Big Sky Cairn

This summer, Gov. Brian Schweitzer boasted to a room full of trial lawyers that he had “turn[ed] some dials” to make sure that John Tester’s election to the U.S. Senate went off without a hitch.  These dials included threatening people with jail time and encouraging an election official in Butte to stall the release of Silver Bow County’s results to thwart a possible recount.  (MT Pundit has the transcript of the audio and a link to the clip itself.)

Since I vote in Butte, I wanted to know which election official Schweitzer was implicating in his antics.

In the speech, Schweitzer mentioned that the election official in question was a woman. He also referred to her as “the clerk”.  So, the evidence would suggest that he was referring to our top election official, Butte-Silver Bow County Clerk & Recorder, Mary McMahon.

Funny thing is that McMahon is more than just the clerk and recorder.  She’s also running for Chief Executive, the SBC equivalent of mayor (ps. this is a non-partisan race but this being Butte both candidates are probably Dems).

So the man who runs my state is boasting that he misused his power to prevent a messy recount and ensure a smooth assent for his fellow Democrat, and now the woman who could very well be running my city may have aided and abetted.  Great.

This situation drums up a lot of questions for me.

Did Schweitzer really influence an SBC election official to hold back our vote tally until Schweitzer wanted it released?  Or did he just make up a story to ingratiate himself to a room full of potential donors?

The amount of detail in his story would suggest that Schweitzer’s tale is true.  And the venue, a friendly room full of trial lawyers far from the state of Montana (the conference was in PA), would seem like a safe place to tell a story that frames Schweitzer as king of the back country.  A story that paints him as a Governor flush with power and willing to use it to supplant Democrats into powerful positions in order to help supporters like the trial lawyers.

Another question that needs to be answered: Is Schweitzer referring to McMahon?  And if so, did she really delay the announcement of those precincts because she “understood” that the Governor wanted her to do so for political reasons?  And lastly, is that legal?

If Schweitzer’s assertions are true (since he himself told this story we have no reason to believe that they are not) and McMahon is the election official that he referred to, then Butte voters deserve the truth.

It’s no secret that this is a Democrat town, but do we really want our Chief Executive using her office to do favors for other politicians? Particularly, when that office is supposed to be non-partisan?  Why should a county official get to delay the release of public information so that she can collect a chit from the most powerful Dem in the state?

As for legality, I’m no lawyer but the whole thing leaves a sour taste in my mouth.  The Governor is off telling a room full of people that an elected official in my town is crooked, and he thinks that it’s funny.  But I don’t think there is anything humorous about the possibility that the person who counts the votes in Butte took orders from a politician, with a vested interest in the outcome, about when or how to release the total.

The Governor implicated himself and an unnamed Butte election official (most likely Mary McMahon) in some shady dealings and I want to know if a candidate Chief Executive is responsible for using her current office to do the Governor’s political dirty work.  Hopefully, the mainstream Montana media will look into the Governor’s boasts and either prove that he misused his power (and asked others to misuse theirs) or if he is just a braggart who lied to put on a show for his friends.

I’m curious.

If an individual admits (nay, brags about) a federal crime in front of a group of lawyers is there any ethical requirement for those lawyers to act?

If those same lawyers then provide fiduciary support to the indivual breaking the law - both as a show of support for past transgressions and for the implied promise of similar transgressions in the future, have those lawyers made themselves accessory to the crime?  Can such action be grounds for excommunication from the Bar?

I only ask hypothetically of course.  Thoughts?

With all this talk about changing the way Washington works, I got curious. Who do those faceless individuals sitting behind a desk, representing the anti-thesis of change support? The answer did not really surprise me; that by a 3-1 margin those whose main interest is protecting their plush taxpayer-funded job would donate to The Chosen One.

I wonder when we will see the sign - Entrenched Bureaucrats for Obama.

Here are the full dollar numbers for the great faceless evils donations.

Barack Obama - $3,626,713

John McCain - $1,258,852

On September 5, left-wing blogger Pogie comes down on Republican Roy Brown for suggesting the economy isn’t doing well.

I honestly can’t understand Roy Brown’s strategy in this campaign. Despite overwhelming evidence that Montana’s economy is outperforming the nation’s economy as a whole, Brown and Steve Daines persist in their absurd claims that Governor Schweitzer has not done enough to promote economic development. Facts just don’t support their claims—it’s hard to argue with the third highest rate of growth in the nation, lower unemployment, and a large surplus in a time when many states are running deficits.

On September 8, left-wing blogger Jay Stevens cites Democrat Joe Biden’s talking down the economy as his best line.

Best line: “Look, if I walk from here to Bozeman — it’d take me a long time — but if I walk from here to Bozeman, I don’t think I’d run into a single person who thought the economy was doing well. Unless I ran into John McCain.”

