Katie Brown, Gubernatorial Candidate Roy Brown’s daughter has entered the blogging world over at Montana is Going Brown.
Ignoring the interesting choice of names for a blog, her approach seems pretty unique in that it is not overtly political but takes more of a human approach to this game we call politics. She’s quite adept with a camera and has even uploaded a video or two.
It’s worth a read if you’re interested in the people behind a campaign instead of just the cold hard issues. I think she’s doing a great job of giving her dad a softer side - now if Brown would just embrace the energy background and promise to develop Montana’s Resources… use the money to pay teachers better, expand the Pov, fund SCHIP… but let’s get that stuff out of the ground so it can contribute to a solution.
For this blogger, at least, Big Oil Roy is about as high a compliment as can be paid - especially when juxtaposed with Big Tree-Hugger Brian.
Rep Sonju from Kalispell had this editorial in the Missoulian about energy policy. It’s clear-thinking like this that makes Republicans so much better on energy policy than environmentalist-beholden Democrats - and it’s the main reason I’m so excited about soon-to-be Governor Roy Brown. He’s got a resume in the energy industry and he’s not in the pocket of the tree-hugger lobby that have been fighting for higher energy prices for decades.
Instead of short-sighted tax-policy fixes, Congress should instead be looking to a comprehensive energy policy. That policy absolutely needs to have alternative energy as a major part of the mix. It also needs to encourage ongoing conservation efforts. But the only near-term component of that comprehensive policy that can alleviate the current high energy costs is to increase the supply of readily-available energy n the proposed punitive tax-code changes actually would work against that. The obvious solution to our energy problems is to increase the ability of American companies to produce more energy.
The problem is, a lot of conservatives are acting like spoiled children who didn’t get to play with their favorite toy and so don’t want to play with any toy at all. In 2006, Montana voters foolishly replaced Burns with Tester - and in doing so handed the reigns of the United States Senate to Harry Reid and the drill-nothing Democrats. The Democrat Majority may be around for awhile, and if so, you can count on more of the bad policies that Sonju describes - increasing taxes while decreasing domestic supplies.
On the other hand, I think energy policy is quickly vaulting to the forefront of political relevance - up there with security - and unless the Democrats start separating themselves from the powerful environmental lobby, they could find themselves back in the minority in 2010.
With money tight, and everything costing more these days, I think November might find a lot of people voting on energy prices. And if that’s the case, more solutions is a lot better than the limited solutions approved by tree-huggers. Drill, drill, drill!
Lamnidae makes an interesting point about Roy Brown asking for debates from Hollywood Brian Schweitzer. Brown asked for 18 debates - and Lamnidae wondered why he didn’t ask for more.
She’s got a point. 18 is a pretty arbitrary number.
But then, so is five - the number of debates that Schweitzer countered with. One could just as easy ask, why five debate? Why not one? Or zero?
I will say this. For the voter, more debates are better. Debates flush out issues, focus the campaign on stated positions and allow people to make literal side-by-side judgments of the candidates. While I understand the impetuous impetus of an incumbent to deny their opponent a stage from which to boost name recognition, it’s usually not something they brag about and asking for more debates is usually not something that is considered smart ground for an attack.
The suggestion that poor Schweitzer just can’t fit it into his busy schedule is also pretty ridiculous considering he’s raising campaign money in San Francisco, New York or some other state almost every weekend.
Schweitzer is feeling the heat: two non-races at the federal level that were supposed to grab the headlines evaporated and now he finds his race - and his worthy opponent - the big ticket race in the state. He’s never been challenged by the media so the prospect of having to explain his policies in a hostile environment has got to be daunting. I’d be a little nervous to debate Roy Brown too - especially considering the focus on energy policy (drill, drill, drill!).
Consequently, remember in The West Wing when liberal paragon Jed Bartlett wanted more debates and it was his challenger that fought for fewer? Interesting how the liberal writers of that show suggest that debating less is somehow a platform of conservatives and not of incumbents from both parties.
While the Drill-Nothing Democrats celebrate the increased use of public transit “across Montana” (well, at least in the cities that have public transit - if you live in rural Montana where you have to drive further anyway, you’re out of luck), gas prices in Montana hit an ugly milestone on Friday when the average cost of a gallon of gasoline hit $4. While all those working class Montanans are feeling the pain, our elected Drill-Nothing Democrats in the Senate, Tester and Baucus, are actually voting to increase the taxes on energy while the “Energy Governor” continues to attack his opponent for actually having some personal experience in the Energy Industry. Meanwhile, wannabe representative Driscoll, the Democrat’s nominee to challenge Rehberg wants to create an electric train system for everyone to ride.
So while Democrats square dance between the environmentalists whose money got them elected and the working class they claimed to defend, Republican Denny Rehberg actually makes some sense.
I’m blatantly stealing Jay’s post title because it’s one of the big reasons I think we need someone like Roy Brown in office. I’ve frankly had enough of the “Drill-Nothing Democrats” who bitch and moan when gas prices are low, secretly celebrate when they are high and bend over backwards to block every single attempt to develop domestic oil that is proposed. Jay says:
Drilling in Montana or Alaska or wherever won’t make much of a dent on the world’s oil prices, and it won’t make any difference at the gas pump. The economic situation is fairly simple. The growth of world demand for oil is outpacing the growth of supply. Eventually, supply will decrease.
