Rep. McGillvray to Employers: “Go Away!”

Why is Montana’s House Republican Leader telling businesses to leave Montana? Good question.

Rep. Tom McGillvray, a financial advisor from Billings, recently told his colleagues in the House that he “advised three clients in the last year to move to Wyoming.”

“Representative McGillvray’s comments show that his party isn’t concerned with bringing jobs to Montana and improving the lives of its people, said Ted Dick, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party. The contrast between the two parties couldn’t be clearer. Our Democratic Governor is working hard to bring new businesses to the state, while the Republican Leader is urging businesses to stay out. Only one of these strategies is going to continue to move Montana’s economy forward. It’s time that Rep. McGillvray and the Republican Party follow Governor Schweitzer’s lead on jobs and the economy.”

Rep. McGillvray’s comments come a little more than a month after Governor Schweitzer explained his commitment to bringing new jobs to Montana, when he told other western governors, “My advice to new governors is if they see me getting off a plane in their state, they need to have me arrested. Because I’m coming to get their jobs.”

Rep. McGillvray’s comments also fly in the face of recent economic assessments of the business climate in the state. The US Chamber of Commerce and National Chamber Foundation recently rated Montana as the #1 state for entrepreneurship and overall business start-up activity.