The night before the special election for Montana’s sole seat in the House of Representatives saw one of the worst travesties in recent American political history. Ben Jacobs, an American-based reporter for The Guardian of the UK, asked Republican candidate Greg Gianforte about Trump’s health care plan. Gianforte responded by violently body-slamming Jacobs to the ground, shattering his glasses. In case you missed it, listen here.
In part because some 40 percent of Montanans had already voted early, Gianforte went on to win the next day–albeit by a far smaller margin than the one his predecessor, now-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, racked up in November. More importantly, it was by far less than Donald Trump’s 56-35 margin in the presidential election.
Well, Gianforte supposedly faced the music in a courtroom in his hometown of Bozeman on Monday. Why “supposedly”? Well, after Gianforte pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault for his attack on Jacobs, he received a sentence–or more accurately, a fragment–of a $385 fine, 40 hours community service, and 20 hours of anger management classes.
Watch the fragment being formally pronounced here, courtesy The Associated Press via ABC Montana.
Jacobs said that he believed the incident was an “aberration” on Gianforte’s part, but was concerned about the larger impact on the nation’s political discourse. It’s hard not to blame him. After all, a number of Republicans actually applauded Gianforte for his assault.
Gianforte then repeated his earlier apology to Jacobs–one that came with some prodding from the House Republican leadership–and offered to sit and talk with him personally in the future. It was a remarkable turnabout from the immediate aftermath of the incident, in which he claimed that Jacobs had been the one to start the confrontation. However, this was belied by reporters from both BuzzFeed and Fox News, who stated that Gianforte was the assailant.
It initially appeared that a measure of sanity was going to prevail when Gallatin County Justice of the Peace Rick West sentenced Gianforte to four days in jail. However, he reversed himself and suspended the sentence. This allowed Gianforte to not only avoid jail time, but to walk out of court without even being booked. Why?
“Being a congressman-elect, having to spend any time in jail isn’t something you should do.”
So just because you’re about to go to Washington, you shouldn’t bear the burden of paying your debt to society for a brutal assault on a reporter? Got it.
Gianforte addressed the press after his sentence. Watch here, from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
Gianforte said that he was taking “full responsibility” for the assault, and wanted to put it behind him so he could “go to work in Washington.” When asked whether the sentence was appropriate, Gianforte said that the assault was not who he was, and was “not a proud moment” for him.
Um, Greg? If you’re willing to take “full responsibility” for what you did, why didn’t you offer to go to jail? It would have set a better example. Apparently you were too enthused at the fact that you got one whopper of a favor.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time a Montana court has imposed a sentence that flies in the face of basic decency and common sense. If you’ll remember, in 2014, a judge in Billings, G. Todd Baugh, “sentenced” a teacher to 31 days in prison for raping one of his students–in part because the judge believed the girl was partly responsible for what happened. After a firestorm of protest, the state supreme court suspended Baugh for 31 days.
Gianforte may have gotten a slap on the wrist on Monday, but one can hope that the people of Montana will bear this in mind and make him pay the ultimate political price next November.
(featured image courtesy Gianforte’s Facebook)
