I have an idea to keep a scorecard of our Montana
legislators this session. Not that I intend to be fair and balanced, since my admittedly-biased
intent is to analyze the compromised nature of these elected beasts of burden that
we insist on overloading with power using broken-down pack saddles and
half-assed diamond hitches. That said, I think every multi-generational
Montanan can admit that elephants are harder to pack than donkeys, but more on
the elephants and half-assed diamond hitches in a minute.
As we all know, there are more than a couple ways to
analyze hypocrisy. Even those who vehemently believe Obama was born on another
planet cannot deny this basic fact. But when you’re talking about 21st
century elephants and what comes out of them, it becomes harder than some are
willing to work, which is probably why there’s such a vacuum of media coverage
on the subject. Not that it’s hard to find examples of glaring
conflict-of-interest, venality and slave-state interpretations of the
Constitution in our legislators’ portfolios. What’s hard is that the examples
are legion, sometimes arcane, and the vectors intersect from multiple
directions emanating out of the black hole just to the Far Right of Attila, which
means they come predominantly from Montana Republican legislators dutifully following
their state party platform (*). From corporate media’s point of view, this
means that the kind of in-depth coverage citizens need in order to know what’s
going on is too confusing to fit into one pre-packaged sound bite and therefore
does not sell product. It also means that, since the sordid (and sadly true)
tale predominantly paints individual Republicans as the Dark Perpetrators of
Naughtiness, the tale is therefore not “fair and balanced”. But as I hope the
incomplete compilation below indicates, nobody to the Right of Attila is trying
to hide who threw the gauntlet of corruption down anymore. So why should We The
Taxpayers be shy about picking it up and accepting the challenge full on? Therefore I’ll claim the mantle of the former
torpedoman I once was several lives ago and say, “Damn the Fair and Balanced!
Full speed ahead!”
This is a partial list (**), but I hope it’s a decent
start. Most of this information is available on other sites; I just thought it
was worth the effort to compile it all in one place and for one core reason—to
foster Good Government by constantly exposing blatant corruption.
For simplicity—which I love—I calibrated my
corruption-o-meter with a bat-crap decoder key to track three vectors:
·
A.L.E.C. for venality
and conflict of interest.
·
Federal
farm subsidies for hypocrisy.
·
Over-the-top
teabaggery, in which classification I added Gun Love, for
members of the Friends of Jeff Davis Club.
A.L.E.C.
I won’t go into an in-depth explanation of who
A.L.E.C. (American Legislative Exchange Council) is. You can get that
information here: http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed and you
should. But consider the following baseline distillation:
·
A.L.E.C. buys elected officials. There’s no other
word for it. Out of approximately 8300 state and national elected officials in
the U.S., A.L.E.C. boasts of having 2000 of them in their corporate pockets,
including at least 24 Montana legislators. They buy them for the price of a
steak dinner and a plane ticket (what A.L.E.C. calls a junket “scholarship”).
Using Montana’s official state language—English—this practice can easily be
defined as accepting a “bribe”, or, if you choose not to be fair and balanced,
a “kickback”.
·
A.L.E.C. is a super-funded bill-mill massively
underwritten by mega-corporations who are, in Montana’s case, almost
exclusively out-of-state and often out-of-country.
·
A.L.E.C.’s corporate partners, many of whom—again--are
from other countries, write “model bills” and hand them to their pet
legislators who, in turn, introduce them into their own state legislatures as their
own ideas. Oftentimes these A.L.E.C. bills are boilerplates of
corporate-written legalese that, if one wants to indulge their worst real
fears, could have originated in Saudi Arabia, Israel or Dubai.
·
A.L.E.C. boasts that through this Machiavellian mechanism, which really needs to be studied to be believed, their pet legislators have
introduced about 1000 A.L.E.C.-originated bills a year, legion of which are now
state and federal law.
Out of 150 Montana legislators, 25 are demonstrable
A.L.E.C. pets—ALL OF THEM REPUBLICAN. This does not include the many former
legislators who are also rattling around in the A.L.E.C. moneybag, including
two newly elected Public Service Commission (PSC) members—Bob Lake and Roger
Koopman, and the Montana Supreme Court justice—Jim Rice. For context: remember
that American Traditions Partnership (ATP) case that overturned 100 years of
Montana anti-corruption law and allowed $500,000 to magically-appear in Rick
Hill’s campaign account? Jim Rice was the swing vote on that one. As for the
PSC, they’ve just announced that they will refuse to pursue alternative energy
sources. Given that A.L.E.C. is predominantly funded by energy giants like Exxon
and Koch Industries, this can be considered a magical event, too. N’est pas?
