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December 4th , 2023 Len’s Political Note #604 Ryan Busse Governor Montana
2024 General Election
The NSSF is the Firearm Trade Association (the NRA unencumbered by customers). Here is what the NSSF has to say about Ryan Busse:
RYAN BUSSE IS A FEAR MERCHANT AND A LIAR, AND NO FIREARM INDUSTRY EXPERT
“Busse passes himself off to adoring gun control media as a firearm industry expert but make no mistake he’s nothing of the sort. He dresses in plaid flannel, hunts with expensive shotguns and spends more time dabbling in progressive politics than he does actually concentrating on the facts. Don’t believe him. He’s nothing more than a modern-day snake-oil salesman hawking gun control as a cure-all elixir.
“[Busse claims] We have doubled the number of guns in our society in the last 20 years…. That begs the question what is the appropriate number for firearms in lawful private possession? Maybe the figure Busse is more comfortable with is the millions of firearms he bragged about selling when he was worked for one company in the industry. He has told media he worked in the firearm industry from 1995-2020. During that time, the firearm manufacturer he worked for produced 2,353,516 rifles, pistols and revolvers for the American market. That’s not counting anything that was exported. There are more guns now than 20 years ago, just as there are more cars now. The lawful sale and ownership of firearms does not cause crime any more than the sale of cars causes drunk driving. For the entire time the industry – with his help – was allegedly turning America into a “shooting gallery” crime was falling to record lows. Crime began to rise during the pandemic and civil unrest that occurred beginning in the summer of 2020.”
You might find NSSF incoherent in its anger.
Ryan Busse was born and grew up in Kansas. Same with his wife. He grew up on a ranch. She came from a family of hunters. He jokes that he was born with a shotgun in one hand and a rifle in the other. He loved going hunting with his dad. Shooting was important – whether it was formal target shooting or shooting at tin cans or at pheasants.
Ryan Busse went to college in West Virginia – Bethany, a small, private school. From college, he spent two years working in Greeley, Colorado for the Burris Company – a company that makes riflescopes. Ryan Busse worked for customer service. The customer service page of their current website shows someone with a rifle peering through a scope and a technician examining a scope.
Ryan Busse went from Burris to Kimber, a gun manufacturing firm. While at Kimber he took time out to work in Washington where he worked as an advisor to the Congressional Sportsman’s Caucus. He began that work in 2010, two years after the Supreme Court’s Heller decision asserted an individual right to own a firearm for self-defense. Three years later, when he moved back to Kimber, he had an understanding of how government worked.
He had begun his work at Kimber in 1995. This was a small business that had gone bankrupt a couple of times. It was owned by an Australian company, but had offices in Oregon. He and a friend persuaded Kimber to let them open a sales office in Kalispel, Montana where Ryan Busse had settled. Twenthy-five years later, Ryan Busse left Kimber and the gun community.
Ryan Busse describes his early experience at Kimber as a little wild. The principal requirement to work there at Kimber and, he recalls, at many gun manufacturers, was to love guns. An MBA or other business training was OK, too. At Kimber, the guy who hired him took him to breakfast at a strip club. The same executive brought strippers to staff parties.
Kimber made guns that were admired for their quality. Ryan Busse created a new marketing system for them. They would skip distributors and sell directly to gun dealers. The firearms dealers loved him. He received the Firearms Person of the Year Award which put him in distinctive company. Others who won that award were Charlton Heston, Wayne LaPierre, and Bill Ruger.
The high point of Ryan Busse’s career as a gun manufacturing executive was his response to Smith and Wesson’s plan to settle a law suit by committing itself to a variety of safety measures including trigger locks on all its new guns and the development of “smart guns” that could only be used by the gun’s owner. He persuaded, as a start, 50 gun dealers to announce a boycott of Smith and Wesson if the plan went into effect.
The settlement plan went into effect. So did the boycott.
Three or four factors turned Ryan Busse away from his life as a gun manufacturer. First and last was his wife. After a school shooting, she would call him at work to ask if he felt complicit. His explanation that Kimber guns were too expensive for kids to own brought a skeptical question from her. Because your guns weren’t used, you feel exempt from responsibility?
In addition to school shootings and other mass shootings, work incidents at Kimber eroded his commitment to guns. An accidental shooting and an employee shooting a dog made him uneasy.
