Big Sky Cairn

I harbor no great hopes for fair and balanced editorial control at the Billings Gazette. However, even for the Gazette, today’s letter by Jeff Simkovic is rare for its perfect combination of pointlessness, coupled with self-interest, and topped off with a political smear job.

My problems with the letter are two-fold. First, from a public policy standpoint, this letter puts forward no proposal. From the lead-in, one would imagine Mr. Simkovic is asking for assistance correcting some unspecified problem with certain Blackfeet housing units. Yet, less than 50 words after assailing Congress for inaction the author lets slip the reason why nothing has been done.

“Baucus’ office explained to us how Congress was procedurally unable to help…”

In absence of a clear policy motive it becomes apparent to me that this letter is nothing more than a cheap political hit against Denny Rehberg. Without going into any details, Mr. Simkovic feels comfortable lobbing the potshot; “Rehberg late to help with Blackfeet housing.” Although the letter refers to Congress as a whole, the Representative is singled out for inactivity.

Max is praised for his “real interest,” whatever the hell that means, while Senator Tester is not mentioned at all. The second part should seem a bit odd given that Senator Tester sits on the Indian Affairs panel. Although, I suppose when the point of the letter is a cheap smear details do not matter all that much.

Doing a bit of research, the details of the case Jeff Simkovic is talking about are complex. At issue is whether or not 8 individuals who received 1970s era housing units from the Blackfeet Housing Authority have standing to sue HUD and the tribal government over unsafe living conditions. In January, a judge in Great Falls ruled no, citing the sovereign immunity clause which shields entities such as the Blackfeet Housing from private lawsuits.

Mr. Simkovic has been working on this lawsuit for five years. He is understandable upset about losing a reliable fee. But to infer the Congressman doesn’t care about Natives is absurd.

The icing on the cake of this adventure in conjecture is the close.

“The only hope for the Blackfeet people living in these homes is the courts. The Blackfeet families who live in these homes are in no way responsible for these problems and have nowhere to go.”

Hope lies only in litigation when you are a trial lawyer. Why? Simple it is the only place where folks like Jim Hunt and Jeff Simkovic can make a buck. Despite rhetoric that Jim and Jeff are out looking for the little guy, they are only out to get their name in the paper and collect a fee. In biology they would probably be classified as parasites.