An Anonymous Troll Guides Montana Democrats

Eric Stern

Montana Democrats can’t get their way, can't take the state.
 
The problem is that Montana Democrats have an anonymous troll guiding them and telling them what to think.
 
This is Eric Stern, who is the main writer for Montana Cowgirl.
 
It’s clear that he’s the one, even without the quality reporting we saw on Copper Commando back in April.
 
That post revealed Eric Stern as Montana Cowgirl.
 
I got a letter from someone on Monday:
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“When are you going to expose Montana cowgirl – it is Eric Stern who works for the Secretary of State office – people ought to have the courage to use their own name in this staff when they are attacking.”
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That letter was signed though it had no return address. I was surprised to get it as most people email dirt, er…tips, via email.
 
So we have another person naming Eric Stern.
 
They also say “this staff.”
 
I dunno – kinda sounds like they’re working in the Capitol, huh?
 
I have to say, I’m sure there are many hardworking Capitol employees that are darn frustrated with Eric Stern making their lives harder.
 
That often happens when you anonymously attack people for years and years.
 
I think it’s time this stops.
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​Stern made a mistake two weeks ago when he came out an attacked me. It was clear I’d angered him. His Jewish heritage couldn’t take it.
 
His Jewish heritage also has a hard time with the Lenio case up in the Flathead.
 
Here’s another example of the anonymous Democratic troll website attacking those it doesn’t agree with so that it can have its way.
 
Let’s not get into the absurdity of an anonymous political site attacking someone that’s using their real name to attack someone else. Let’s just not do that.
 
Mainly, the idea of using his real name scares the hell out of Stern. Sometimes he has other writers, others doing the chores.
 
We’ve even speculated that Bob Funk could be a writer at MT Cowgirl, considering the PDF switcheroo they had in October.
 
Yeah, we’re watching and waiting, just hoping you fuck up.
 
The reason for that is we’re sick of these anonymous attacks against most of the state, something that makes it incredibly difficult to work with people across the aisle.
 
Working with people across the aisle isn’t important to those in the Capitol however. That’s what closed doors during infrastructure meetings in the final days of the session mean.
 
Besides Funk, “people” like MT Temperance will come along, Secret Squirrel perhaps.
 
Either way, however, the attacks remain anonymous.
 
A big reason for this is that Stern would probably lose his job if it was revealed he was the one behind the anonymous troll attacks.
 
Remember, Stern works for the Montana Secretary of State in the Capitol. He makes $93,000 a year.
 
We know that from a January post called How Much Do State Employees Make in Montana?
 
Last August we reported on what other high-priced state workers are paid.
 
The post was called How Much are Montana Bigwigs Paid?
 
The site that gives you that information has now been taken down.
 
Here in Montana the medium household income is $45,000.
 
Not only do we have someone from out of state telling us what to think, we have someone that’s singlehandedly making more money that most households, twice as much.
 
We know that Eric Stern makes $48 an hour, or $387 a day. Altogether, that comes out to $7,000 a year more than his boss Linda McCullough makes.
 
It’s because Eric Stern is more important than McCullough.
 
Wall Street Democrats need Eric – they need his attacks, his ability to get the rank and file of the party to look the other way, not at Bullock and his out of state fundraising.

Boy, that back East fundraising is real important, isn't it?
 
They need him to distract us from the fact that 15% of us live in poverty, or any other number of issues that truly matter to the state.
 
For when we talk about fluff, the corrupt and incompetent “leadership” in Helena can continue without fear that people will begin asking questions.
 
It’s time we start asking questions.
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David Stern

​I doubt questions will be asked, and if they are, so what?
 
Stern will attack anyone, saying they’re a DINO or racist or bigoted or anything else that will allow him to keep his anonymous perch, the one he likes to sling mud from without fear of recrimination.
 
Stern always has his daddy to protect him if things go sour.
 
Eric Stern’s dad is the former NBA Commissioner David Stern. He held the position from 1984 to 2014.
 