He became detached from the gun community over an issue that had nothing to do with guns. Ryan Busse was an old-fashioned gun enthusiast. He was an outdoorsman and a conservationist. GW Bush’s plan to allow drilling for oil near Glacier National Park set him off. He agreed to speak to the National Press Club on the topic. Bucking a president on whom the gun manufacturers and dealers relied earned Ryan Busse the disapproval of his peers. His colleagues never again fully trusted him. His relationship with them deteriorated.
His wife’s reaction to another school shooting separated Ryan Busse from his colleagues permanently. The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School sent Sara Busse over the edge. She made her distress public, posting on Facebook “The ONLY way this will EVER change Is if the NRA goes up in FLAMES.” She took the Facebook post down not long after it was up, even before officials from Kimber suggested to Ryan Busse that the post be taken down.
Ryan Busse chose his wife and her way of thinking over his colleagues. Estranged from his gun community, he had come to agree with her. He earned national attention. Donald Trump criticized him, suggesting a financial interest rather than a moral one. “You [sold guns] for 25 years. You didn’t seem to have a problem with it until you found a way to capitalize on it.”
It was not the money for Ryan Busse. He had joined a new community, a community whose views were the same as his wife’s views and the gun safety views that he had adopted. He went to work for gun safety organizations. And then he went to work for Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.
He explained to Pro Publica that he is not opposed to guns:
“I am a gun owner. I hunt and shoot with my boys. I want to continue doing that. I believe and I think that I have a right to do those things. On the other hand, I do not believe that right can exist without a commensurate amount of responsibility. And that responsibility either has to be voluntary or it has to be legislated.
“I don’t think universal background checks are an infringement. I just don’t buy that. I think it’s part of the responsibility of exercising this right. I don’t think strengthened red flag laws are in any way an infringement. I think that’s what we must do as responsible citizens. I don’t think that controlling irresponsible marketing is an infringement on our Second Amendment rights. In fact, I think it’s our responsibility to do it. ….. [D]emocracies function in a sort of carefully balanced gray area. And I think our balance in the country right now is way, way off.”
Gun Safety is not Ryan Busse’s only issue in his campaign for Governor of Montana. He is committed to sustaining Montana’s natural environment. As is his family. His two teenage sons were among the plaintiffs in the case that struck down a state statute prohibiting consideration of greenhouse cases and their impact on climate change in impact statements and in the creation of policy. Crucial to the decision was Montana’s constitution that includes a clean and healthful environment as a right for all Montanans.
Republican incumbent Greg Gianforte has not yet announced whether he will run for governor again. A controversial and wealthy businessman who moved to Montana from New Jersey, his first efforts to run for public office in Montana were hindered by accusations that he prevented access to public lands adjacent to his own land. Not a good look in Montana. After losing the race for governor in 2016, he was elected to replace Ryan Zinke when he was appointed as Donald Trump’s Secretary of the Interior. Gianforte was reelected in 2018 and was elected governor in 2020. The day before the special election for Congress, angry at a reporter, Gianforte made uncomfortable news again. He “body slammed” a reporter and beat him with his fists shouting “I’m tired of this.”
Whether Ryan Busse has Greg Gianforte as his opponent or someone else, the Democrat will be a formidable and unusual candidate. Help him succeed. DONATE TO RYAN.
Other Governor Races.
In November, 2023, Democrats were one for three in governorships. Andy Beshear was reelected in Kentucky. Democrats lost in Louisiana and Mississippi.
In races for November, 2024
Two Races Where We know who the Democratic Candidate is
Indiana: Jennifer McCormick went from teacher to principal to assistant superintendent to superintendent. As a Republican, she defeated the first Democratic State Superintendent of Public Instruction. She left the Republican Party in dismay at what she saw as Republicans lack of interest improving the quality of education in Indiana.
The only poll for the Governor’s race was in August. She was matched against three announced Republican candidates for Governor. She was even with former Attorney General Curtis Hill, 4 points behind Lt Governor Suzanne Crouch, and 11 points behind US Senator Mike Braun. The June financial report found Jennifer McCormick had $200,000 available for the campaign. Each of the Republicans had more resources, but will have to spend some of their money to attempt to win the May 7, 2024 primary. Senator Mike Braun had $4.6 Million. Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch had $3.9 Million. And the former head of the state Economic Development Corporation Eric Doden had $3.8 Million.
