And the creep is still in office? You’d think committing a crime while working under an oath of service to the state and nation would at the very least cause him to lose his fucking job.
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He committed the crime shortly BEFORE being elected. Montana voters are (collectively) fucked up. (Many cast their ballots via early voting before the assault but he maintained strong support from Republican voters even after the story went public.)
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Here’s hoping the reporter’s civil suit stings a bit more than this wrist slap.
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Sucker choke slam, then punch.
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Whatever the punishment here, the result should have been No Congress for Mr. Hot Head. Money, even a lot of money that he obviously can afford is tantamount to allowing him to buy his way out of this trouble he has made for himself.
What he has proven is that he neither has the disposition or temperment to be a representative, and the unavoidable result should have been a punishment that required or resulted in his forfeit of the Seat. That is the only just outcome. Anything else is a farce.
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I might be wrong, but I thought they settled that for a donation to CPJ?
A minuscule donation, given the resources of the aggressor.
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I don’t actually think so, but I bet he turns it into a campaign photo op.
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FWIW, pretty sure if the report sues civilly he can get a hefty settlement.
However, If he does, I bet they’d spend money first a PR firm to spin it as “Pushy, avaricious cuck-reporter from foreign MSM provokes upstanding politician to cash in on big settlement.”
EDIT:
Apologies, hadn’t been following the story closely. So, Gianforte settled the civil charges first (apology, $50K to charity). Then, independent of that, he got a slap on the wrist with the criminal charges (40 hours community service).
This reporter should have hired an experienced attorney. $50k is nothing to a man worth $300+ million. Did the reporter accept the first offer? If he’d shown any willingness to go to trial, the settlement would’ve been much higher. Gianforte would never have wanted a civil trial, that he would inevitably lose, to drag on for years (easily into his reelection campaign). The minimum acceptable settlement would have been $250k: $125k to charity, $125k to the reporter.
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Yup. If a poor black guy would get the same sentence for doing it to him, I’d have no problem with this sentence at all.
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The reporter signed away his right to sue as part of the settlement.
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It’s about traffic fines rather than assult, but the principle is good:
I’d love to see the same treatment for fines handed out for violence. 40hrs + 20 hrs is actually a pretty good start, although it would have been better to simply omit the token $300.
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That is my concern. Even if they don’t do that, I’d guess that the don’t have him serve it in public mowing a highway median strip, because that would be a great photo op.
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The reporter settling is more about the prospects of him doing his job in the future, not a lack of quality representation. For a reporter it is all about access and suing the subject means that you are unlikely to get ANY interviews in the future, even when the suit is abundantly justified as in this case.
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Good point. One hour of serving soup to the homeless, some photos for the local news, and done. Forget about the other 39 hours.
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Well, it’s still on the voters for voting for him, even if he didn’t assault someone until after their vote was cast. I mean, if he had assaulted someone three days after being elected, it would still be the people who chose to vote for him.
I think that American culture has no accountability for people with power, and tends to promote people who weasel out of responsibility above people who take responsibility. Hundreds of millions of votes have been cast for a situation that was inevitably going to produce results like this, and I think that a lot of the people who cast those votes would vote the same way again.
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so true it makes me cry…
which just shows how fucked up the country has gotten.
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I was once sentenced to exactly 40 hours of community service. You see, I was in High School and I drew a naughty editorial cartoon. I see our crimes as commensurate. We both abused our First Amendment privileges: I with my pen and he with his fists.
Let me tell you I learned a fine lesson on the day I totally skipped out on my community service. I encourage Gianforte to do the same.
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I don’t know–I think voters might not have been as forgiving of a Congressperson who’s served time while in office. Pity, we’ll never know.
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Is this sentence a form of probation, which can be revoked if he messes up again?
If so, it’d be a shame if some intrepid journalist made him lose his temper a second time
*whistles innoccently*
I had to look it up to see if it was similar to France, and apparently it is: community service is not exactly a penalty, but more accurately an alternative to a penalty (in part or entirely). Failing to perform it is leads to the initial penalty taking force.
