by Nathan Boddy, Bitterroot Star, and Mara Silvers, Montana Free Press
Ravalli County Republicans briefly engaged in a power struggle to fill the seat vacated by outgoing Representative Ron Marshall, who resigned midway through the state legislative session in apparent frustration. Ultimately, the Ravalli County Commissioners, who were tasked with making the selection, chose Terry Nelson, a former chair of the Ravalli County Republican Central Committee, to replace Marshall.
Marshall, a Republican lawmaker and vape shop owner respresenting House District 87, announced his resignation from the Montana Legislature last week, alleging political favoritism toward major tobacco companies and unscrupulous decision-making by fellow members of the GOP.
Marshall has served in the Montana House of Representatives since 2021. An owner of two vape shops in the state, Marshall has become an outspoken critic of national tobacco companies.
State Rep. Ron Marshall, R-Hamilton, surrounded by reporters at the State Capitol after announcing his resignation. Credit: Mara Silvers / MTFP.
Marshall framed his resignation, which came as the Legislature neared its midway point, not as an act of protest, but as a type of surrender after two months of bruising battles over vape and tobacco bills.
“I don’t want to swim in this swamp anymore. Why do I want to stay? I’m not a corrupt person. Why do I want to stay around a bunch of corrupt people?” Marshall told reporters after his announcement. “I’m not going to play this game anymore.”
This session, Marshall sponsored a bill to create a regulatory distinction between vape and tobacco products. The bill also would have limited vaping sales to age-restricted venues for ages 21 and older.
That bill, House Bill 149, passed out of the House Business and Labor Committee in January but spent weeks in limbo before it was scheduled for a vote on the House floor.
Marshall later said the bill’s progress was hindered by lobbyists from Altria and RJ Reynolds, two of the tobacco companies subject to the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, the legal agreement with 52 states and territories intended to reduce tobacco use. In a lawsuit filed in federal district court in February, Marshall accused the companies of violating the terms of the MSA that restricts them from lobbying against legislation that would limit tobacco use for minors. Attorneys for the companies said in court filings that Marshall had no standing to bring the lawsuit and that HB 149 would not have been implicated by the MSA because of differing definitions of tobacco products. A judge later dismissed the case, finding that only the signatories to the agreement can enforce its terms.
After that ruling, Marshall tried to rally support for HB 149 on the House floor. The bill failed to advance on a 38-62 vote, with some Republicans and nearly all Democrats opposed.
Speaking to reporters about his decision to resign his seat, Marshall said that it’s up to the Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen to enforce the terms of the MSA.
“He can pick and choose winners and losers. So in this case, the state really is a loser because we’re allowing these guys to go on and do their thing,” Marshall said.
Marshall’s final straw, he said, was the committee approval in late February of a bill backed by tobacco companies. House Bill 525, sponsored by Rep. Amy Regier, R-Kalispell, would create a legal registry for vape products that can be sold in Montana and prohibit the sale of products that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Proponents of that bill, including Knudsen, testified to lawmakers on the House Taxation Committee that the measure will take illicit products off the market, including those from Chinese manufacturers that critics say are overtly marketed to youth.
Opponents, including Marshall, have said the bill will effectively promote vape products owned by big tobacco companies that have received FDA approval, allowing them to corner the market and undermine small businesses currently selling other products.
The tax committee passed the bill two days later, but not before adding a hefty, Democratic-proposed 50% tax of the wholesale price for certain products. The amendment passed 18-3. The bill then passed the committee unanimously, 21-0.
Marshall said that the widespread Republican support of the amendment flew in the face of conservative values to support lower taxes and small businesses. He criticized Knudsen’s endorsement of the bill and the members of Republican leadership, including House Speaker Brandon Ler and Majority Leader Steve Fitzpatrick, who voted for the amendment.
Marshall’s resignation left House District 87, a district comprised of the largely rural area between Hamilton and Stevensville, unrepresented. According to state law, the Ravalli County Republican Central Committee (RCRCC) is obligated to make recommendations for Marshall’s replacement to the county commissioners. Commissioners then have five days to make the ultimate selection.
Complicating this task, however, was the fact that the RCRCC has recently experienced a rift within its ranks, polarizing two distinct factions which struggled against one another to fill the open seat. In October of 2023, disagreements over procedure and ideology led to the ouster of longtime RCRCC Chairman, Terry Nelson. The new group, many of whom are closely aligned with the state Freedom Caucus, effectively took control of the committee. Its members acknowledge their far right position, and several have ties with the John Birch Society.
Terry Nelson, former longtime Ravalli County Central Committee Chairman who was ousted in 2023, has been chosen by the Ravalli County Commissioners to fill the House District 87 seat vacated by Ron Marshall. Photo by Nathan Boddy.
By early 2024, the newly formed RCRCC, headed by Ron Stoltz, set about asking that each Republican candidate in Ravalli County swear an oath of allegiance to the Montana GOP platform, something that House District 86 Representative David Bedey, a self-described ‘Reagan Republican,’ publicly rejected in an open letter entitled, “I will not comply.” Bedey’s rejection of the request asserted that, “the Ravalli County ‘Republican’ Central Committee is no longer recognizable as a standard bearer for conservatism, much less the party of Lincoln and Reagan. Instead, it’s a hangout for John Birch Society activists and wannabe militia members.”
