latest attempt of party leaders to remove two political gadflies from the November ballot has resulted in a defeat for the party leadership and an increase in bad blood between the party purists and the more moderate party members under attack. The latest defeat was begun by Senate President Matt Regier, R- Kalispell, asking Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen for a new legal opinion on the law of term limits.
Term limits restricting a person to no more than eight years in one elected office were enacted by the Montana electorate in 1992. The first time the eight-year limit was reached was 2000, and since then legislators had been legally jumping between House and Senate chambers every eight years. Why Regier waited until after the primary election to ask the question was pretty obvious, the Republican Party’s attempt to take out Senate candidate Llew Jones, R-Conrad, in a primary failed. Another method had to be looked at which the Attorney General was able to provide; create a legal obstacle to Jones being on the ballot. Knudsen found that a person who had spent eight consecutive years in the Senate and then another eight consecutive years in the House would have to sit out an election cycle before being eligible to run for the Senate again. This fit Llew Jones perfectly, and to make the idea even sweeter, it applied to Senator Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, another important Republican who didn’t follow orders meekly. Knudsen released his opinion less than two weeks before the Montana Secretary of State’s Aug. 20 deadline to certify the November ballot.
Jones and Fitzpatrick filed for a court injunction against the ruling which was granted by a Lewis and Clark County District judge. Knudsen then appealed to the Supreme Court to block the injunction. The state’s highest court said in effect, “a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on our part” and refused to take the case. So, Jones and Fitzpatrick will still be on the November ballot.
The worst of this began a few years ago when the Republican Party decided to breed for purity. Their first failure was to attempt to punish several Senate members by not giving them the committee assignments they had requested because their purity as true Republicans was in question. Understandably, they were peeved and they managed to form a block of votes which amended the rules to give the affected Senators the committee assignments of their choice. These nine Republicans then began voting with the Democratic minority to defeat many of the agendas of the Republican leadership. Moral: If you are going to kill a snake, make sure it’s dead.
Several of the dissenting Republican senators had just been elected to the Senate, meaning they would be back in 2027 and back with bad memories. Others would face opponents in the primaries and be subjected to defeat, as some were. In the 2026 Republican Convention the nine dissenting Senators were not allowed to vote, aggravating the situation further.
It is not wise to make enemies of people on your own side, whether or not they disagree on issues. Whatever the proposed agenda of the Republican Party is in the 2027 Legislature it has the potential to be stymied by Republican members who have been mistreated by party leadership.
There is a better way to run a Legislature than by making enemies out of allies.
Daily Montanan is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. AP and Getty images may not be republished. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.
Jim Elliott served 16 years in the Montana Legislature as a state representative and state senator. He lives on his ranch in Trout Creek.
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© Daily Montanan, 2026