Wherin, we see the uncomfortable position in which Democrats find themselves.  The political desire to talk up the economy in Montana on a state-level to defend the incumbent party and the competing political desire to talk down the economy nationally to attack the incumbent party.  I don’t expect either Jay or Pogie to criticize each others posts because ultimately, the reality of the situation is less important than getting their candidates elected in November… right?

In any case, does anyone have any doubt that a Democrat will say anything to get elected?  Still waiting for Tester to get that seat on Appropriations that he was promised in 2006…

So the left is just going to drop the pretense and start comparing Obama to Jesus in earnest now?  Should I start preparing for a new list of Beatitudes?  Perhaps get in line for loaves and fishes?

Frankly, I don’t like when people compare politicians to Hitler.  And I am finding it to be even more insulting when they compare them to my Lord and Savior.

On September 20th, a friend of mine from college will ride her bike from New York to D.C. as part of Brita’s Climate Ride 2008.  The bike ride is supposed to raise awareness of global climate change and encourage Congress to support legislation that will help America take the “lead in a green economy.”

Now, I’m all for having a cleaner world.  But there seems to be something illogical, and possibly hypocritical about this race.

You see, my friend lives in Seattle.  The other members of her team live in Portland.  And to get to the race they are flying from Sea-Tac to JFK.   Now according to TerraPass, a cross country flight burns 1 ton of carbon dioxide per passenger per leg of the trip.

So, to draw attention to the climate change issue, which they believe has been caused by spewing CO2 into the atmosphere, they’re going to create extra pollution.  And they’re paying $2,250 for the privilege.  Seems like a strange idea to me.  But don’t worry, Brita has helpfully provided a link to a program where participants can buy indulgences (carbon credits) to offset all that messy pollution that this expensive corporate sponsored charity ride will create.

Wouldn’t the best thing for the environment be to just cut back on our daily energy consumption and skip the ride?  Maybe throw in a letter to your Congressman for good measure.  Particularly when the party in power is already very receptive to this issue and doing everything in their power to bolster green energy?

I support conservation and new technology.  Heck, I just shelled out a pretty penny for cisterns that store rain water so I can water my lawn with it and I’m looking into one of those flash water heaters to help save energy.  But I just don’t understand the logic of polluting more in the present in the hopes of polluting less in the future.  It’s like shelling out money for an expensive piggy bank because it will help you save money later on.

It started at Missoulapolis.

Then Electric City Weblog chimed in.

And now it’s on Newsbusters.

I wonder if the Montana Press will do some of that famous investigating into the propriety of their favorite rising son.  I think they might not be able to ignore this one… but we’ll see.

The Issue?  More Ethics Violations by Governor Brian Schweitzer.

As someone who once wrote this:

To this day, I am apathetic toward the rebuilding of New Orleans. I certainly don’t plan on visiting there in the near future. The trouble is, the tremendous generosity of the American People was not appreciated. It was expected by an entitled population who felt that they could turn their noses up at the help because it wasn’t fast enough or comfortable enough. Thanks, but there are plenty of people who need more help and that’s where I’ll put my resources - emotional and financial.

Let me just ask… when did every hurricane that hits Louisiana suddenly become my problem? Why do they think that they should be asking me to help? It’s not like this has never happened before. Turns out, hurricanes are pretty common on the Gulf Coast. Long before climate change alarmism, that region was getting hammered by severe storms - with much larger body counts than Katrina:

August 10-12th, 1856: Hurricane strikes Isle Derniere, Last Island, a pleasure resort south- southwest of New Orleans. The highest points were under 5 feet of water. The resort hotel and surrounding gambling establishments were destroyed, over 200 people perished, and the island was left void of vegetation and split in half. Only one terrified cow survived on the Isle. Last Island is now only a haven for pelicans and other sea birds. The rain total at New Orleans reached 13.14″. Every house in the town of Abbeville was leveled, including the St. Mary Magdalen Church. Rains from the storm flooded the Mermentau River and destroyed crops along the bottom lands. Area rice fields in Plaquemines parish were under several feet of salt water. Nearly all rice was lost. Orange trees were stripped of their fruit. The steamer Nautilus foundered. The lone survivor cling to a bale of cotton and washed ashore sometime later.

If people want to live in a hurricane zone, they need to be held accountable for protecting themselves from the impacts of the hurricanes they chose live with. Same goes for earthquakes in California, flooding in the Mississippi flood plane and blizzards in the Rockies.

This pandering - from both sides of the aisle by the way - makes me so angry. It’s the worst kind of pandering politics. It’s time for Louisiana to step up and take some accountability for their own fate.