And Jay’s right. No single drill is going to make a difference. It shouldn’t be Montana or Alaska. It should be Montana and Alaska - as just a smalll part of a national effort to develop the tremendous resources we have in Texas, Alaska, Montana, North Dakota off-shore and elsewhere. That strategy will increase the supply while the research and development into efficient alternatives and eventually non-fossil alternatives continues. The fact is, drilling and alternatives are not zero-sum and it’s absolutely idiotic that Democrats continue to prevent the exploitation of our own resources.
I’m a bit worked up, since I just filled my gas tank again. This is a problem the Democrats have been making for years, and for this Montana voter, Roy Browns ties to the energy industry are a plus on his CV, not a minus. It’s time to get the tree-huggers the hell out of Helena and Washington.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard of Project Vote Smart, a non-partisan clearinghouse for political candidates’ views and positions on issues. This nationally recognized and appreciated source is based right here in Philipsburg, Montana.
According to a 2007 Pew Research Institute Study (cited in Congressman Rehberg’s Op-Ed at MTPolitics), more and more people are using the internet to research where candidates stand on the issues that are important to them. Viewing issue statements on official or political websites run by the candidates is useful to a certain extent, acknowledging that no intelligent candidate is going to include controversial positions and that they’ll always shade things to favor their views. That’s where a non-partisan clearinghouse of issues like Project Vote Smart plays a unique and important role in our democracy. They ask all candidates the same questions and standardize their responses for fair comparisons on the issues that matter. It’s a monumental undertaking:
Picture this: thousands of citizens (conservative and liberal alike) working together, spending endless hours researching the backgrounds and records of thousands of political candidates and elected officials to discover their voting records, campaign contributions, public statements, biographical data (including their work history) and evaluations of them generated by over 100 competing special interest groups. Every election these volunteers test each candidate’s willingness to provide citizens with their positions on the issues they will most likely face if elected through the Political Courage Test. (emphasis added)
Congressman Denny Rehberg and Gubernatorial Candidate Roy Brown - both Republicans - completed the Political Courage Test. They answered the survey and put their views out there in the public sphere. They have nothing to hide.
Max Baucus, Brian Schweitzer and Jim Hunt - the big ticket Democrats in 2008 - chose to ignore the survey. Montana Democrats have claimed over and over again that this election should be about issues. They have have made a habit of misrepresenting Republican views these issues. So why are they so afraid of telling Montanans where they stand on those issues that they claim are so vital? This is especially insulting since Project Vote Smart is based in Montana so the Political Courage Test is literally coming from the constituents these candidates hope to represent.
Why does it matter? Project Vote Smart has this to say:
At a time when Americans are increasingly frustrated with the attack advertising and empty rhetoric of many campaigns, the need for this relevant information has never been greater. The public integrity of candidates and the quality of their campaigns can be viewed, in part, as a measurement of their willingness to provide their prospective employers (voters) with this information during a campaign, the point when voters need the most help and when the candidates are asking for their vote.
Join me in urging Senator Baucus, Governor Schweitzer and Seventh String Hunt to answer the questions posed to them by Montanans about where they stand on the issues that matter. There’s just no excuse for not putting their views out there for public discussion.
As a general rule, when an elected official introduces legislation, they almost never call it something bad. If they could get away with it, I’m sure every bill would be called the “Happiness, Puppies and Children Act.” Of course, the devil is always in the thousands of pages of actionable legislation behind the frou-frou title.
Now, Democrats have gotten really good at using bill nomenclature to set up Heisman Votes. Sometimes, they even trick themselves. And here are three examples from recent history.
Seriously, props to Jay Stevens for the national attention. It must be exhilarating to get that kind of recognition. I mean, to have Howard Dean - Mr. Montana himself - recognize the hard work of being a lefty blogger along with 49 other official state blogs (sucks to be in states 51-57 I guess) has got to be exciting. I’m sure Dean is a regular reader - you can tell from the way his statement doesn’t seem scripted at all. I wonder if it was the 49th or the 50th one he did that day.
I mean getting a shout out of national significance - from an important place like Washington, DC, the home of Senator Max Baucus, Mr. BMW himself, is a remarkable accomplishment, so well done.
Of course, to share in your celebration we’ll all forget that we know that national Democrat Leaders will say anything to dupe Montanans into supporting them.
I guess we’ll just have to settle for the insignificant opinions of actual Montanans like Congressman Denny Rehberg and Gubernatorial Candidate Roy Brown. Ooooh the sour grapes taste awful!
Roy Brown wrote an Op-Ed over at Montana Headlines.
Unfortunately, Governor Brian Schweitzer is among those who support this federal power-grab, despite all the problems it creates in Montana. He’s taken the side of extreme environmental groups who contend that the federal government should apply the standards of the Clean Water Act to all waters in Montana, from our major rivers on down to stock ponds and irrigation ditches.
Speaking of taxes, turns out Montana’s businesses are paying more than the national average in taxes. Montana Main Street Blog has the scoop:
1. State taxes paid by businesses in Montana (45% share) are higher than the national average (39.9% share).
2. Local taxes paid by businesses in Montana (66.5% share) are higher than the national average (50.5%).
3. The amount of state and local taxes paid by businesses in Montana as a percentage of the Gross State Product (6.5%) is higher than the national average (5%).
4. The total change in business share of the tax growth in Montana (55.6%) is higher than the national average (45.8%).
Of course those taxes are ultimately paid by the consumer - you. There’s more so go read it. And then think about supporting Roy Brown.
Lamnidae makes an 
