Archive for May, 2007
by Jay Stevens Matt Singer at Left in the West has invited me to blog at his site, and I’ve decided to take him on his offer. It’s a bittersweet move, of course. Left in the West is a great blog and has a large and dedicated readership. I’ll be writing the same stuff and [...]
CQ’s Matthew Spieler praises “Red State Dems,” including Jon Tester. USA Today: “Senators who weakened drug bill got millions from industry”; with graphic that includes a certain Montana Senator. Matt Singer sees in Lange’s sacking the result of his compromise with the Good Guv. That is, the MT GOP wants to be more combative and [...]
by Jay Stevens The bill that would close the tax loopholes for out-of-staters was scuttled by the House Republicans. In response, the equipment tax reductions for businesses was scrapped. That’s not terribly surprising. The GOP has been against the tax-collection bill since day one. What’s interesting about this particular report is what Sales has to [...]
by Jay Stevens Oops! The House adjourned after passing its tax and budget bills without waiting around to see if the Senate will pass them. If the Senate rejects any of the bills, the Governor will have to call another special session… As ID’s Jason says, “I am beginning to think that Mr. Sales really [...]
by Jay Stevens Dagnabit! Just when I was going to sit down and write a post about how the special session was hummin’ along for budget issues, but foundering on tax issues – and not over the substance or amount of relief – but on the collection of taxes, I see David Sirota beat me [...]
by Jay Stevens So a guy gets plastered, causes a wreck in Bonner, drives off, veers into a bicyclist and kills her in front of witnesses, crashes into a stop sign, then staggers off home where the cops nab him. And then he pleads “not guilty.” Is he still drunk? It’s *sshats like this that [...]
by Jay Stevens Jon Tester won a Senate seat way back in November. The battle for credit continues to rage, this time between Howard Dean’s DNC and Chuck Schumer’s DSCC. The core of the argument? Who spent how much when! Schumer told the DNC that his committee put $500,000 into building a voter file in [...]
by Jay Stevens There’s a nice story in today’s Gazette on how 13 Republican legislators met over last weekend with members of Governor Schweitzer’s staff to come with a broad agreement on spending and taxation for the legislative special session. First, the thirteen. Revile or praise them, as is your wont: –Llew Jones (Conrad) –Alan [...]
by Jay Stevens So far and so good: nothing unusual or unexpected has yet occurred in the special session of the legislature. It looks like the education bill will leave the Senate tonight for the House tomorrow – where it’s likely some sparks will fly. The budget bill is still being hashed out. Matt Gouras [...]
by Jay Stevens A little while ago, I wrote about Sen. Baucus’ clash with the administration over closing the tax gap, and offered a recommendation of how he could achieve his goals. The post got picked up by a rightie (and eventually found its way to a North Dakota television station) and linked to a [...]
Missoula Rep. Kevin Furey’s being called to active duty. The Missoula County Democrats selected his father, Tim Furey, to sit in for him during the Legislature’s special session. Good luck to both father and son, and our wishes for Rep. Furey’s safety. The Guv’s budget man, David Ewer, gives us a peek at some of [...]
by Jay Stevens Bush has threatened to veto the Democrats’ newest Iraqi funding bill because it includes “unacceptable language restricting funding.” Like, for example, requiring Bush to report progress in Iraq to Congress. Booman Tribune: If the President is going to veto over that then we really are entering into some kind of wonderland. I [...]
by Jay Stevens Steve Benen is one of my favorite bloggers. No, strike that. He is my favorite blogger, which should be evident to regular readers of my “Links…” post. He’s prolific, his posts are well-written and well-thought-out, and he seems to be always right. Well…almost always. He recently wrote a post criticizing Rep. Ted [...]
by Jay Stevens Dig this: Gee. A terror plot involving Christian radicals. Imagine that. And to think I got jumped yesterday (and today) in email and attempted nasty, unprintable comments for expressing concern as to whether or not the bombs seized in Alabama involved white supremacists, and today we read about a terrorist plot against [...]
by Jay Stevens We got ourselves a humdinger this legislative session. Governor Schweitzer called the special session of the Legislature this weekend – starting Thursday — and has declared it will meet for three days, through Saturday. Here’s what we know from the news reports. Schweitzer and his administration have met with “a dozen Republican [...]
Tester kills liquid coal bill. Is he splitting off from the Good Guv over coal-to-gas? Let’s hope so, because that scheme ain’t got legs, IMHO, tho’ Eastern Montana is getting goose bumps just thinking about it. The Senate kills a bill that would allow consumers to buy prescription drugs from Canada. So much for “free [...]
by Jay Stevens Ah, the Internets… Remember waaa-a-a-a-y back when – in the Dark Ages of the Montana blogosphere? Last September? When a class at the University of Richmond was blogging the disputed Senate races, including Montana’s own brouhaha? (Looking back at the Montana Senate blog, it appears one of the students…well…had a nervous breakdown.) [...]
by Jay Stevens The Good Guv fishes for a Republican he can cut a deal with… Matt Singer *gasp* praises Dennis Rehberg for protecting a constituent’s privacy… Missoula Senator Greg Lind ensured that more young people would be insured. David Sirota finds class warfare waged in a working-class town in the recent economic conference; Ed [...]
by Jay Stevens Rehberg’s office released information on Randy Vogel’s subpoena (sorry no link available): it has nothing to do with investigations into ethical questions wrongdoing (paragraph breaks mine): The subpoena in question was issued by the U.S. Department of Justice at the request of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The subpoena has absolutely nothing [...]
Max Baucus “unlikely” to implement earmark disclosure on his committee’s bills. “That means that the Senate’s defense authorization, water resources and appropriations bills are expected to reveal earmark sponsors, while targeted tax and tariff breaks will stay veiled for now.” Matt Singer examines Bill Mercer’s two jobs… Ed Kemmick gets to the heart of the [...]
by Jay Stevens Matt’s got this story posted, about how Montana’s Bill Mercer and Attorney General Gonzalez retroactively changed a law so as to enable Mercer to “work” two jobs at once: On Nov. 10, 2005, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales sent a letter to a federal judge in Montana, assuring him that the U.S. [...]
by Jay Stevens Shane got the same press release from the Democratic party that I did, announcing that Rehberg staffer, Randy Vogel received a federal grand jury subpoena: Rehberg Staff Hit with Federal Grand Jury Subpoena (Helena, MT) – It was learned today that the office of Congressman Dennis Rehberg has received a grand jury [...]
by Jay Stevens Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker wrote yesterday about indictments brought against four registration recruiters working for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) in Missouri, and the indictments’ relationship to the prosecutor purge. Basically – and you should read it yourself – but US Attorney Bradley Scholzman rushed basically baseless allegations. [...]
by Jay Stevens Everybody’s angry that the Legislature adjourned without a budget. Partisan gridlock is to blame, they say, Democrats, Republicans, ptui! They’re all the same! Yeah? Read over the transcript from Scott Sales speech after the Legislature adjourned: …we’ve met a brick at every stage of the way. There was absolutely no compromise with [...]
by Jay Stevens This is one of those “I heard it from a friend, who has a friend…” rumors, so it could be completely without merit…but, I heard that the state’s GOP leaders are mighty displeased with Mike Lange’s recent public outburst, and are considering organizing his ouster. It’s a rumor. I’ve no proof. I’ve no evidence. [...]
Montana Headlines is right: he and I could hammer out a compromise on tax refunds…just give us a quiet room, a pizza, and two hours. Makes you wonder why the Legislature can’t… Matt Singer apportions the biggest burden of blame for the Legislature’s failure to Scott Sales. I can’t say I disagree: he did start [...]
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