Citizens show support for federal workers

by Nathan Boddy

Frustrations over Trump Administration cuts to the federal workforce manifested themselves throughout Hamilton last week. On Sunday, March 8, individuals in opposition to DOGE-initiated workforce cuts occupied several corners of Highway 93 and Main Street holding placards and waving at passersby. 

“There’s been a lot of honking and waves,” said one citizen, adding that, among the many supporters there was still the occasional sour looking expression.

On Tuesday morning, at 8:30 on the front steps of the Ravalli County Administrative Center, a far larger crowd gathered while awaiting the start of the County Commissioners’ meeting in order to let their voices be heard by their elected officials.

Monica Tranel, 2024 Democratic candidate for the U.S. Representative, was present, saying that she’d come in order to “support the economic engine of Ravalli County and a lot of Montana.” She went on to express that federal workers are the driving force that help bring millions of dollars in revenue as people seek access to public lands in the state. 

“These are the people who make $16 an hour clearing our trails,” she said. “These are the people who do the work.”

In addition to concern over losses within the Forest Service, many people present also pointed to the Rocky Mountain Laboratory as a potential victim of the cuts.

Kim Hasenkrug, an NIH Scientist Emeritus who was at the commissioner meeting, clarified that, while he is not employed by the Rocky Mountain Laboratory, people he knows within the lab have asked him to serve as their voice. Employees of RML, he said, are fearful for their jobs and afraid to speak out in defiance of the general gag-order they are currently under.

Hasenkrug said that he is aware of approximately 20 RML employees having been terminated, but that some may have been rehired after their positions were then determined to be, “extremely critical.”

“Science is coming to a standstill because they can’t purchase anything,” he said, adding that, although new regulations prohibit new projects, even ongoing studies are stopped due to lack of supplies and agents.

“Nobody knows what’s going on, and the morale is extremely bad,” he said.

Hasenkrug cited a 2023 study by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) which aimed to quantify the economic contributions of the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Montana. The study concluded that the lab brings an additional $89.2 million in after-tax income into Montana households for consumption and investment. Furthermore, the lab’s presence means that area businesses and non-business organizations receive $231.8 million in additional output or gross receipts each year.

“For every person that works at the lab, there are two people outside the lab that have full-time employment,” said Hasenkrug. “So that’s a huge support for this community.”

Multiple speakers both outside of the Administrative Center, and during the commissioners’ meeting, expressed fear that such wide-spread cuts to the federal workforce are being done as a first step toward privatization of public lands and dismantling of the federal government at large.

On Wednesday, March 12, Hamilton’s Committee of the Whole, the generalized work-session committee of the City Council, met within the Hamilton Middle School auditorium in order to accommodate well over a hundred people who wished to show their concern. 

According to Council President, Robin Pruitt, the committee wanted to use the opportunity to hear concerns directly from the public, and assemble as much information as possible as they consider future steps.

“It is the responsibility of this council to be tracking [the DOGE layoffs] and to understand the implications and the possible ramifications to our community,” said Pruitt.

And while the room was at capacity, she said that the meeting went smoothly and that in the days following the event, the council has received emails of thanks, and offers of assistance.

“I think it just felt really good for people to have a voice in all of this,” she said.

It is unknown how the Thursday rulings of two federal District Court judges may impact the mass layoffs. Those rulings, one by James Bredar of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and the other by William H. Alsup of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California, both found that the Trump Administration firings were unlawful, and ordered the reinstatement of thousands of fired federal workers across the nation. Both, however, are temporary and still await final decision.