The divide within the local party has again been on display following Marshall’s resignation as both factions scrambled to fill the seat vacated by Marshall. A meeting for Thursday, March 6 was organized by a large contingent of members, some of whom are dissatisfied with far right wing RCRCC leadership. Shortly thereafter, a second meeting by the official RCRCC was noticed for Friday, March 7 at 9 p.m.
Tony Hudson, a precinct captain who is currently suing the RCRCC for failure to hold elections in early 2025, anticipated that the state GOP would declare the first meeting illegitimate out of fear that a “more moderate individual” would be sent to Helena. Hudson also anticipated that media would be excluded from the second meeting, which he asserted had been organized specifically to discourage transparency.
“That is what’s wrong with the political system in America today,” he said. “If you have to do s–t in the dark of night in secret, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.”
Matthew Roth, the Sargent of Arms for the RCRCC, opened the Thursday meeting in the Ravalli County Commissioners’ meeting room. He stated that, following repeated failed attempts to urge RCRCC leadership to organize the meeting had gone unanswered, 23 members of the Central Committee had decided to move forward with their obligations to name replacement candidates.
“This constitutes a majority of members of our Central Committee,” he said. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is a lawful meeting per Montana State Code and our bylaws.”
Following RCRCC bylaws, those in attendance ultimately voted to send the names of Michele Binkley, Wayne Rusk and Terry Nelson to the county commissioners. Both Binkley and Rusk have served as House Representatives in the past, but failed to win their respective 2024 primaries.
The following day, and prior to the next meeting, Tyler Newcombe, Executive Director of the MT GOP, sent an email to RCRCC leadership informing them that the previous night’s meeting would not be recognized by the Montana Republican Party. The email spelled out the GOP’s hope for the emergency meeting, as well as a recommended procedure for selection of the three candidates. A copy of the email, obtained by the Bitterroot Star, also shows the GOP’s desire to limit outside exposure:
“It is our desire to have this meeting be closed so we can avoid having the media there or other parties outside of our organization,” states the email, in part. “Due to open meeting laws, this will not be possible at the location we have determined if the county commissioners are present for the meeting. We therefore request they do not attend.”
However, at the start of the Friday meeting, Newcombe, who was in attendance, asked Secretary Penny Howe to scrap the paragraph before reading the message aloud. Newcombe did not respond to a request for comment by publication date.
The heavily attended meeting began with finalization of the selection process. An early point of contention emerged surrounding allowance of proxy voting, something requested by members the previous night who feared they’d be unable to attend the next day’s meeting. Doug Bohn stated that the allowance of voting by proxy should be struck, leading to a careful examination of RCRCC bylaws between Bohn and Matthew Roth. Chairman Ron Stoltz ultimately agreed to allow it.
Sen. Theresa Manzella failed to convince the room of a motion for open-voting rather than private. She said that open-voting is done in the legislature and that Ravalli County citizens “have already cast their votes for certain people and against certain people. And some of those people that they have cast votes against, I’m sure will be nominated tonight.”
Manzella’s motion was put to a verbal vote, which exposed overwhelming opposition. Nonetheless, executive members declined to accept the verbal outcome and instead put the motion to a roll-call vote. Those opposed to the open-vote numbered 27, with 12 in favor.
Another failed motion by Rep. Kathy Love would have required that each candidate be voted for individually, rather than each member submitting a written list with their three preferred candidates. This motion caused audible grumbling and fear of unnecessary confusion by some.
It was the formal motion made by Ryan Roth, who suggested adopting the simple procedure as laid out by Tyler Newcombe, and that the voting begin “forthwith,” which ultimately succeeded and set the selection process in motion.
In total, six individuals were nominated by those in attendance on Friday. To the list of three from the evening prior, Kim Dailey, Bill Lussenheide and Robert Wallace’s names were added.
Doug Bohn, in his supportive speech in favor of Bill Lussenheide, went on to, in his own words, address the elephant in the room, and shine a light on the deep division within the RCRCC and the ongoing assertion that some members are RINOs (Republicans in Name Only).
“There are individuals in here making nominations that refuse to support the Republican platform,” he said. “I wish to remind you that this is a meeting hosted by the Montana GOP, which is a Republican organization. You are sitting amongst central committee members that ran as Republicans that are Republicans. And there is also a segment that are not. They simply refuse to support the basic principles of the Montana GOP platform.”
Each of the six candidates was given a chance to speak before blank papers were distributed to all voting members with the instructions to clearly mark their three preferred candidates. Similar to the night prior, Wayne Rusk, Michele Binkley and Terry Nelson were selected. Their names were forwarded to the county commissioners for final decision.
Ultimately, at a meeting on Monday, March 10, the County Commissioners unanimously chose to appoint Terry Nelson as Marshall’s replacement.