(***)
Farm
Subsidies
Thirty years of Reagan-epoch Tax Warrior doctrine now floats tepidly within the confines of the Styrofoam teacups many of our
Republican legislators proudly sip from. This doctrine demands that federal
government entitlements and subsidies are BAD when given to THOSE PEOPLE.
Little is said by these same tea sippers about the vast amounts of sublime subsidies
emanating from the same supposedly evil federal government received by THEM.
19 of our Montana legislators, ALL REPBULICANS,
including 7 who are also on the A.L.E.C. pet list, received a total of
$6,521,900 in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2009 (****). Using simple (and therefore unfair) math, if
we divide six million-plus by 19 we come up with about $25,000 a year per
legislator who chooses the political party whose winner-take-all philosophy
targets those making less than that per year for economic and corporeal
extinction. I didn’t include the two Democrats, who received a combined $6,000,
because it’s not a point of faith among their crowd to castigate THOSE people
for taking OUR money. Again using Montana’s official state language, we can
define this type of phenomenon by a couple of word choices—“hypocrisy” or
“magic”. In the interest of kindness, I will use both.
Over-the-top
Teabaggery
Again in the interest of kindness, I’ve only included
nine in this category--so far. They made the cut for their recent demonstrations
and utterings supporting pre-Civil-War concepts on states’ rights such as
“coordination” and “jury nullification”, N.R.A. talking-points opposing gun
control, and anti-science stances related to global warming and evolution. I
know there are many more (sigh). But what I want to emphasize here is that all
of the above craziness is vetted, approved and promoted by those pesky
out-of-state and out-of-country mega-corporations through their A.L.E.C. ties
that bind.
So--
drumroll please. The winners are—so far:
Sen. Jeff Essmann (R-Billings) A.L.E.C. Junket participant
Rep. Mark Blasdel (R- Somers) A.L.E.C. Education Task Force
Has introduced
A.L.E.C. boilerplate bill(s) in past sessions
Sen. Elsie Arntzen (R-Billings) A.L.E.C. Commerce, Insurance and
Economic Development
Task
Force
Rep. Liz Bangerter (R-Helena) Health and Human Services Task Force
Sen. Dee Brown (R-Hungry
Horse) A.L.E.C. junket
participant
Rep. David Howard (R-Park City)
A.L.E.C. Civil Justice Task Force
Opined more
guns in schools right after Sandy hook http://mtcowgirl.com/2012/12/19/gop-lawmaker-wants-more-guns-in-schools/
Sen. Llew Jones (R- Conrad) A.L.E.C. Communications and Technology
Task Force
$609,508
federal farm subsidy
Sen. Krayton Kerns (R-Laurel) A.L.E.C.
bill 2011 to Generally nullify Environmental Protection Agency directives
N.R.A. bills to
legalize the use of silencers out in the woods 2011-13 and HB 228 (Castle
Doctrine) 2009
Rep. Roy Hollandsworth A.L.E.C. Energy, Environment and
Agriculture Task Force
(R-Brady) $80,675 federal farm subsidy
Rep. Steve Lavin (R-Kalispell) A.L.E.C.
Public Safety and Elections Task Force
Rep. Mike Miller (R-Helmville) A.L.E.C. member
Rep. Jesse O’Hara (R-Great Falls) A.L.E.C. Commerce, Insurance and
Economic Development Task Force
Rep. Lee Randall (R- Broadus) A.L.E.C.
Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
$507,674 federal farm subsidy
Rep. Wendy Warburton A.L.E.C.
Energy, Environment and
Agriculture Task Force
(R-Helena)
Rep. Cary Smith (R-Billings) A.L.E.C. Junket participant
Rep. Ted Washburn Has
introduced A.L.E.C. boilerplate bill(s) in past sessions
(R- Bozeman)
Rep. Scott Reichner A.L.E.C.
Communications and Technology Task Force
(R- Bigfork) Has
introduced A.L.E.C. boilerplate bill(s) in past sessions
Sen. Jason Priest (R- Red Lodge) A.L.E.C.
Boilerplate, 2011 resolution to prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse
gases.
