Ryan Busse - Keeping Montana the last best place

TailFeathers kicks off with Ryan Busse. Ryan is the Democratic candidate for Governor of Montana. He spent a career in the firearms industry and is a staunch advocate for public lands and access for hunting and fishing. Ryan is the Author of Gunfight and a contributor to Mouthful of Feathers. Hear what his vision is for Montana and why he's running for Governor.  

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Howdy y'all. Welcome to the tail feathers podcast. We're coming out the gate strong. This is our first episode featuring Ryan Bussey. Ryan's a friend of ours and he is running for governor at the gray state of Montana. Ryan is a former firearms industry executive. He's the author of a rather polarizing book called a gunfight. A lot of people may have heard of that. And he's also a contributor to one of my favorite books called mouthful feathers. gunfighting. It's a, uh, series of short essays on upland hunting. Ryan's a, uh, upland hunter, big game hunter, fly fisherman, public lands advocate, and he seems to be running for governor for all the right reasons because he wants to, uh, keep Montana the last best place. So I hope you guys enjoy this conversation. It's a quick one. He's a real busy with 50 days to go on the, uh, the campaign trail, but, uh, give it a listen. I think what's going on up in Montana is, is kind of a. Important for all of us to pay attention to it's as far as politics go. And, and when it comes to fish and wildlife and maintaining our ability to hunt and fish and in the United States. So, uh, without further ado, here's Ryan Bussey on the tail feathers podcast. Yeah, we should be zoom experts. Yeah. Yeah. 51. I'm actually at home this morning, uh, getting ready to hit the road again, but I've been home for about 20 hours here. So I did, I chased blue grouse just for a little while. Yeah. Blue grouse spots are patchy, but if you know where some are, there's, there, there are blue grouse over a good swath of Montana, but they're, but good blue grouse spots are pretty hard to find. They, they ain't happy about it. Yeah. Well, I. Arrived here because I care about this stuff. Um, largely because I care about, I mean, there's, there are many things I care about, but I care largely about public lands, access to hunting and fishing, um, maintaining the public trust and the North American wildlife model here. And I've worked, uh, You know, I've, I've devoted a ton of my time over the past 20 years to those pursuits. And the truth is that most of those pursuits and activities and things are impacted by politics. And I think that if, uh, you know, I'm a believer in that, if you say you care about these things, then you ought to be willing to stand up and fight for them. And, um, you know, I ask I asked fellow Montanans who care about these things just to do a simple thing and standing up and fighting, which is vote for them. Um, I have taken it further, you know, I'm running for office and I've been in and around politics and conservation for a long time. Um, and you know, nobody makes you do this, you don't, like, nobody comes to you and asks you to do this, you have to want to do it. Um, and I think it's important and so, you know, I, I stood up and said, Um, If I really believe in this stuff, then I should fight for it in the most powerful way possible. And so that's why I'm here. No, no. Yep, first go on about. Sure. Um, to back up a bit, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has for decades, um, been the shining example in the United States, if not the world, of a really good sound wildlife management for wildlife in the public trust and the egalitarian principle of, you know, that money does not rule the wildlife hunting and fishing game here. And that has been administered through, um, decades of strong leadership in Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, and frankly, decades of buy in from governors of both political parties, um, through the history of Montana. In the last four years, there has been an ardent attack from this governor, Greg Gianforte, on the very basic principles of wildlife management. He has gone down a path of, you know, really aggressive commercialization of our wildlife. So, for instance, here, never in the past, if you're a carpenter, or a nurse, or a school teacher, or a mechanic, you have exactly the same attitude. access to our wildlife as a bajillionaire rancher buddy of Gianforte's. That's the way it's always been. Um, that's not the way it is now. Gianforte wants to commercialize this. So for instance, if you are the Wilkes brothers, Big Texas, uh, literally multi billionaires who buy the Enbar Ranch over by Lewistown and they bitch because they don't, they want more elk tags because they want to be able to give them to their rich buddies or whatever. That's never been allowed in Montana. Gianforte pressures his Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Commission, which he installs and the legislature to give, give those guys special elk tags. GM Forte is the only governor in the history of the United States, all states, all years, all 248 years to ever sue to block a public river access. GM Forte has refused to recognize corner crossing. Um, he has dismantled. Define a scientist and wildlife team at fish, wildlife and parks. Many of the best scientists and biologists have been forced out because they stand up for the public trust. Gianforte does not believe in the public trust. He believes in, you know, like a cutthroat trout has a monetary value. Apparently, you know, say drowse has a monetary value and a sharp tail, like. So he wants to sell all those things or allow monetary forces to profit from them instead of, um, wildlife being managed for the people. I think that's exceedingly dangerous, wrong, anti Montanan, um, and it spits in the face of decades of wildlife management in Montana history. And, um, to be quite frank, it pisses me off. Well, as I say on the campaign trail, um, 16 out of the last 19 years, we've had a democratic governor and only the last, and only the last three have sucked. Um, and, um, so we have a rich history of bipartisan split government and democratic leadership in this state. And, um, I think that, yes, 2020 and sort of our divided national politics have thrown folks into this reflexive partisanship camps that they never have been in before, and it's, and, and it's leading to disastrous impacts for our state. Um, because now, as we just discussed, the Republican governor, for instance, is dismantling something that's very near and dear to my heart, probably to listeners heart. Um, do I, I believe that this is still a purple, egalitarian place, the people I meet are, um, but it's, you know, it's on us and it's on the folks who care about the things that we all care about to stand up and make it so. Um, folks who are listening to this who care about wildlife. Should care about wildlife and our lifestyle more than reflexively voting for just some national party because some, you know, news network has told you to hate your neighbors. I don't think that's a, that's not a constructive way to carry about personal politics or to, you know, maintain the state that we love. So we're in the middle of the battle and, um, it's going great. We We have a great shot at doing something very difficult, which is beating an incumbent governor, but this guy's not your average incumbent governor. So, you know, we feel good about it. No, I don't. I don't have anything against being a billionaire, but I'm certainly not one of them. Um, I, I think, you know, um, The values and the things that we're running on are basic common sense things like Gianforte wants to be in the doctor's office with women of this state, um, 70 percent of the, by all polls, and it's on the ballot here in Montana by all polls, 65 to 70 percent of Montanans think that's insanity. And so. To your point, um, I'm not some made up caricature of what folks have been told the Democrats going to look like. I tell campaign stories about me driving around the state with an elk. I, with a public lands elk, I shot on the back of my truck, looking for somebody to help me process it because I'm in the middle of a campaign. Um, I'm not embarrassed about those things. I'm not, um, shy about them. I'm not, um, I won't, I won't shy away from being proud of our lifestyle and who we are, and I don't really give a, you know, what about whether it fits some definition for National Democrats or not. It's what a Montana Democrat is, and so we're proud of that. Yeah, people are, we're, it's not, Montana is an island yet here for, um, you know, what I look, we have a 19, so I'll back up a little bit. We have a 1972 constitution here that was developed and constructed by a hundred common citizens. And in that constitution, they wrote very clearly and, um, you know, proactively a right to privacy. And so all Montanans have a right to privacy and that. That extends to your own body. You have the freedom of your own body. I don't know what is more basic to freedom than the freedom of your own body. And if you can't control your body, you ain't really free. And, um, we, we recognize that here. I think the surrounding States. Uh, dangerously do not recognize that Idaho is one of them. They have criminalized women, even when women are dying, um, from pregnancy complications. They are still forced to fly out of state or face, um, or the doctors are or forced to face criminal retribution. I think that is deeply, deeply dangerous and wrong. Um, and that's why I think Montanans will once again affirm, um, how different we are from those states. And I think it's important that we are an island. If you look around North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Idaho, the four states that surround us, um, with regards to personal