Finance Reports Due
Candidate finance reports are due tomorrow for those running for the legislature.
I was reminded of this by COPP last week, and again today when I got this tweet:
“I'm Alfonso from the @MoveToAmend Coalition. I'd love to chat with you about our 2018 Candidate Questionnaire we mailed to your campaign last month, so if you may, please shoot me a dm. Thanks!”
I replied to this guy that the Montana Democrats had spent over $1 million to remove me and a few other people from the November ballot.
That’s why I filed a closing finance report today.
This cycle is over for me, but there’s always next year.
In the meantime, perhaps some of our local media and/or blogs will dig into candidate finance reports to give us a little insight on the legislative races.
Or maybe pigs will fly.
I-185 and Healthcare Costs
I saw over on Flathead Memo today that James Conner is concerned that I-185 won’t pass.
He said twice that he thinks it’s in trouble, and he does a good job explaining what this means:
“If I-185 fails, almost 100,000 Montanans will lose their health insurance, and Montana will lose $500 million a year in federal funds.”
My wife and I will lose our healthcare if two things happen: I-185 doesn’t pass, and the legislature fails to find another way to fund healthcare.
I don’t think the GOP-controlled legislature wants to find a way to fund Medicaid expansion, so healthcare is going away.
I personally feel that a lot of people will move out of the state should this happen.
For instance, in my family we pay $75 a month for a $600 deductible plan, but next year we’re set to pay $400 a month for a $4,000 deductible plan.
That’s with a subsidy of over $500.
If we didn’t have that subsidy we’d have to pay $900 a month for a healthcare plan that won’t cover anything until we pony up $4,000.
So our healthcare would cost over $14,000 next year…if I-185 doesn’t pass, and if the three marketplace providers in Montana continue to serve Montana.
That’s just not doable for us.
Candidate finance reports are due tomorrow for those running for the legislature.
I was reminded of this by COPP last week, and again today when I got this tweet:
“I'm Alfonso from the @MoveToAmend Coalition. I'd love to chat with you about our 2018 Candidate Questionnaire we mailed to your campaign last month, so if you may, please shoot me a dm. Thanks!”
I replied to this guy that the Montana Democrats had spent over $1 million to remove me and a few other people from the November ballot.
That’s why I filed a closing finance report today.
This cycle is over for me, but there’s always next year.
In the meantime, perhaps some of our local media and/or blogs will dig into candidate finance reports to give us a little insight on the legislative races.
Or maybe pigs will fly.
I-185 and Healthcare Costs
I saw over on Flathead Memo today that James Conner is concerned that I-185 won’t pass.
He said twice that he thinks it’s in trouble, and he does a good job explaining what this means:
“If I-185 fails, almost 100,000 Montanans will lose their health insurance, and Montana will lose $500 million a year in federal funds.”
My wife and I will lose our healthcare if two things happen: I-185 doesn’t pass, and the legislature fails to find another way to fund healthcare.
I don’t think the GOP-controlled legislature wants to find a way to fund Medicaid expansion, so healthcare is going away.
I personally feel that a lot of people will move out of the state should this happen.
For instance, in my family we pay $75 a month for a $600 deductible plan, but next year we’re set to pay $400 a month for a $4,000 deductible plan.
That’s with a subsidy of over $500.
If we didn’t have that subsidy we’d have to pay $900 a month for a healthcare plan that won’t cover anything until we pony up $4,000.
So our healthcare would cost over $14,000 next year…if I-185 doesn’t pass, and if the three marketplace providers in Montana continue to serve Montana.
That’s just not doable for us.
Class Divisions
Ochenski had an interesting article in the Missoulian today, mentioning the recent circus in the District of Criminals:
“The Republican majorities in Congress and the Republican president have no commitment to the greatest good for the greatest number of citizens. They serve the moneyed interests, the 1 percent and one-tenth of a percent of individuals who have amassed more wealth than hundreds of millions of our nation’s hard-working citizens.”
Ain’t that the truth.
He then goes on to explain that the Kavanaugh vote “split the populace by gender.”
That’s unfortunate.
It’s unfortunate that it’s now mostly about men vs. women instead of the 99.9% against the ultra-wealthy that control this country.
Ochenski figures that women in America are pissed and that this will translate into “outsize losses a month from now” for Republicans.
I’m not convinced.
By and large, Americans are lazy and uninformed. While it’s true that upwards of 20 million people watched the Kavanaugh hearings, that means around 300 million did not.
Around 235 million Americans are registered to vote, but just 130 million of them do so.
Back in 2014, just 83 million Americans voted, or 36% of registered voters.
So many people have given up on our process as hopelessly corrupt and dirty. They don’t see the system changing, aside from getting worse.
So they don’t vote, and I don’t think a huge number of women or Democrats or independents are going to get fired-up to do so this year.
I could be wrong, and we’ll find out in a few more weeks.
The process starts on Friday when absentee ballots go out.
