October 2011

Representative Rehberg Draws MASSIVE Crowds, Commensurate Media Response

by Don Pogreba on October 31, 2011 · 75 comments

in 2012 Senate Race, Denny Rehberg, Montana Politics, The Media

In events across the state yesterday, Representative Rehberg drew crowds of nearly a handful of people as he promised to “Liberate Main Street.” And the media was there to cover his tiny crowds and even smaller ideas.

Rehberg’s personal reporter at the Billings Gazette, Tom Lutey, neglected to mention the size of the massive crowd, but a photograph shows that at least six people unrelated to Ken Miller attended Rehberg’s session in his hometown. He also neglected to mention Mr. Rehberg’s opponent in the Senate race, who spent the day actually earning his pay, working in the Senate.

Contrast Mr. Lutey’s story with the one on the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and you might begin to see why find Lutey’s perpetual boosterism for Representative Rehberg is so objectionable. The Chronicle story mentions the size of the crowd (near twenty) and gave the Democratic Party an opportunity to respond to Rehberg’s spin.

We were even treating to this insight from Mr. Rehberg’s brain:

“It’s just more of the same from Jon Tester and Montana Democrats,” he said. “A press release has never created a single job in Montana. Today Denny held and organized events all across the state, highlighting the need to liberate Main Street from policies that are coming out of Washington, D.C.”

I think Mr. Iverson may want to do a bit more research into job creation. I’m hard-pressed to understand how awkwardly fumbling through some prepared remarks to a clutch of Republican candidates for elected office created many jobs for Montanans today.

In the end, though, Rehberg and Iverson achieved their goals from a press far too willing to fill column inches with trivia and showmanship.

While I understand the cutbacks that make media coverage more complicated these days, news outlets would do a great deal to enhance both their credibility and the depth of their coverage if they stopped treating these manufactured theatrical productions as if they were worth covering—and spent some real time investigating the records and results from candidates.

Dennis Rehberg Changes His Mind Again

by Don Pogreba on October 28, 2011 · 10 comments

in 2012 Senate Race, Denny Rehberg, Montana Politics, US Politics

It’s pretty difficult to keep up with where Representative Dennis Rehberg is standing on issues these days. Whether it’s federal control of our land, the GI Bill, SCHIP, the Patriot Act or REAL ID, Representative Rehberg seems to demonstrate the same consistency on issues one expects from Mitt Romney.

The latest? His position on a controversial tax.

KXLH reported yesterday that Representative Rehberg voted to end a scheduled tax on contractors:

The Montana Contractor’s Association executive director Cary Hegreberg says the tax could force contractors to stop hiring, adding that the construction industry is just beginning to add jobs in Montana and this tax could stop that growth.

On Thursday, U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg (R-MT) joined 262 other Representatives in voting to repeal the tax.

Where did a tax like this—one that hurts the construction industry and job growth—come from, you might be asking? Well the Independent Record reported last Saturday that it came from in 2006:

The measure was a provision (Section 511) of the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 meant to make sure contractors pay their full share of taxes — particularly those smaller businesses more likely to be paid in cash.

And how did Montana’s tax-fighting, business-loving champion vote? In favor of the tax, which passed Congress on May 17, 2006.

I’m not sure about the rest of you, but it’s pretty frustrating to know that Representative Rehberg is trying to get political mileage out of a tax he created in the first place.

A Leader and A Panderer: Bullock and Rehberg on HR 1505

by Don Pogreba on October 26, 2011 · 94 comments

in 2012 Senate Race, 2012 Statewide, Denny Rehberg, Montana Politics, Steve Bullock

Some weeks make the difference between politicians and public servants incredibly clear. The former play cynical political games that rely on divisiveness and distraction while the latter analyze policy for its implications on the lives of those they serve. This week, Representative Dennis Rehberg and Attorney General Steve Bullock made the distinction between these two types quite clear.

Responding to the Republican effort to strip environmental protections from the border of the United States, Attorney General Steve Bullock sent a letter to John Boehner and Harry Reid, articulating why HR 1505, Rehberg’s federal land grab, will not only harm law enforcement efforts but damage cooperation with and the sovereignty of Montana’s tribal governments:

As Montana’s chief law enforcement official, I am very aware of the importance of the security of our northern border. On a daily basis, sworn law enforcement officials from my agency, along with scores of their counterparts from local jurisdictions, work closely with federal agents to ensure the security of Montana’s 545-mile border with Canada.
But to be successful, this cannot be done through directives and mandates sent from Washington, D.C. Rather, law enforcement agencies–local, tribal, state and federal–work best through cooperation and collaboration from the ground up.

This proposed legislation would also reach all or parts of five of seven Indian
reservations in Montana. It should come as no surprise that proposed federal land grabs place serious strain upon the government-to-government relationship between the State of Montana and our Indian Nations. As a state we strive to work with the First Montanans in a way that respects their independence and sovereignty–values missing from this legislation.

That’s reasoned analysis of an issue not even considered by Representative Rehberg.

In contrast, our Representative, perhaps feeling the heat from his TEA Party base, offered a nonsensical amendment to the bill, one that would give local sheriffs ultimate authority over federal law enforcement:

Rehberg’s amendment would solve this turf war the correct way and the best way: let the county sheriff decide if and when DHS can enter his county to conduct its law enforcement operations. This puts the final decision under local control rather than under Washington executive control. The people elect their county sheriff to protect them. The sheriff should therefore decide what federal agencies and their employees do in his county.