Rep. Pat Connell (R-Darby) Has introduced A.L.E.C. boilerplate
bill(s) in past sessions
Rep. Tom Berry (R-Roundup) Has introduced A.L.E.C. boilerplate
bill(s) in past sessions
$2,819
federal farm subsidy
Rep. Jeff Welborn
(R-Dillon) Has introduced
A.L.E.C. boilerplate bill(s) in past sessions
$972
federal farm subsidy
Sen. Jon Sonju (R-Kalispell) Has introduced A.L.E.C. boilerplate bill(s) in past sessions
Sen. Rick Ripley ALEC
junket participant
(R- Wolf Creek) $89,847 federal
farm subsidy
Sen. Debbie Barrett (R-Dillon) ALEC junket
participant
$123,378 federal farm subsidy
Sen. Ron Arthun (R-Wilsall) $213,800 federal farm subsidy
Sen. John Brenden (R-Scobey) $497,291 federal farm subsidy
Sen. Taylor Brown (R-
Huntley) $473,560 federal
farm subsidy
Rep. Christy Clark
(R-Choteau) $122,287 federal
farm subsidy
Rep. Austin Knudsen $705,941 federal
farm subsidy
(R- Culbertson)
Sen. Terry Murphy (R-
Cardwell) $188,427 federal farm subsidy
Rep. Keith Regier (R-
Kalispell) $380,160 federal
farm subsidy
Sen. Matthew Rosendale $1,083 federal farm subsidy
(R-Glendive)
Rep. Daniel Salomon (R- Ronan) $223,865 federal
farm subsidy
Sen. Janna Taylor (R- Dayton) $1,017,491 federal farm subsidy
Sen. Bruce Tutveldt $643,063 federal
farm subsidy
(R- Kalispell)
Sen. Jim Peterson (R-
Buffalo) $637,547 federal
farm subsidy
HB
549, 2011, "Code of the West"
Rep. Nancy Ballance
(R-Victor) County-supremacy/”Coordination”
proponent
Ravalli
Co. Tea Party Patriots member
Citizens for
Excellence in Education member http://billlacroix.blogspot.com/2012/01/is-world-flat-or-round_1016.html
Sen(!) Scott Boulanger County-supremacy/”Coordination”
proponent
(R- Darby) Advocate
for privatizing public game herds/lands http://billlacroix.blogspot.com/2012/12/privatized-venison-anyone.html
Rep. Clayton Fiscus (R-Billings) Introduced Creationism bill LC 0599
Sen. Dave Lewis (R-Helena) Introduced SJ 2 in 2011 for MT to
withdraw from UN
Rep. Jesse O’Neil Requested
to be paid in gold while advocating for a return to
(R- Columbia Falls) pre-1913
elections when seats were honestly bought up-front
Sen. Fred Thomas Good God!!
(R- Stevensville)
Rep. Champ Edmonds Reknowned for being to the right of Atilla (*****)
(R- Missoula) Recent gun apologia letter-to-editor after Sandy Hook
(R- Missoula) Recent gun apologia letter-to-editor after Sandy Hook
Rep. Alan Doane (R- Bloomfield) “Encourage
manufacture of ammunition in Montana to ensure availability.”
Sen. Vernall Jackson Introduced bills to allow legislators to pack
heat on the house and
(R-Kalispell) senate floor 2011/2013
ALEC junket participant
Conclusion
This is an incomplete list. It’s certain that, as
the session moves forward, more will surface and make the cut. But just on this
preliminary and (I feel) honestly attempted count alone, out of 150 total
Montana legislators, a full 45 of them—ALL REPUBLICANS—make my list so far.
That’s exactly half-of the 90 sitting Republican legislators who have
demonstrably-compromised themselves. So far.
If traditional, Lincolnesque Republicans really want
to clean up the mess the Tea Party has made of their organization, they know
where to start. Equally, if traditional good-government Democrats really want
to put the public heat on cleaning up our horribly corrupt political system to
the point where it represents real, unincorporated people again, I suggest they start in the same place.
In the interest of Kindness, that’s what I would call
true bi-partisanship.
(**) Over a dozen state legislators owe their
seats to American Traditions Partnership (ATP). I don’t have corroboration on
all the names, but as I get them I will post them. For now, keep Ballance’s and
Thomas’ campaigns in mind and check out Montana Cowgirl’s related post: http://mtcowgirl.com/2013/01/08/bullock-on-national-radar/
(****)http://www.thepolicyinstitute.org/web_report.pdf http://farm.ewg.org/region.php?fips=30000
(*****) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/10/1177571/-MT-Sen-Champ-Edmunds-R-So-Far-Might-Be-The-Craziest-Candidate-Of-The-2014-Election-Cycle
(*****) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/10/1177571/-MT-Sen-Champ-Edmunds-R-So-Far-Might-Be-The-Craziest-Candidate-Of-The-2014-Election-Cycle
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