freedoms in this, in this way are a bit of a shit show. Um, they really are in a dangerous way. And, um, and so I do think it's, it's critical that Montana stand up and be an island of freedom in that way. And. And there's nothing radical about that. I don't know what is radical about having the freedom of your own body. Well, we've seen and folks should understand nationally, um, you know, demographics are what they are. They it's like gravity. They eventually impact everybody. And we're already seeing, um, enrollments in med school, OBGYN programs and other associated professional activities. Taking substantive dives across the country, especially in and around states where this sort of dangerous legislation is happening. And so if you are an expecting mom or you have a daughter that may be an expecting mom someday or need any kind of OBGYN services, um, this sort of radical anti freedom legislation is going to come for you too, sadly. Um, and that's why it's important to stand up here and fight for it in Montana. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's a, you don't really have a community if the people that make the community go can't afford to live in that community. I mean, we are seeing disastrous impacts of, of just housing and affordability force the very folks that you mentioned in a lot more to sometimes live 50, 70, 100 miles away from the communities in which they want to work. And there are things that the state can't. The state government cannot wave a wand and just like, Oh, it's fixed. That that's not the way there is no such power, nor do I wish for that power to exist, but the state can do things that over time mitigate the problem and provide the sort of, um, You know, sort of fertile field for affordability, um, instead of in affordability. And they're, so number one, we could roll back this disastrous, uh, uh, property tax hike that Gianforte, you know, laid over the top of everyone and it hit renters the hardest. So there are, there are many, many properties in this state, every, so for those. We don't know every homeowner in the state was hit with an average of a 21 percent property tax hike on top of already high property taxes here. And so many, many homes saw two, three, four, 5, 000 property tax hike per year. Um, it didn't, no. No, it's a part of, it's part of the way the budget is set by the governor and then the legislature. Um, when, when home values go up, there is a state multiplier that is assessed and, um, that multiplier then, um, essentially produces the statewide property taxes. The previous, the previous four governors, two Democrats and two Republicans were faced with the exact same kind of problem that Gianforte was meaning, Oh, uh, property values went up. It looks like. Property taxes are going to change and they're given a, we have the minutes of the meetings, right? They're given, but the budget folks in the state have this big spreadsheet and they have this meeting and they call and they say, look, governor, if you don't change the property tax rate, the multiplier rate for the state, like homeowners are going to get slapped and big corporations are going to get a huge tax break. And so the previous four governors look at that and about 10 seconds or like. Uh, no, uh, dude, uh, fix that right now. That's a bad idea. And they have a Roscoe and Martz, two Republicans, Schweitzer and Bullock, two Democrats face the same thing. And it took them a grand total of about 30 minutes. And I'm not making that up about 30 minutes to fix this in each of those four cases, GM Forte comes along and he looks at like, Oh no, no extra income. Yeah. Let's give, uh, let's give our big energy conglomerates these huge tax breaks and let's give every homeowner a big tax cut. Increase and It's been a disaster. Then when it is rolled out and the voters get pissed off, he blames county commissioners and he blames local school boards and he blames all these people, but he doesn't blame himself and it's his fault. And so that's a big thing that's driving. Um, that, that, that, that is a factor. It's not the factor, but it is a factor in rising home costs and affordability. Then you have there are programs on the books. Again, we had a 2. 