While that amendment will certainly make Greg Hinkle’s heart flutter, it’s entirely at odds with the stated aim of HR 1505, which Rehberg claimed was intended to reduce inter-agency turf wars over jurisdiction. How anyone could imagine that empowering local sheriffs to restrict federal law enforcement and border control could pass constitutional muster or reduce jurisdictional squabbles defies logic or explanation.

Caught between his desire to scrap environmental protections and Montanans who believe in federal and state cooperation, Rehberg waffled his way into an utterly incomprehensible position.

Of course, this kind of pandering is nothing new for Representative Rehberg, who supported REAL ID and the Patriot Act before opposing them.

It’s never about policy, but always about politics—and that’s the difference between leaders like Bullock and grandstanders like Rehberg.

Representative Hansen To Lobby Against Quality Education for Montana Students

by Don Pogreba on October 25, 2011 · 97 comments

in 2011 Legislature, Education, Montana Politics

It seems Representative Kris Hansen of Havre isn’t content to attempt to impose her discriminatory values on Montana communities—now she wants to bring her unique perspective to education reform. The Havre Daily News is reporting that the representative is leaving her government job as deputy county attorney to take an undefined job with unnamed education groups:

Hansen said she is negotiating contracts with the education groups to promote their education policies to the public, and declined to name the groups until contracts are finalized.

It seems clear that what Hansen is referring to isn’t the MEA-MFT or anyone interested in improving student outcomes. Instead, she’ll no doubt be working with some collection of anti-public education conservative groups who will attempt to impose Idaho’s failed model on Montana.

I guess getting a job from anti-education advocates to promote “possible education reform legislation” is one way to get around pesky campaign contribution limits, conflicts of interest notwithstanding.

Hansen knows as much about Montana schools as she does about equality. It makes sense that this so-called expert on education issues didn’t sponsor a single bill about education in 2011. In fact, she told the HDN that we need to watch out for Detroit:

She said that, while Montana students often test in the high percentiles compared to the rest of the country, other regions are improving their curriculum, technology and teaching methods and could soon surpass the state.

“We have a short window to get on the bus, ” Hansen said. “We can’t afford to wait 10 years to say, ‘oops, Detroit Public Schools are going to pass us. ’”

Now, I could tell you that Montana has excellent results in education, ranging from top national scores on the NAEP, ACT/SAT, and AP exams. I could tell you that, despite Hansen’s complaints, Montana has been making strong work to improve graduation rates without compromising those excellent results.

But none of that matters. Hansen’s agenda isn’t about improving schools; it’s about destroying public unions, teacher tenure, and local control of curriculum. Her agenda is clear: to attack the public schools and the people who work in them, logic and the truth be damned.

Of course, Hansen voted against increasing funding for schools. She voted to end the requirement that the Superintendent of Public Instruction have a teaching certificate. She voted against local control of health curriculum. She voted to defund public schools in favor of untested alternatives. She voted to deny public education to immigrant children. And she voted in favor of bullying in schools, among other wrong-headed votes.

One specific claim shows just how credible she is. She claims to want to increase access to technology in the classroom. She told the HDN:

She said the state also needs to start upgrading its technology in the classrooms much faster than it has. I want to put the tools in the teachers’ hands so they can excel and the kids can excel.

One way to increase the technology available to students would be to increase funding for schools, something that Hansen, of course, refused to do.

That TEA-Time Religion

by The Polish Wolf on October 24, 2011 · 11 comments

in Montana Politics

I realize Denny Rehberg’s freedom to worship is as protected by the first amendment as my own, but I really wish he’d stop trying to impose his beliefs on the rest of us. And no, I’m not referring to our beliefs about an afterlife, but rather his fanatical worship of profits over people in this one.

In last Tuesday’s IR, Rep. Rehberg argues against funding health care co-ops because “if its not good enough for private money, it doesn’t deserve taxpayer money.” Private investment has only one criterion – profits. The fact that Dennis Rehberg considers that single-minded goal an acceptable basis for operating a system intended to heal the sick and save lives suggests that his moral compass points in a different direction than most Montanans. I’m unaware of any religious text wherein Lazarus has to make a co-pay and only the lepers with health insurance get cured, and I’d like to see Rep. Rehberg adopt positions closer to those of his constituents.

How Come Indians Get So Much Special Treatment?

October 24, 2011

The all too early death of Elouise Cobell, as well as the successes she scored so close to the end of her life, provide an opening into this conversation. It’s a question that many people ask not really expecting an answer because they think they already know it – it’s because they suffered so much, [...]

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Montana Hunters and Anglers on Rehberg

October 24, 2011

This is exactly the kind of issue-based criticism of Dennis Rehberg that those who understand his agenda need to keep using. It’s a great ad–about an important issue. Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Buzz it up share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this [...]

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Representative Rehberg: Tell The Truth About Rural Post Offices

October 21, 2011

Once again, Representative Rehberg is pretending to stand with ordinary Montanans despite a record that opposes their interests. This time? Post office closures in the state. Rehberg claims to support rural post offices: I have said it before and I’ll say it again – the issue of postal reform is about much more than numbers [...]

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