When Will the Rumors of Bullock’s Affair Get into the Campaign?

3/30/2016

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Ted Cruz/Donald Trump wife-fight.

On Monday, March 21, it was reported that the PAC Make America Awesome launched three different Facebook campaign ads to hurt Trump among Utah voters.

One of these ads featured Trump’s wife in a provocative pose.

Trump fired back on Twitter saying he’d “spill the beans” on Cruz’s wife.

After that, things heated up as the men got into a back and forth slut-shaming each other’s wife.

The rumors of Cruz’s extramarital affairs began to surface.

It was on Wednesday, March 23, that the National Enquirer broke the story that “the staunch Republican is hiding FIVE different mistresses!”

“A HOOKER, A TEACHER & COWORKERS: 5 romps that will destroy Ted Cruz!” the story read.

When it comes to rumors, it doesn't really matter if they're true

Wow…that’s not what you want coming out about you on the campaign trail.

Is it true?

Does it matter?

We also know that “a half-dozen GOP operatives and media figures” have been “pushing charges of adultery for at least six months now.”

What’s more, “allies of former GOP presidential hopeful Marco Rubio were involved in spreading the smears.”

Oh…I guess you never heard of #CruzSexScandal, huh? What a pity.

We know that The New York Times, The Washington Post, ABC News, and many other outlets knew of the Cruz affair rumors but didn’t report them.

Here in Montana we know that the media has known of the rumors of Bullock’s alleged affair since early-December but they haven’t reported it.

Will that story eventually come out, as it came out for Cruz?

So far the Cruz affair story has had feet for a week. Has it hurt him?

It’s hard to say, but the seeds have been sown, doubt has been planted into the minds of millions.

Is Ted Cruz who he says he is?

Does it matter?

The guy is on the defensive now and every day when he wakes up he’ll wonder, ‘will I be asked about the affairs today?’

That’s stressful.

When you’re a candidate and you’re stressed, you make mistakes. When you make mistakes, you lose.

Ted Cruz is done.

Steve Bullock is done.

I went ahead and called up Nancy Keenan this morning (I actually called her twice, once at 8:00 and again at 9:20, before this post went up).

As with my other calls to her, I just got the machine.

I went ahead and left another message, again, telling her who I was, that I’m running for HD 99, and that Amanda Frickle, the head of MDLCC, won’t allow me to use the Voter Access Network.

It costs just $60 to get access to that. Instead of allowing me that, however, Nancy Keenan has instructed her staff to ignore me.

My, this makes them look stupid.

@africkle04 I've sent you two emails and called you twice, leaving a message once. Why won't you get back to me about my House race? #mtpol
— Greg Strandberg (@gpstberg) March 28, 2016

I’m putting the stats for that tweet up so you can see how many people are looking at it and, I imagine, saying WTF?!?

Yeah, Montana Democrats sure know how to make themselves look stupid.

I went ahead and asked Keenan – via the machine, of course – why she won’t give me access to that database.

I then asked what she’d do when stories like this one about Bullock finally break in the mainstream media, or when the PACs report on them in their ads.

I told her that I’m happy to keep reporting these stories, and really, there’s nothing she can do about that.

I said it didn’t have to be that way, but since this platform is the only leverage I have, it will be.

She could of course call me back and we could discuss this, but we all know she’s too much of a coward to actually talk to someone over the phone.

So to me, the best thing is to get rid of Bullock so we can get rid of most of the leeches like Keenan that continue to make this state a terrible place for honest folks like me.

Oh, but Gianforte will be so much worse?

I’m sorry, but Gianforte isn’t ignoring me. I met the guy twice.

His staff returns my emails, for God's sake!

Democrats not only ignore me, they attack me with fake accounts and call me anti-semitic. So getting rid of those clowns is very important to me.

I know that the rumors of Bullock’s affair will do that.

Again, the PACs will get ahold of that and they’ll run ads. Maybe they’ll just be on Facebook – I dunno. Either way, Bullock is done, has been done since December.

Montana just doesn’t know it yet.

If it’s not the alleged affair it’ll be one of the incidents in a long line of incidents that show Bullock’s incompetence.

Personally, I think hiring your adviser’s girlfriend to work in your communications department is a big one.

I suspect that’ll be reported when the affair rumors come out, likely in connection to the cover-up.

Yeah, how many people know about what happened between Bullock and his staff in the office?

I’ve been told by numerous sources that Angela McLean walked in on Bullock while Bullock was “in the act.”

I wonder what it’ll look like when the PACs get hold of that info and run with it.

Besides that, there are plenty of smaller things that Bullock allows to happen. These get egg in his face. Sadly, he’s perfectly fine with leaving it there.

Take the most recent incident with the plane.

What we’re getting at is the letter that 40 Republican legislators wrote to Bullock yesterday asking him to “show the math behind his $2,672 reimbursement to the state for 21 plane trips.”

The thing is, you can fly around if it’s for state business to make my life better. You can’t fly around to raise funds to make your life better.

