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Former Employees Defend Gianforte, Are Split Politically

Former employees of Greg Gianforte, the Republican candidate for governor, spoke at press conference in Bozeman Monday.
Corin Cates-Carney
Former employees of Greg Gianforte, the Republican candidate for governor, spoke at press conference in Bozeman Monday.

    

About two dozen former employees of Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte came to his defense on Monday, dismissing attacks made by Democrats about the business he founded and his record as a technology entrepreneur.

Gianforte founded RightNow Technologies in Bozeman in 1997. The company grew to employ more than 500 people in Montana and was eventually sold to the California tech company Oracle in 2012 for over $1.5 billion. Oracle still operates in Bozeman and employs many of the same workers.

The Democratic Party and groups supporting incumbent Governor Steve Bullock have been running ads attacking Gianforte’s business success story, saying outsourcing jobs was a part of his company strategy. Three weeks before Election Day, a group of former employees gathered to dispute claims made about the business they worked for and the reputation of their employer. Former RightNow Chief Information Officer Laef Olson organized the press event with help from Republican Senator Steve Daines, also a former RightNow employee.

"The competency, ethics and business record of so many RightNow Technologies employees are being wrongly and unnecessarily tarnished," says Olson. "RightNow is a world class company that was started and built in Montana. Steve Bullock and the Democratic Party should think about the damage they are doing to these Montanans and to their own reputation.”

While defending Gianforte, Laef Olson noted that the former RightNow employees at the press conference included Republicans, Democrats and independents.

Shellie Meagher and Amy Wiening came to RightNow soon after it was founded in Bozeman. Meagher now works in sales at Oracle and Wiening runs a landscape business in Bozeman. They’ve both already sent in their absentee ballots, voting for Gianforte.

“I have not exclusively voted Republican, [and] I have not exclusively voted Republican this time," says Wiening. " But I do feel like I align better on some of those areas, but I did not exclusively vote Republican this time."

"Me either," says Meagher. "I agree with you. It’s not a Republican vs. Democrat. But my values tend to line up, I want to go with who I feel like is the best candidate. And I wasn’t exclusively Republican. It’s always about who is the best candidate. Yes, Greg, look at what he built. Look at what he could do. Look at the care he has for people.”

Meagher and Wiening declined to say which other candidates they voted for.

Jack Manning provided outside legal counsel for RightNow and says he’s an independent voter. He says he voted for Bullock for a first term, but he’s voting Republican this time.

“I believe in business, economy, jobs, high paying jobs and I think that is probably my biggest thing," says Manning. "And I think that is what drives the economy and what drives the way people live. More people employed, higher wages, better economy, everybody better off. I actually think that Greg is a once-in-a-lifetime candidate for Montana.”

Manning says he tends to lean Democrat on social issues and is voting for Hillary Clinton for president, even though he says she’s a horrible candidate.  He described Donald Trump as a bad guy.

Support for Gianforte is not universal among former RightNow employees. Susan Carstensen joined RightNow in 1999 and was the Chief Financial Officer for eight years, as well as taking on other roles in the company. She has now founded her own tech company.

Carstensen was not at the press conference Monday. In September, she started helping to organize a tech industry group trying to re-elect Steve Bullock. Even though she’s voting for Bullock, Carstensen says RightNow Technologies was a great company; it had a great team, and Greg Gianforte was a great CEO. But she says running a state is more complicated than running a company.

“So we stepped back and said what do we think is important," Carstensen says. "We think protecting the environment is important. We think great public education is important. We think investing in infrastructure and respecting diversity, and that that's what makes Montana a great place to live and work and why we are all involved in the growth businesses in the state. So when we looked at the areas where the governor plays a role, we said Governor Bullock has the record in those areas and that we support him.”

Carstensen says RightNow did outsource some jobs, but says that’s not an attack on the former RightNow employees.  She says questions about Gianforte’s record at the company make sense, because he’s running for governor on his business credentials.

EDITORIAL NOTE: The broadcast version of this story incorrectly identified the order in which Meagher and Wiening spoke. The web text has been corrected to accurately reflect their comments. We regret the error. 

Corin Cates-Carney manages MTPR’s daily and long-term news projects. After spending more than five years living and reporting across Western and Central Montana, he became news director in early 2020.
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