NEW: Maryland Matt Rosendale Claims To Be A “Rancher” But Never Owned Any Cattle

A new report from TPM details how Maryland Matt Rosendale – who moved to Montana to launch his political career – has called himself a rancher for years, but “never actually ranched the land himself, instead renting it out for others to farm and run their cattle on” and “the higher the office he’s run for, the more he’s talked up his supposed ranching experience.”

Over the last few months, Maryland Matt has earned scrutiny for misleading Montanans. The Helena Independent Record reported on how Rosendale signed documents under penalty of perjury to receive a tax break as a Maryland resident, despite serving in the Montana legislature and claiming to be a Montana resident at the time.

“This is the latest in a series of reports that underscore how Maryland Matt Rosendale doesn’t tell the truth,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Spokesman David Bergstein. “Maryland Matt can try to dress himself up like a rancher, but voters see him for what he really is: a typical politician who will do and say whatever it takes to put himself first.”

TPM: Montana GOP Senate Candidate’s Claims To Be A Rancher Are Partly Bull
By Cameron Joseph

• When a local radio host asked Montana Senate candidate Matt Rosendale what differentiated him from the other GOP candidates earlier this year, he had a quick response. “Piece of cake. Rancher,” he told radio host Aaron Flint in January. “I’m a businessman. I’m a former legislator, and I’m an executive. And I’ve been very effective in each one of those positions.”
• But his rancher claim appears to be all hat, no cattle.
• Rosendale, the 57-year-old GOP frontrunner to face Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), has made ranching a central part of his image as he looks to win his June 5 primary and unseat the two-term senator. He regularly peppers his campaign pitch with folksy references to his work on the ranch as a way to prove his authentic connections to the state and inoculate himself against attacks that the Maryland native is a carpetbagger.
• But public records and his own past statements indicate the longtime real estate developer never actually ranched his land himself, instead renting it out for others to farm and run their cattle on. And the higher the office he’s run for, the more he’s talked up his supposed ranching experience.
• That could be a problem for Rosendale as he looks to hang on for a primary victory next week, as his top primary opponent, former Judge Russ Fagg (R), has repeatedly questioned his roots in the state. “Matt Rosendale may describe himself as a rancher, but I haven’t met many ranchers who were wealthy east coast real-estate developers until they were 40 years old,” Fagg said in a statement to TPM when asked about Rosendale’s ranching credentials.
• His ranching credentials could be an issue if he squares off against Tester in the fall.
• Rosendale moved from Maryland to a Glendive, Montana ranch in 2002 after a successful career in real estate, and still speaks in a heavy Maryland accent. Not too long after he moved to the state he began running for office.
• During that time and especially in his latest campaign, he’s leaned hard into his rancher persona — while at times avoiding mention of his years as an elected official or discussing his decades in real estate… Rosendale has always talked up his Montana ranch connections as a candidate, but he’s done so with increasing force as he’s run for higher office.
• That includes his own job description on official campaign paperwork. In 2010 and 2012, Rosendale listed himself as “real estate developer” on his official candidate disclosure forms. In 2016, he listed “ranching and real estate development.”
• According to an open records report from the Montana Department Of Revenue conducted for the liberal group American Bridge, Rosendale hasn’t registered ownership of any livestock since 2011 — and before then it was limited to a few horses. It appears that he’s never owned any cattle. He similarly received a registered livestock brand when he bought his $2.2 million ranch in 2002, but let that lapse when it expired in 2011, and it doesn’t appear that he ever used it.
• It seems like leasing out his land been a longstanding arrangement… That didn’t stop him from posing in front of cows and a red barn while wearing a barn jacket — the universal symbol for candidates trying to project folksy authenticity — in his latest campaign ad attacking Tester for opposing the GOP tax cuts.
• It’s unclear whether Rosendale shot his latest ad on his property or elsewhere, or whose cows appear in the ad. His campaign refused to respond to a series of questions about that, whether he’s owned any livestock, why he started describing himself as a rancher in official paperwork after leaving that off in earlier years.
• This campaign isn’t the first time people have questioned whether he’s an authentic rancher.

Read the full article here.