Archive for the 'CI 154' Category
by Rebecca Schmitz
My sitemate, Jay, wrote an excellent post today on Left in the West about Trevis Butcher’s running afoul–yet again–of Montana’s election laws because his financial backers don’t want to reveal themselves. There’s a side story to the legal woes of Butcher’s group, Montanans in Action, in both the Missoulian and the Billings Gazette. [...]
by Jay Stevens
Look who’s proposing legislation to overhaul the initiative process: old friends Ed and Trevis Butcher!
Trevis, of course, was the Montana money handler for Howie Rich’s terrible trio of initiatives: 154, 97, and 98. Trevis is also a good pal of the Republican Liberty Caucus sweethearts. The initiatives were, of course, struck down for [...]
Yesterday the Montana Supreme Court upheld Judge Sandefur’s ruling that Howie Rich’s terrible trio of initiatives are invalid:
“If the initiative process is to remain viable and retain its integrity, those invoking it must comply with the laws passed by our Legislature,” Justice Patricia Cotter wrote for the court. “We can neither excuse nor overlook violations [...]
Guest Post by Jaime of Cece in MT
I am still getting used to wordpress, and I hope this all comes across well.
I have exciting news for the followers of the Initiatives here, and all over the west. This morning The Center For Public Integrity unveiled their “Takings Initiatives Accountablity Project”. Available to you [...]
So PBS NOW ran a show on the Howie-Rich sponsored initiatives, focusing on Travis Butcher’s little operation here in Montana. I meant to get to it over the weekend, but I was in Butte…and was waylaid.
Good show. A quick and well-crafted intro on who, how, and where the initiatives were generated, run, and funded.
First and [...]
So the news is in, the trio of libertarian social experiments – initiatives 97, 98, and 154 – have been struck from the ballot by a Great Falls judge.
Sandefur agreed, writing that the signature gathering process “was permeated by fraud and procedural non-compliance perpetrated by paid, out of state, migrant signature gatherers” paid for the [...]
Has anyone been over to the website of Americans for Limited Government recently? There’s a little surprise:
Meet Howie Rich! The picture alone is worth a blog post. Previously the Manhattan real estate developer and hidden funder of Montana’s trio of terrible initiatives – 154, 97, and 98 – was about as camera-friendly as a mafia [...]
Today the Billings Gazette offers up two guest editorials on CI-154, one “representing” each side of the debate. Actually – and the quotes may tip you off – I found Terry Anderson’s defense of CI-154 to be maliciously misleading, confusing, and…well…bad. Budge should have written this thing. At least he admits it’s a regulatory-takings initiative, [...]
So it goes. The terrible trio of ballot initiatives are being challenged in court.
The request is based on allegations that the signature gatherers duped local citizens across Montana into signing petitions, provided them with false information and ultimately tainted the integrity of the initiative gathering process, according to the lawsuit.
If you peruse the article you [...]
It’s official! The Billings Gazette has meticulously researched the funding for the trio of terrible initiatives and traced it back to New York City real estate developer, Howie Rich! In a full-feature article explaining the whys, hows, and wherefores, and basing its story on evidence supplied by blogs and the High Country News, the Gazette [...]
Hey! How about those Oregon papers! Check out the lead for this story:
The most sweeping initiative on Oregon’s November ballot — a measure to cap state spending — is bankrolled by a New York real estate investor who has poured millions of dollars into similar government-limiting measures in 12 states this year, an analysis by [...]
The latest to connect the dots between Montana’s extremist ballot initatives – 98, 154, and – and real estate mogul Howie Ric is the Independent’s Alyssa Work: “Following the Money.”
The story features a closer look at Jon Motl, the Helena lawyer challenging for a right to peek into Travis Butcher’s Montanans in Action (a misnomer, [...]
High Country News has got the dirt on Montana’s initiative 1542 – which you’ll remember I called “anti-democratic.” Like blogger Hart Williams, HCN’s Ray Ring traced back the money backing the initiative through Americans for Limited Government to a single source: Howie Rich.
Americans for Limited Government has provided loans and expertise to the Montana initiative, [...]
There’s been a lot of talk swirling around the trio of terrible ballot initiatives sponsored by a shady cabal of conservative interests and the amount of money spent to get them on the ballot. Today, the Gazette ran a story about who and how much spent the money:
Financial support for Constitutional Initiatives 97 and 98 [...]
Just a few days before the primary elections, I blogged about a professional signature gatherer I ran into on Higgins St in downtown Missoula. He tried to get me to sign the troika of extremist petitions – 97, 98, and 152 – by playing off my civic urges and laziness (usually very effective). It turns [...]
-
Recent Comments
Stacy Rye on Republicans and 64 Dems Protec… goof houlihan on Republicans and 64 Dems Protec… goof houlihan on Republicans and 64 Dems Protec… problembear on Republicans and 64 Dems Protec… problembear on Republicans and 64 Dems Protec…
