More than 200 protesters lined Meridian Road in Kalispell on Oct. 11 during a speech by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who was in Montana campaigning for Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill.
Protesters gathered outside the Flathead County Fairgrounds around 4 p.m., roughly an hour before a Hill fundraiser began inside the fairgrounds. The Flathead Area Central Labor Council and its president, Mike Thiel, organized the protest.
“I sent a three- or four-sentence email out on Saturday and here is the result,” Thiel said, gesturing to the crowd of protesters.
Walker was elected in 2010 and gained national attention the following year when he proposed a bill that changed the collective bargaining process for most public employees. The bill led to protests in Wisconsin and a recall election in June of this year. Walker survived the recall with 53 percent of the vote.
Thursday’s protest attracted union members from across the state, including a bus full of protesters from Missoula. Al Ekblad, executive secretary of the Montana State American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), said bringing Walker to Montana was insulting and that if elected Hill would be no different.
“You can tell a lot about a person by the company he keeps and workers should be scared,” he said. “Scott Walker is probably the worse government can offer.”
Democratic candidate Steve Bullock was also in the Flathead on Thursday, making a campaign stop at the headquarters of Zinc Air in Columbia Falls.