Figures on David Stern’s net worth are at $135 million. Clearly, his sons Eric and Andrew have little to worry about financially.
 
Sadly, most Montanans can’t say that. Most of us just don’t have a rich daddy that can give us the world.
 
Eric Stern does, and he’s taken it upon himself to use the safety of his inheritance to divide our state politically.
 
So Stern has no serious concerns about Montana, his adopted state. After all, the New York intellectual can always scurry back East.
 
We don’t have that luxury, those of us that were born here. We have to stay no matter what happens.
 
That’s why we like to read about jobs and money and ways we can get more.
 
Stern has no worries about money. That’s why we get the usual topics of anonymous attacks, gay rights, fur trapping, and flags.
 
Now we get a lot of commentary on refugees, as if some people that may or may not come to the state 2 years from now really matter to you.
 
They don’t.
 
There are many things that do affect you, but alas, if those somehow make the Democrats of the state look bad, we’ll not discuss them.
 
Lots of bad things are happening and a main reason for this is the anonymous troll attacks from MT Cowgirl that continuously drive wedges between the political parties in this state.
 
There needs to be legislative investigations in 2017 into this site. I’ll be the first legislator to propose this.
 
We can’t allow someone in the Capitol who’s making taxpayer money to attack people anonymously.
 

• It’s not right.

 

• It doesn’t help.

 

• It actually makes things worse.

 
Why Linda McCullough has allowed this to go on in her office for so long is beyond me. It really makes me think less of her.
 
Why Brian Schweitzer had to recruit this man Stern to divide the state is beyond me. We should all think less of him for that.
 
Why Eric Stern feels he needs to come into Montana riding his high horse and pushing his agenda off onto us is beyond me. I’m sure he’ll dig his heels in and do so even more, however.
 
It’s a real shame that Democrats have allowed themselves to be sheep, led astray by this site that was supposed to shepherd them to glory.
 
All it’s done is create misery for them, alienating them from many in the state.
 
That’s what small, narrow agendas do. Eric Stern at Montana Cowgirl loves to point out how small and narrow the agendas of Republicans are, but he never points out his own.
 
No, it takes someone like me to come along and ask What is Wrong With MT Cowgirl?
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​Will it end? Will Eric Stern give it up and start using his own name?
 
I doubt it – it’s too late for him and he knows it. He can never come out and write under his own name (aside from Salon articles)…unless there’s some orderly transition.
 
MT Cowgirl needs to come out of the dark. The thing for Stern and his ilk to do is figure out who can be a paid writer for that site, using their real name.
 
Of course, it won’t be the taxpayers paying for it but the Montana Democratic Party.
 
Now, the site could have a whole round of guest posters that write articles. Again, these people can use their names and would probably be happy to do so.
 
It’s only Stern that feels the need to hide in the dark, slinging his mud from the safety of his anonymity.
 
That has to stop.
 
Will it?
 
I don’t think so. Like I said, Stern will dig in his heels and sling the mud all the more.
 
You do that when you’re scared, you do that when you’re defensive.
 
Most in the Capitol are defensive right now.
 
That happens when rumors are circulating that the governor is sleeping with his staff, is walked in on by his lieutenant governor, and then has to stonewall and browbeat people to keep it quiet.
 
That’s likely what happened here. We can pretend that there were some legal improprieties in Anaconda, that there were some conflicts of personality, or even that we had a hard worker that just couldn’t be given more work.
 
But we’re not stupid.
 
Instead of buying into that bullshit we’ll keep guessing, peeling that onion until we get to the truth.
 
The truth hurts, and right now Montana Democrats would rather lie to themselves and be misled than have that truth revealed.
 
This is corruption.
 
This lying to ourselves and pretending that we’re something that we’re not…who does that help?
 
It certainly doesn’t help future Montana generations and that’s who we need to be helping.
 
But that doesn’t concern Democrats. Only attacking, attacking, and then attacking some more.
 
We have Eric Stern to “thank” for this.