(Pt. 2) How Montana took on the federal government, big telecom--and won.

I wrote on Friday about the federal government’s giveaway to big telecom companies. Saturday marked the two year anniversary since Trump’s Federal Communications Commission led the charge to repeal net neutrality.

(Read Part I of the series here)

Everything about our access to information and broadband service stood to get worse. Dozens of state attorneys general leapt to action, taking the federal government to court to stop the end of net neutrality.

Here in Montana, our Attorney General did nothing.

Montana’s lawyer, our advocate, refused to stand up to an out of control federal government. It was wrong. So we decided to act. Governor Bullock asked me to look into whether we could do anything.

We found a solution. At the Governor’s direction, I drafted an executive order that said any company that wants to sell internet to the State of Montana would have to agree to provide net neutrality to everyone else they sell to in our state. In short, if you want taxpayer business, you’ve got to give everyone else in Montana net neutrality, too.

We did the research, the legal review, and got the order ready. When the Governor signed it, it was the first response like it in the country. And we didn’t stop there.

We wrote a template so that other states could do exactly as we had. Within a week, states like New York and New Jersey had adopted executive orders protecting their citizens--based on the template we built here in Montana!

Two years later, the order is working. Companies have agreed to give Montanans the same protections they enjoyed before the federal giveaway and repeal of net neutrality. Our access to information is secure because of it.

I’m proud of what we did--standing up, and leading, where others wouldn’t. It shows how ingenuity with the law can make a real difference in our lives, and the difference between advocacy and passive leadership.

I’m running for Attorney General because we need an advocate who stands up for us. Sophisticated forces are working to limit our choices, go after our privacy, and take money from our wallets. We’re supposed to have an advocate in the Attorney General. Without a change in leadership, we won’t get that advocate.

Learn more about the efforts by big telecom companies to change the internet here: https://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/broadband-providers-are-quietly-taking-advantage-of-an-internet-without-net-neutrality-protections/

Thank you for reading. I hope to earn your support and the chance to be your advocate.

-Raph Graybill