5 billion surplus. So there are programs on the books that we could have used the surplus to mitigate housing costs. For instance, we have low income tax credits that we could be funding and using so that, you know, nurses, teachers, these people, um, we could mitigate their housing expense. Um, we have a Department of Labor that has been turned into a culture war cudgel. Instead of developing good, you know, I think we should have. You know, work with the Department of Labor and Task, the Department of Labor to develop good union, um, labor, jobs, electricians, carpenters, all those sorts of jobs so that we have a good, you know, well supported, uh, workforce in this state to build new homes. Um, the state hasn't done that either. Would any one of those things fix the housing thing completely? No. But would a concerted effort from a governor on all of those sorts of things and more over time and from many different angles mitigate it and improve it? Um, absolutely it would. And so those are the sorts of like hard work things that I think the governor needs to be doing that they're not doing. I don't know the number. I will tell you whatever it is. It's too much. Um, a this profiting off of housing in a place like Montana instead of, um, instead of focusing on people who need to live here to live here is I don't have a more technical or shiny term for it than bullshit. It is bullshit. Um, and, um, so I think, you know, the government ought to step in and be the advocate for people and for citizens that work here and make it harder for those sorts of institutional investors to profit off our housing market and easier for people to live here. And again, there's not a, there's not a particular thing, like one thing that can be done, but the governor sure can be the champion. Of people and use every available state program to do that. Yeah, the truth is, labor unions are, they're doing well. We've seen a resurgence in labor unions and movements across the country because, uh, Um, there's been a lot of folks like Gianforte in power in various places, and he, again, wastes no opportunity to give, uh, big corporations and bajillionaires and people like Jeff Bezos, who he's, Gianforte's very thrilled that he helped open an Amazon warehouse in Missoula here, you know, low wages, non union, big old fancy warehouse for a guy who owns, uh, a space rocket. Um, that profits off of putting small local businesses out of business. Um, that's, that's just not, that's just not the Montana way. It's not something I approve of. And you're right about the labor movement. It's largely born, uh, in, in Montana. Um, and many of the things that we're fighting here, these things that you've already asked me about, Including labor are, we're born of a reaction by good, hardworking folks against rich corporatized, you know, in, in our case in Montana, we call them copper barons because they were largely mining barons, but those folks literally bought elections. They literally poisoned towns. They, they totally, totally owned and screwed up. And, and, um, you know, essentially privatized for profit our political system. They, they, you know, over and over and over. They, they literally killed workers. They, they exploited entire workforces. And so in 1972, Montanans rise up and they're like, you know what, done with this. We're redrawing our constitution for the people, not for you guys. And so here, I really believe that we have a resurgence of all of those old things that Montana already fought against and, and, you know, placed in the constitution, placed protections in the constitution against. This is like a lot of history. It's not the first time this has happened. It just kind of got a new flavor to it. And that's why Gianforte is so You know, they're so hard. They have called our constitution and I quote a socialist rag. Um, a constitution that that promises Montana citizens the right to a clean and healthful environment that promises Montana citizens the right to know we don't have executive privilege here. If you're an elected official, your meetings are open. You get you have to tell the people Jim Forte doesn't believe that he was in court yesterday fighting executive privilege. He hates the right to privacy. He has been a supporter of several decisions or several efforts to strip the right to privacy from our constitution so that women, you know, can be told what to do with their bodies. And so this fight that we're in, it ain't a new fight, you know, it's just. Yeah, same thing. Same thing. Same thing. It's just that it's the new dish or, you know, new restaurant, different flavor, but it's the same, same old stuff, man. And, um, we rose up and said no to it once. That's, that's why Montana has this really interesting, cool, vibrant, purple, egalitarian, political flavor to it. Um, and it really, Uh, is kind of like a mind your own damn business kind of place. Like do what you want to do, live the life you want to live. Um, just stay out of my business. I'll stay out of your business. We'll help each other out when we need some help. And that's, and that's like, that is a cool kind of free Western sort of place to live. Um, and it is, it is under threat in its most basic ways. Um, money, big money, big corporations, folks like Jim Forte, who is a billionaire see profit in. Every single creature and rock and tree and person in this state. And, um, that's just not the way it ought to be, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And my, and by the way, by the way, McLean's a big supporter of our campaign. Um, I will tell you, both of them have told me quite, um, And, and