News Talk KGVO in Missoula has a whopper of a story up today.
It’s called Governor Bullock Brought Meg O’Leary on Paul McCartney Concert Trip Although First Lady Was Invited, State Plane Use Questioned.
Jon King has the report up.
You’ll remember that he was the one that dug up the airline records showing that Bullock and O’Leary both went to the Paul McCartney concert together in 2014.
He found those records in July and now, two months later, he’s found the records showing that Bullock and O’Leary were at the Kentucky Derby together.
There’s even photos of the two there…though they’re not pictured together.
It’s called Governor Bullock Brought Meg O’Leary on Paul McCartney Concert Trip Although First Lady Was Invited, State Plane Use Questioned.
Jon King has the report up.
You’ll remember that he was the one that dug up the airline records showing that Bullock and O’Leary both went to the Paul McCartney concert together in 2014.
He found those records in July and now, two months later, he’s found the records showing that Bullock and O’Leary were at the Kentucky Derby together.
There’s even photos of the two there…though they’re not pictured together.
We're almost there
Goodness…what’s going on?
King starts his report by telling us that although “Meg O’Leary wasn’t invited” to the Paul McCartney concert, “Montana taxpayers funded the trip anyway.”
That’s when the stories came out that the governor was actually in town that day “on state business for two meetings.”
King does a good job questioning these stories of state business.
He mentions that one meeting was described as “informal” and we also know that “the state plane with Bullock and O’Leary landed just about an hour before doors opened for the Paul McCartney Concert.”
On top of that, the meeting was “in Grant Creek,” an area “at least 15 minutes away from the concert venue.”
King then gets into the invitations sent, speculates on why O’Leary didn’t get one, and what this official business the governor was on actually was.
“So if the goal is to watch a concert in the presidents box and Meg O’Leary wasn’t invited,” King asks, “why was Meg O’Leary on the flight to Missoula and why did state taxpayers pay for the flight in the first place?”
It’s a good question.
Another is why O’Leary is flying on the state plan more than any other cabinet member, 56 times over the past 3 years.
Jon King and Peter Christian discussed this issue for about an hour today on their morning news program, Talk Back.
I called in around 9:15 and discussed the emails and phone calls I’ve received on this issue.
Remember, that phone call I got in June from the anonymous woman was the catalyst for these stories on the Paul McCartney concert and the Kentucky Derby.
Now those stories have been given credibility with plane flight records and photos.
We also know that the DGA paid for O’Leary’s travel to Puerto Rico in 2015.
If they paid for her travel, why won’t Bullock pay for O’Leary’s travel? He could use campaign funds for that…couldn’t he?
Maybe not.
And perhaps by offering to pay those costs Bullock thinks he’d be admitting wrongdoing, and setting up an ethics/integrity issue that Gianforte can latch onto.
In other words, Bullock is between a rock and a hard place on this one.
You won’t hear any of this in our corporate, liberally-biased media.
None of the state papers have reported much on this.
You know full-well that if a Republican governor had these questions swirling around them, then the media would be all over it.
More, the head of the Democratic Party would be all over it. Currently Nancy Keenan seems to sic her anti-social media goons on anyone that brings up the issue.
Some won’t be dissuaded by those schoolyard tactics.
Matthew Monforton has a story up on his site today called Essman’s Cowardice over Bullock-O’Leary-McLean Scandal Means Gianforte Is On His Own.
In this heavily inter-party-fighting-post he complains about “Montana’s corrupt governor” and our lack of a “real press corps as well as a functioning Republican party.”
He calls Montana’s journalists “eunuchs” and is angry that Jeff Essman is not talking about “Lt. Gov. Angela McLean’s forced resignation over the affair between Bullock and his Commerce Director, Meg O’Leary.”
He mentions that there’s been no word “about the retaliation being taken against state employees for complaining about this corruption.”
He makes good points, but I doubt anything will change.
It’s been almost a year now since McLean was fired/resigned. It’s been 3 months since we first heard of the strange plane trips with O’Leary.
In that time, nothing has happened.
I don’t think anything will happen.
No one is coming out and talking, putting their name on it.
And really, unless I get another call from an anonymous person telling us things we can later prove, nothing will happen.
Well, that’s not true – the campaign will continue and Bullock will likely win. Absentee ballots go out in 30 days or so and people will vote for Bullock.
And please remember, it’s reporters like Jon King that are putting this information out there, not the Gianforte campaign.
If Gianforte had this info, don’t you think he’d get it out there somehow?
With about a month to go before voting starts, however, what else can come out?
When it comes to the truth, I feel we’re running out of time.
I feel Bullock will be elected. I feel his questionable morals will continue to guide us at the state level while nationally we'll probably suffer the same under Hillary.
I don’t like that, myself…but what can I do?
Besides casting my vote, not much. I encourage you to cast yours, and for whoever you think is best.
Personally, I won’t be voting for Bullock.
I view him as both corrupt and incompetent, a terrible family man, and a someone that sidles up to corporate PAC money. He’s a lawyer as well, which is to say...
I just don’t trust him.
But again, vote however you want.
It’s important for Montana to have 4 years it’s proud of.
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