That’s what Bullock was doing and now he refuses to pay up.

What’s especially sad is the bewildering way that Bullock’s out-of-state campaign manager tried to spin this:

“They're talking about improper use of a plane for campaign reasons, and we're talking about using a plane for campaign purposes,” Pitt said.

What Pitt was trying to do was justify the private plane use because of some nonprofit status with something.

That’s just not the case, so says the Gianforte campaign.

Mainly, this is another example of Bullock having egg on his face and leaving it there for days, sometimes weeks.

He could just do some math, pay the money back out of his campaign funds, and move on.

Instead he drags his feet and points fingers.

Is that the leadership that Montana needs?

Oh, it’ll be fun when the out-of-state PACs roll in and bombard us with their advertising/propaganda.

Bullock has absolutely no chance of winning this race, mainly because Gianforte will not allow himself to lose.

You see, Gianforte has money and Bullock does not. If you don’t think that matters, again, the propaganda.

Here are the major stories that will be played up if Gianforte is dipping in the polls. Remember, there will be no coordination between his campaign and the PACs.

There doesn’t need to be – Bullock’s incompetence is well-documented.

Sex in Montana Politics: The first mention on a website about Bullock’s alleged affair.

More Worries About Bullock’s Leadership Style: In light of Angela McLean’s firing and the affair rumors we went ahead and looked at Bullock’s leadership inexperience.

A Timeline of the Bullock/McLean Dispute: This has everything that your PAC will need to build a detailed timeline of the slimy goings-on in the Capitol.

More Staff Changes in Bullock’s Office: It was on January 6 that we learned Bullock put his girlfriend’s advisor onto his staff.

Digging Further Into the Angela McLean Departure: I called up a bunch of people in Helena 3 months after the affair rumors surfaced. No one talked.

You Can See Gianforte for Free (Bullock Charges $50): This is another example of how out-of-touch the Bullock camp actually is.

Are the Bullock’s Corrupt?: This post delves into the very shady Medicare grant that Lisa Bullock’s firm received while her husband, then-Montana Attorney General, was set to rule on.

Why haven’t I been sued?

Why am I allowed to spread this information?

I think it’s for a few reasons.

First, the information is true;

Next, suing me would bring even more attention to this information;

Finally, why?

What will suing me do? Will it get rid of these stories? Will I be put in jail so I can’t write, perhaps have my internet privileges suspended?

Either way, one of the national Republican PACs is going to come in and take up all the information I’ve built up.

They’ll repackage it in 30-second clips with good sound bites.

The cat is already out of the bag.

There’s nothing you can do about it.

Do you think the D.C. firm Steptoe & Johnson will take Bullock back in January or will he have to head back to Bullock Law Firm? #mtpol
— Greg Strandberg (@gpstberg) March 30, 2016

19 Comments

Rick

3/30/2016 10:44:23 am

Greg, in regards to the rumors of Bullock having an affair you wrote: "First, the information is true;"

That is quite the declaration. How about some facts to back it up? Not innuendo or rumor but actual facts? I look forward to seeing them.

Greg Strandberg

3/30/2016 10:45:27 am

What facts would satisfy you, Rick?

Rick

3/30/2016 11:46:47 am

You know, actual facts. Not rumors or innuendo but actual facts that reflect that these rumors are true and not simply a character assassination put forth by his enemies.

You have made a declaration that the rumors are true and yet you provide zero facts to back up your words. If you have facts, please share them. If not, you should be honest enough to admit that you don't. This isn't rocket science here.

Greg Strandberg

3/30/2016 12:48:24 pm

The fact is that I have several emails telling me that my story about Bullock having an affair is correct.

I suppose you could trace the IP addresses of those emails, should you need to discover evidence. Aside from that, you'd have to go with witnesses to the event.

I guess that would be Angela McLean.

We know she's not talking, or at least hasn't in the past. She never returned my call. I suppose she can't, as she has that well-paid position with the state. Now, I don't want to say that she was paid for her silence, but a lot of questions were raised as the the increased duties she was given for the increased salary of the position. I personally don't feel those questions were ever adequately answered, and when McLean runs for office again they'll come up.

Besides that I suppose there's the woman Bullock was "in the act" with, as well as whatever secretaries may have heard stuff when that person got back to her office.

Again, we know that there were some strange staff changes.

So it's good to talk about this. We know if it was a GOPer in the governor's office then MT Cowturd would be on this like flies on shit.

Alas, it's a Democrat so the mouthpieces of the media have remained silent.

I'm surprised Bullock's office has remained silent for so long. I've tried to call them numerous times, left messages...nothing.

I guess I'll just have to wait for the notice in the mail saying I'm being sued for "character assassination," as you say.

I say I'm reporting the truth as I see it, talking about a serious story that needs to be discussed.

I was greatly saddened to see the MT Democrats fail to field a viable alternative to Bullock (puppet-McChesney, in my book at least, doesn't count).

