Montana Legislature

Way to Go, Gun Nuts!

12 August 2009

Well, it certainly didn’t take long for Krayton Kerns’s crazy bill to start having an impact on law enforcement. Already, police have had to release a man who shot another man in the head because of this misguided legislation, designed to appeal to the fringe of the NRA and the one-man band of the Montana [...]

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Republicans On Meth

8 April 2009

Oh, those fiscal conservatives in the Republican Party. At the same time, some Democrats objected to a piece of the Republican plan that sends another $500,000 to the private Montana Meth Project for a total of $1 million. Health care for kids? Socialist waste. Millions for an unproven scare campaign? Sensible policy. Sigh. Update: And [...]

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Why is Dave Lewis Obsessed With Underfunding CHIP?

5 April 2009

Senator Dave Lewis of Helena seems to only have one priority in this legislative session: voting against health care for kids. At every opportunity, he has either voted against the voter-supported initiative or to scale it back. This week, he and his Republican cohorts in the Senate Finance and Claims Committee took another whack at [...]

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Why Do Montana Republicans Always Talk About Civil Wars?

31 March 2009

Typical responsible Republican rhetoric on abortion rights today. Wendy Warburton (R-Nutsylvania): “Last night, Democrats essentially voted to muzzle the people of Montana on one of the most important issues of our time: abortion,” said Rep. Wendy Warburton, R-Havre (pictured). I probably missed Wendy’s press conference after House Republicans blocked discussion about the death penalty in [...]

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Republican Priorities: Huge Tax Cuts Over Voter-Approved Healthcare

8 March 2009

As I noted earlier in the week, Republican Senate President Bob Story claims that expanding the state’s CHIP program would be too expensive, costing $35 million dollars. Putting aside Senator Story’s questionable accounting and willful decision to pretend that the CHIP program wouldn’t trigger millions in federal matching funds,one can only assume that Senator Story [...]

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Bob Story’s Pathetic Defense Of Not Funding CHIP

6 March 2009

Senate President Bob Story is peddling the same old spin to try to explain why Republicans in the Legislature refuse to respect the will of the voters and fund expansion of the state’s CHIP program: Given the recent economic meltdown, I believe voters understand that it’s not responsible to begin a brand-new expensive program at [...]

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Republican Logic at the Legislature: Hands Off Health Care, Hands on Uteruses

20 February 2009

Because they can’t pass their latest effort to restrict abortion rights in Montana: Sen. Daniel McGee, the bill’s sponsor, said the issue should be placed before the voters of Montana, not decided by lawmakers or courts. "So the question becomes then do the people of Montana have a say as per Roe v. Wade, and [...]

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Your Republican Legislators: Defending the Rights of Poor Pharmaceutical Companies

18 February 2009

It’s not surprising that none of the seven Republicans who voted in committee against a bill prohibiting drug companies from using prescription information for marketing purposes were available for quote in this piece by Mike Dennison. House Bill 394 has a simple premise: drug companies are not entitled to use your prescription information for marketing [...]

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Montana Meth Project: A Simple Couple of Questions A Legislator Might Ask Before Giving Away Any More Money

16 February 2009

How did the Montana Meth Project manage to spend $551,513 on “Survey Fees” in 2007? Why did an organization that paid its executive director $130,000 in 2007 also pay $60, 516/year for “Professional Fund Raising”? What is Peg Shea’s current salary? Why did an employee who was listed as performing one hour of work each [...]

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Should the Montana Meth Project Receive State Funding in Difficult Financial Times?

12 February 2009

An obvious question, given the Montana Meth Project’s request for funding from the Legislature, might be to ask how they intend to spend the money. Using data collected from the Meth Project’s IRS 990 forms, I find it incredibly difficult to justify their request for more money from the state. Let me be clear: I [...]

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Why Pass Krayton’s Crazy Gun Bill?

12 February 2009

While some (like county attorneys and sheriffs) have questioned the need for Representative Krayton Kern’s Wild West, Rootin’-Tootin Shooting Show gun bill (HB 228), the representative himself has finally offered a compelling reason: The thicker we can make Montana Code with laws that clarify and solidify our Constitutional rights the more difficult it will be [...]

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State Pay Bonuses: Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

13 January 2009

I’m glad to see that Bob Bergren is pushing for a bill to ban the practice of some elected officials to give large bonuses to employees, but disappointed to see that former auditor John Morrison gave out over $180,000 dollars in bonuses during the last fiscal year. One recipient of a $10,000 bonus, Deputy Auditor [...]

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