quite emphatic statements that they are very worried that the place that they love and have lived and have written about for so long still exist. Um, they, um, that's why they're both politically active. That's why they're supporters of my campaign. Uh, this place where we don't pull rank, you know, McLean. Can still outside of Livingston can still walk into two thirds of the bars in this town and nobody would know who the hell he was and nobody would care. Um, same, same with Keaton. And there is a, and there is a beauty to that, that we don't pull rank on each other in this state. When you walk in to a place, whether it's a place of worship or a place to have a beer or a hunting camp or whatever it is, your pedigree, your bank account, um, your trust fund, none of that shit matters here. Um, never has. Gianforte wants to make it a place where it matters and. That's just wrong. And he's doing it in various different ways, you know, through wildlife management, through government fiat, through, um, literally just trying to privatize our public schools or, um, the ways in which government work. And it's very, it's a very dangerous thing. It is, but, but man, we're up, we have a very, very good chance of beating this guy. And, um, it's been very unbelievably heartening to see so many Republicans coming to our campaign events. Uh, just like, I don't have Republican, I'm running as a Democrat. So I have democratic list of folks. That's who, that's who we invite. To our great big events. And yet 20, 30 percent of them are Republicans that show up and they come and tell me like, man, I've never voted for a Democrat my whole life, but I can't take this anymore. And that is such a cool thing to hear. Not because of. Yes, of course I want voters and I'm going to win the election and it's cool from that standpoint, but to see people stand up more for the state that they love than their national politics, that's, that's some cool stuff, man. And, um, and so it's a hope when those things happen in our campaigns and they happen at every event we've had 143 of them. Um, It instills quite a bit of hope in you about this place. I hope it is still the last best place. That'd be, that'd be great. That was a good show. Yeah. So, uh, I, for those people who know me, I'm a bird hunting, I'm literally nearly addicted to bird hunting on my bird dogs. Um, I've got three of them, two Brits and a wire hair. And, um, I don't get enough time in, but I try to, it is my rest button. It's my exercise and it's all those things. So I try to squeeze it in where I can and I will continue to, even if it's like a hour or two here or there. Um, my. Older son Lander drew an antelope tag, the only, only creature in the home to draw a special tag. So hopefully we'll chase antelope around a bit with him and then we'll just be doing over the counter elk and deer, which is a awesome thing in Montana. You don't even have to draw a special tag, just be a resident of the state and you get to go chase elk and deer. Um, I was fortunate enough to And have been for the last few years to take a nice public lands bowl. Um, hope to do that again if I can just find the time. Um, and so, yeah, we're just gonna be like average Montanans, man. You, you might, um, go to busse4montana. com which is b u s s e 4montana. com Um, and all of our links are there. Follow us on social media. On Instagram. Um, and you know, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, all that stuff. We do some super cool, fun social media, um, in ways I think that no campaign has ever done before. And so it's a, not only as an important edgy follow, it's a fun follow. Um, and then there'll be all kinds of links on there about, you know, signs and stickers and, or just come to one of our events, we have them all over the place. So we'd love to see you. Yes, yes, that's, that's, that's one of my, that's one of my chickens. I've named Egg Gin Forte because my chicken. Has exactly the same amount of courage as Greg Gianforte. Um, it's true. And by the way, that chicken is now like a celebrity. I go into like TV interviews and stuff, but like, why didn't you bring egg Gianforte? I'm like, okay. Um, so I, I, uh, he has refused two debates, three, actually. I think that we will corner him into one. Um, so I'm hopeful that we'll have one in October, but so far he has indeed, um, shown the exact same amount of courage as egg Gianforte. So we'll, we'll see where we get him. Yeah, that would be great. You, uh, you should know that that those are dangerous things to say. I am the sort of person that just will show up like that. Somebody says like, Oh, yeah, I got a great fishing spot in the cabin. You should show up and they like 15 minutes later. There I am. I'm like, I'm warning you. I may be in your bird camp. All right. Sounds good. I appreciate the time. Thanks for having me, Aaron. All right, man. Thanks a lot. Take care. Okay. Bye bye. Yep. Bye bye.