Big Stink Country: the Montana GOP

August 26, 2006 in Conrad Burns, Montana Republicans

Wulfgar! has an excellent summary of the blog buzz (as of 6pm last night) surrounding former Burns fundraising chief Pat Davison’s recently exposed fraudulent activities. There are some ideas I’d like to highlight.

First is from Western Democrat’s Ken Camp, who wonders how much of the funds Davison raised for Burns were fraudulently acquired:

I guess these corrupt types travel in packs. Conrad Burns took a significant amount of money from his buddy Jack Abramoff, and hired an alleged con-man to fundraise for him. I hope Jon Tester or the DSCC have some folks looking into every donation made to Burns, because there could be some fraud or illegal donations there. There used to be a low for corruption in politics, and his name was Richard Nixon. Guys like Conrad Burns take it to a new level.

I’d go further. I think the FEC should get involved. I think we need to freeze every asset that Burns has collected until we can verify that its source was freely given and legitimate. And every penny that Davison gave to both Burns and Rehberg through his shadow companies should be given back to the people Davison defrauded.

A couple of things the good people over at Intelligent Discontent uncovered are also worth highlighting. First, while Klindt claims Davison hasn’t worked for Burns in “four weeks,” there was no announcement concerning his departure. Your chief fundraiser quits the campaign, and it’s not a newsworthy event? Two things: either the folks working for Burns knew why he was quitting and wanted to keep it out of the spotlight, or he never quit.

Second, Klindt and his choreographed line of kicking-girl blogs are starting to downplay Davison’s role in the campaign. He was a volunteer. His role was small in the campaign. Jason pretty much destroys this argument by culling a link to a Burns staff press release which describes the position as “key.” This Helena IR January announcement calls Davison one of the “leaders” on Burns’ staff.

Hm, he warrants press releases when he’s hired…? In any case, that’s enough of that right-wing spin. Let us never mention it again.

Probably the most disturbing thing about this burgeoning scandal is Helena IR’s Chuck Johnson’s coverage of the scandal – again covered by the crack team of Intelligent Discontent – in which he basically edited out Davison’s involvement with Burns. Interesting, eh? NeoMadison valiantly claims that Davison’s most newsworth association is that he once ran for governor, but of course that’s pure horsesh*t. Here’s the chief fundraiser for Conrad Burns – who’s running in one of the six most important Senate races this year, a year in which Democrats could wrest Congress from the GOP, and put an end to corruption and incompetence – who gets arrested for fraud, and that’s not newsworthy???

No, Davison’s activities are newsworthy, and not just because he was raising funds for Boss Hogg, but because he’s just another in a long string of dirty conservatives working in this state. Honestly, this state’s Republicans have made it clear that it ain’t just a couple of bad apples. I’ve always said I’d vote for an honest Republican over a crooked Democrat, but are there any honest conservatives in this state?

And let’s not forget that Davison is also a big fan of Denny Rehberg. The only thing that ties Davison to Rehberg right now is the several thousands Davison dropped in Denny’s pocket from fictitious companies. But why is it when there’s a big stink with Burns, there’s also a little whiff from the Representative, too?