First, I had to chuckle yesterday when I read about the Montana Republican Party going after Governor Brian Schweitzer and state senate candidate Kendall Van Dyk for the Governor hosting a fundraiser for Van Dyk at the Governor’s residence in Helena.
The co-hosts of the fundraiser were Montana Attorney General Steve (I’m running for Governor) Bullock and Secretary of State Linda McCulloch. In who’s who in Montana – Bullock is the Chief Law Enforcement Officer (Attorney General) and McCulloch is the top elections official (Secretary of State).
They might also be the next ticket for Governor and Lieutenant Governor for the Democrats in Montana.
The Montana GOP is worried that their big gun, Roy Brown, might lose the race against Van Dyk. Brown was crushed by Schweitzer in the last Governor’s race. I’m really no fan of either person, so if I were a resident of that senate district, I’d probably leave my ballot blank.
Second, I had to chuckle at the Associated Press calling the house that the governor of Montana is living in a “mansion.” The current Montana Governor’s “mansion” kind of reminds me of a nice rest area along an interstate – something we might see on I-80 in Iowa.
The GOP fired off a press release saying how terrible it was for the Van Dyk to be a part of a fundraiser at the Governor’s residence because it violated state ethics law. Shame shame.
They must have forgotten that Republican Marc Racicot did the same thing. So, the Democrats used it as a basis to say it was OK…because it had been done before.
Maybe we should sit both parties down in the corner and say, “If Billy jumped off the cliff, does it make it OK for YOU to jump off the cliff?”
Of course, the Democrats did not like it when the Republicans did it. The GOP said the law had been “tightened” since the Racicot fundraiser.
So now we’re tied at one apiece…but it helped us see how small-minded both major political parties are in Montana and why most of us don’t belong.
Here’s a great idea: Just pass a freaking bill into law that says no political fundraisers can be held at the Governor’s state-owned residence. It’s that simple. It would then be black and white.