Jennifer McCormick is experienced in Indiana politics. She insists she is not naïve in thinking she could win against whichever political figure emerges from the Republican primary. Invest in Jennifer McCormick. DONATE TO JENNIFER See Len’s Political Note #590
North Carolina: Josh Stein is attempting to follow a familiar route from Attorney General to Governor. His predecessor, term limited incumbent Democratic governor Roy Cooper followed that route. Josh Stein is a heavy favorite to defeat retired State Supreme Court Justice Michael Morgan in the March 5 primary. Similarly, Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, a Trump-like African American candidate, is a heavy favorite to win the Republican primary. A November poll found Josh Stein leading the Republican by 2 points. A September poll had found him behind by 4 points.
North Carolina financial information is from July. Josh Stein began July with $8 Million. Republican Mark Robinson had $3 Million at the same reporting date. Josh Stein needs every dollar you can commit to this race.
An overwhelmingly gerrymandered Republican legislature and a State Supreme Court with a 5-2 Republican majority, the Governor, the Attorney General, and other state-wide elected officers stand in the way of complete Republican dominance in what should be an evenly divided state. DONATE TO JOSH. See Len’s Political Note $597.
Multiple candidates in both parties
Missouri. Two Democrats – Businessman Mike Hamra and House Minority Leader Crystal Quate will compete in the August 6 primary. Three Republicans – Secretary Jay Ashcroft, State Senator Bill Eigel, and Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe are competing that same day.
In an October poll, Crystal Quade led Eigel by a point and trailed Ashcroft and Kehoe by 5 points. In that same poll, Mike Hamra trailed Eigel by 3 and Ashcroft and Kehoe by 10 points.
Republicans raised more than Democrats. At the beginning of October, Kehoe had $1.4 Million and his PAC had $3.5 Million. Eigel had $900,000 available while Ashcroft had $200,000 and a sympathetic PAC had $250,000 . Quade had a little more than $200,000 at the beginning of October. At that time Hamra had just begun raising money.
It is possible, that investing in Crystal Quade would make sense. The primary is late – August 6. So it makes sense to identify the probable winner and to support that winner early. If Crystal Quade can come out of the primary with a respectable amount of money, she could have a chance to win. Consider DONATING TO CRYSTAL QUADE.
New Hampshire: Two Democrats – Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig and Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington. Two Republicans – Former US Senator Kelly Ayotte and former State Senate President Chuck Morse. In a November poll Joyce Craig trailed Ayotte by 4 points, Warmington trailed her by 8 points. In an August poll Joyce Craig had trailed Ayotte by 8 points, Warmington by 13 points.
New Hampshire’s primary is very late, November 10. That makes it important to choose the right candidate early, a task made harder because New Hampshire does not make it easy to track state level candidates’ funds raised. Consider DONATING TO JOYCE CRAIG.
Washington Two Democrats – Attorney General Bob Ferguson and State Senator Mark Mullett. Three Republicans – Former School Board Member Misapati (Semi) Bird, Business manager Daniel Miller, and former Congressman Dave Reichert. The informal consensus appears to be that Bob Ferguson will be the Democratic nominee and Dave Reichert the Republican. We won’t know for sure until the primary, which is on August 6.
A Democratic funded November poll found that Bob Ferguson trailed Reichert by 2 points. The most recent report, which includes November donations, shows Bob Ferguson having raised $4.7 Million and spent $800,000 and Dave Reichert having raised $900,000 and spent $330,000. DONATE TO BOB. Keep him ahead of the game.
West Virginia Two Democrats – Farmer Cecil Silva and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams. Six Republicans. There are no polls.
Rely, then on fund raising. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey led the Republicans with $1.5 Million available at the end of September. State House Judiciary Committee Chair Moore Capito, the son of US Senator Shelly Moore Capito was second with $1.1 Million available. Businessman Chris Miller, the son of US Representative Carol Miller was actually first with $3.3 Million on hand, but $2.9 Million of that was his own loan to the campaign. Secretary of State Mac Warner had $200,000 cash available.
Democrat Steve Williams only filed his candidacy at the end of October, so he had no September report. The likelihood of a Democrat being elected governor in West Virginia is slim. But if you want some skin in the game in West Virginia, DONATE TO STEVE.
Other States
There are no Democratic candidates yet in North Dakota, Utah, or Vermont. It would not be a shock if a Democrat entered the Vermont race though the Republican Governor is popular among Democrats as well as Republicans.
There are no Republican candidates yet in Delaware.
