
No one else wants to.
I also have some thoughts on our equal pay charades as well as the hot HD 96 race.
Who’s running for governor in 2020?
It sure as hell isn’t going to be Laslovich, not after how badly the polls show him doing.
Maybe he’ll turn it around and pull off a win in two weeks…I dunno.
He’d have to if he wants a shot at governor in 2020.
And what other Democrats will run?
It’s a good question, and since Democrats didn’t do anything to boost their bench this cycle, it’s hard to name even a handful of candidates.
I mean…Larry Jent?
I won’t be voting for him, and the reason is simple – he voted against medical marijuana.
Why Brian Schweitzer ever had to drag that guy out from wherever he’d been hiding is beyond me.
Democrats could have put a no-name candidate up, one that could develop a name by losing and then come back in four years and have a shot.
Instead we got has-been Larry Jent.
Was that some kind of favor-trading?
To me it just stinks.
Not as much as the complete rollover that Dems gave to Tim Fox this year, however.
MEA-MFT came out and supported Fox right from the get-go. In fact, it was 2 weeks before anyone could even file.
Eric Feaver’s of course to blame for that.
Please never forget that Feaver, the head of the teacher’s union, makes $125,000 a year when his starting teachers suffer under the lowest pay in the nation.
But that’s the kind of ‘leadership’ we like in Montana.
What’s sad is that Dems have set up Tim Fox to run for governor in 2020, and he could win.
Will he be able to get past Gianforte in the primary, however?
This of course all assumes that Bullock will win this year, that Gianforte will give it a second shot in four years, and that Tim Fox wants the top state position.
Fox could get past Gianforte in the primary if Montana Republicans turn against Gianforte.
That’s the only way – Gianforte’s money would be too hard to beat on its own.
We know that support for Gianforte was tepid to lukewarm anyways, and the 34,000 people that voted for Nelson in the primary shows that.
Still, Gianforte packed the GOP leadership spots to the gills with his cronies. He was able to do that by donating to their campaigns so they'd win.
I can tell you right now that I don’t see Montanans voting in a Democrat for governor in 2020.
For many, 16 years of Democrats will be plenty. I think 12 has been enough.
Our Equal Pay Charade
First, what’s with this equal pay nonsense?
What happened to SB 158?
That was the bill that Diane Sands carried last session that aimed to allow employees to talk about how much money they make without fear of recrimination.
That was the equal pay bill.
It did nothing to actually give women more money, it just made it so they could talk about how little they make compared to men.
I guess that would be the catalyst for change that’s needed…the ability to discuss how much you’re getting screwed over.
I’ll admit, it’s a start.
I’d rather see something that actually has language about pay and giving more, but we didn’t get that.
We got talk.
Alas, we didn’t get that either as the bill didn’t make it out of committee.
Don't try to discuss that with a Missoula lawyer:
.@gpstberg If women couldn't vote in the early 1900s, what made them think they could get the 19th Amendment ratified?
— Jesse Kodadek (@jessekodadek) October 25, 2016
@jessekodadek Sands' equal pay bill didn't even give women equal pay, just the ability to talk about pay. Why didn't it pass?
— Greg Strandberg (@gpstberg) October 25, 2016
.@gpstberg Because a bunch of Republicans voted against it?
— Jesse Kodadek (@jessekodadek) October 25, 2016
.@gpstberg Quit pretending you're a Democrat or that you actually care about progressive principles.
— Jesse Kodadek (@jessekodadek) October 25, 2016
As you can see, we don't even talk about our problems, we just jerk our knees and get defensive.
Remember, these are the kinds of people that will be running to get elected in the future.
God help us.
Democrats blame the bill not getting out of committee on “partisan battles,” which is fine…but how do you make sure those partisan battles don’t derail another bill?
I don’t think Democrats have a plan for that.
That doesn’t stop them from trotting out the placards and a few press photographers for their events on this.
They did it yesterday and they did it in August.
