Call a special session, Steve

Ten percent budget cuts to Montana state government are a ridiculous solution to a manufactured problem. But somehow, Montana’s budget crisis is nobody’s fault. According to recent news reports, perhaps the current budget disaster is attributable to overly optimistic miscalculations on the part of the legislative fiscal division.  Or maybe it’s inaccurate national economic data.  Perhaps the wealthy are waiting to pay taxes on certain kinds of income until they see what national tax policy is going to look like.

I call bull.

The problem is simple:  the Republican majority in the 2017 state legislature refused to acknowledge that Montana’s revenue forecasts were down, and thus ignored a legitimate need to increase taxes and fees to cover necessary services. But, they also didn’t want to take political responsibility for cutting those services.  So, by adopting a revenue and economic growth forecast that was at best pie-in-the-sky, and tossing the budgetary hot potato to the executive branch, we now have a crisis.

Sadly, those who suffer will not be the beneficiaries of the popular but illusory “fat in the budget,” it will be Montana’s most poor and vulnerable.   The republicans get their long-awaited opportunity to shrink government to their ideal level of being able to be drowned in a bathtub, but at the same time point their fingers at Governor Steve Bullock and the Democratic executive branch for having to do the dirty work of implementing budget cuts that will directly hurt many Montanans.

Re-rewriting history

Detail of the Confederate Memorial Fountain

As the state of Montana chokes on forest fires, the hottest local controversy in Helena is the removal of the Confederate Memorial Fountain from Hill Park.

Initially, I was in a position similar to many Helenans; I disagreed with the racist past that such a monument represented, but acknowledged that Helena was settled by Civil War survivors from both the north and south; our local geography runs from Unionville to Confederate Gulch.  The debate felt like a tempest in a teapot.

But then, I took another look at the issue, and realized that the intent of the fountain was not really about beautifying the city or creating a memorial to fallen soldiers.  It originally was part of a larger, nationwide attempt to rewrite history.

Welcome

Welcome to a freewheeling discussion of local, state, and national politics from a progressive Big Sky perspective. It’s important to watch the bull and avoid stepping in you-know-what — until it’s time to clean up the mess, when you have to pull on your boots, grab the tools for the job, and get to work.

The political world is not that different from rural life; without scrutiny, there are a lot of messes created by creatures oblivious to the havoc they cause, and not nearly enough people willing to keep an eye on things and do cleanup when needed.  But the beauty of our First Amendment is that in an appropriate time, place and manner, we can speak out and seek redress of grievances.   I speak from my Montana heart and with a liberal perspective. Enjoy!

Now he's giving riding lessons?

Oh dear…  More to come on this topic… And Ryan, you also have your hat on backwards…

Larry Mayer/Billings Gazette via AP

The rear view. I rest my case.

Source: Zinke’s Silver Bullet Horse Ride, Ooops…Lead Bullet

Politicians and horse pucky

Are politicians familiar with horse manure? Or… are they full of — it?

Greg Gianforte, the tech billionaire who lost the 2016 Montana gubernatorial race  in a year that otherwise went well for the GOP, is well on his way to becoming a perpetual candidate as the Republican nominee for the May 25th special election to fill Ryan Zinke’s seat in Congress.  Sadly, like Zinke, Gianforte seems to think that he can put on a pseudo-western persona to win Montana votes.  So here is my plea to politicians: please do not fake it; most of us know the difference.

Here’s the Gianforte installment:  Following a 2016 Gianforte TV ad, the Montana AFL-CIO created the following image, comparing Gianforte’s clean new farm cleanup togs to those of Senator Jon Tester, who is from Big Sandy, Montana, photographed in his obviously-real work clothes.

Gianforte, originally from Pennsylvania by way of New Jersey, is posing in a horse corral with a shovel, implying, apparently, that he was going to clean up  . . . something.  Aside from the clean white shirt, there was one other problem: he didn’t have the right tool for the job. Gianforte was holding a small scoop shovel, usually used for heavy, loose material such as gravel — useless for horse manure.¹  Once again, a politician—or his PR team— waded into a subject where they . . . well . . . don’t know their equine excrement.

Under normal circumstances, this story would have ended with Gianforte’s loss last November.  Except he’s ba-a-a-ck, this time challenging Rob Quist.  Quist is a Cut Bank native and  University of Montana alum who lives up the Flathead, famous as a member of Montana’s iconic Mission Mountain Wood Band.