Despite that, and despite Bullock’s equal pay task force, women have not received equal pay in the three years that Bullock has been ‘working’ on this.
A large part of that blame must go to two women – Pam Bucy and Sheila Hogan.
Sands, Bucy, Hogan…three women that just can’t get it done.
Let’s not forget for one second, however, that the Business, Labor and Economic Affairs committee of the Montana Senate was the one to reject Sands’ equal pay bill.
Bullock’s across-the-aisle friend, Ed Buttrey – who did so much to get Obamacare through in 2015 – is the chair of that committee.
Elsie Arntzen was the vice chair, and if her voting to table an equal pay bill is not something Melissa Romano can bash her over the head with, then Romano doesn’t have a lot of political sense.
I mean, Arntzen wants the young girls she taught to grow up in a world where they're second-class citizens to men?
Wow, what a woman!
Republicans Dee Brown, Pat Connell, Cary Smith, and Vance Gordon were also on the committee last session.
None of those people care about women, and two of them are women.
It’s sad, and it’s sad that Democrats do not attack those losers.
But really, our Democrats in Montana are losers as well.
Or did the ‘equal pay’ bill not fail?
Missoula Democrats Abandon HD 96
Democrat Andrew Person has raised about $18,000 to win and Republican Adam Hertz has raised about $22,000.
Yes, this is a Montana House of Representatives race.
I profiled the detailed spending on this race earlier in the month and it was clear that Person is taking money from Charter.
That’s a no-no.
Perhaps that’s one reason that two former writers of the now-defunct 4&20 Blackbirds blog are supporting Hertz.
It could also be that Hertz was on the Missoula City Council…though since he was the only conservative voice in a room full of raging, tax-and-spend liberal do-gooders, I’m a bit surprised.
You see, that’s typically the kind of candidate that we saw 4&20 support over the years.
But then you have to realize that Hertz redeemed himself in the site’s eyes by voting against the sidewalk ordinance back in March 2014.
“The ordinance issue was handled very badly,” one of the site’s anonymous writers said, “and if it wasn’t for the vote of a young conservative, it would have been even worse.”
A month earlier the site had reminded us that Missoula could be worse off today “if Adam Hertz (a conservative) hadn’t moved to reconsider the amendments to avoid a lawsuit, and Missoula wouldn’t be facing a lawsuit if progressive Caitlin Copple didn’t support these amendments in the first place.”
One of the site’s other anonymous writers praised Hertz for voting against Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs, in May 2013.
That same writer was impressed by Hertz’s emailing them of Mayor Engen’s apology letter regarding attempts to silence a Missoula police officer in 2012.
So we have two people that I assumed would usually go for local Democrats now going for a local Republican.
When I asked one of them about this I was accused of trolling by one of their friends.
Vote Hertz, Missoula! #mtpol
— jhwygirl (@jhwygirl) October 25, 2016
MT @AdamHertzMT: New campaign ad. Vote Hertz for State Legislature! https://t.co/WnzUK5NZJa #mtpol #mtleg
@gpstberg don't go trolling @jhwygirl on her Hertz support. He will do a great job. Party line is a weak way to roll anyway
— Doug Odegaard (@dodegaard) October 25, 2016
@dodegaard @jhwygirl 'Keep it clean'...like accuse people of trolling when they're asking a question. Gotcha, Doug...thanks!
— Greg Strandberg (@gpstberg) October 25, 2016
Nice bunch, huh?
Anyways, this kind of ‘jumping from the ship’ doesn’t bode too well for Andrew Person.
I’ve met Andrew Person a couple times. He’s a nice guy, goes to law school (might even be done by now), and is a veteran too.
Despite that, of the 7 bills that Person sponsored last session many either died in committee or didn’t even make it that far, missing the bill transmittal date.
I think he might have put forth more bills, though Ballotpedia doesn’t list as many as the state.
This will be a close race. I thought Person had a good shot at winning it again.
After seeing two outspoken Missoula ‘Democrats’ abandon him, however, I now feel Hertz will win.