They failed to do that. Just like with the Walsh plagiarism scandal, this will come back to haunt them.

I expect the PACs will hop on this around August, dredging up the work I've done so it can play out on the airwaves.

Like I said, Bullock was done in December. The state just doesn't know it yet.

Rick

3/30/2016 02:51:38 pm

So you have no actual facts. As I suspected. You need to realize that "as you see it" has no basis in fact regardless of how you attempt to spin it. You acknowledge this fact in your previous post.

Lastly, why would anyone bother suing you? That's hilarious.

Greg Strandberg

3/30/2016 02:56:06 pm

Why would they bother creating a fake Twitter account to attack me after I revealed they moved office staff from Meg O'Leary to Bullock?

Anyways, I don't think facts matter, myself.

I feel that August will be the month one of the unaffiliated-with-Gianforte PACs hits the airwaves with this.

It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Don't much matter to me. My life isn't going to change whether Bullock gets his second term or whether Gianforte gets his first.

No, my life will remain exactly the same.

It's those in Helena in the Capitol, they might see some changes. Regular people won't, however.

You can attempt to spin that, but who's buyin'?

John

3/30/2016 08:34:41 pm

Anyway you will post the emails you received without including the addresses of the people who sent them?

Greg Strandberg

3/30/2016 08:54:13 pm

I don't know if I'd feel comfortable doing that, John. Several of those people - and most people that email me, in fact - ask me not to show their emails.

Typically when I provide information from tipsters I rewrite it or talk about it. I know from all the editing work that I've done that you can tell someone by their style choices and such.

Anyways, it doesn't sound like this is really a big issue that the Bullock campaign needs to worry about. After all, they are just rumors, they've not been reported anywhere else, and no one seems to care. It's been nearly 4 months, after all. Clearly there's no story here.

Maybe we should just forget about it all and let bygones be bygones. Everyone can move on. Nothing to see here. Go back to your lives.

3/30/2016 10:24:49 pm

Greg, I really gotta ask, are you trying to burnish Bullock's image? On purpose? I mean, the dude is in the fight of his life here with GiantFARtey, and he's got all the charisma of Al Gore! On a GOOD day!

But now, NOW, it appears that the dude is the Alpha male.........with OUT growing the AlGorish beard! I luv it! Go Stevey!

Yes, you just upped Stevey's appeal BIG time by making him look like a REAL man, a man that isn't the quite boring nerd he appears to be, but a supermachismo macho man who can run the guv's office AND get a little strange on the side! Hell, every dude OUT there is impressed whether the bullshit rumors are true or not! For with all the gaydom and lesbonia currently run amok in the Dem party, it is really nice to have a horndog as commandante of the state! He's got passion! In excess! We LIKE that!

For you see, Greg, what you don't seem to understand, is that most ALL of the entire world except the prudes in this country WANT their leaders to be "golfo", as we say in Spanish. In other words, they don't TRUST a leader without a big libido!....among other things. Heck, I mean look at the Pubbies! They don't trust the Donald 'cause of his little hands! And we ALL know what little hands mean. HE'S A TOE TAPPER!

No, Greg, best NOT to stick one's nose into another fella's business, or into his junk so to speak. Stick with junkets in his plane, but lay off his junk! For you're helpin' the very guy you can't stand!

Greg Strandberg

3/30/2016 10:34:54 pm

I was wondering if you were going to comment on this post, and I say that because I was wondering if you were hardcore in our belief that the 'Dims' are worthless, or...as I kind of suspect...you'll roll over and say 'aw shit' and vote for 'em anyways.

I guess that's the take you could have on Hillary vs. whomever. For Bullock vs. Gianforte, however, it's almost the same.

I've made it pretty clear that I won't be voting for Bullock. To me, he's like Hillary - no good. So it'll be third party or...someone. I won't say I'll vote for Gianforte, but I'm not convinced he's as bad as everyone says.

Maybe I"m naive.

Like I said earlier, I don't see my life changing either way no matter who's in there. I feel the legislature is more important but we know it'll take a seismic shift or a decade or two for Dims to get that back.

Anyways, we continue to have terrible screw-ups from Bullock. No one seems to remember losing that Senate Seat to Daines, which came about because of the Walsh fiasco.

But so what...why am I treading over old ground? Everyone's mind is made up on who they like and who they don't, at least if they're reading this site.

What good does it do to even discuss politics at all, as we already know who we're voting for?

Who am I talking to?

It's like those paid clowns on Twitter each day, pushing the same tired message.

So what. Who cares?

Despite this post getting about 300 views today, I don't think anyone really cares about it. Just like those celebrity posts that get the top views each month, no one really cares.

3/30/2016 11:30:20 pm

"I won't say I'll vote for Gianforte, but I'm not convinced he's as bad as everyone says.

Maybe I"m naive."

Naïve? No, I just think that as an historian, you've simply missed some of the most important aspects of American history.

Irving Stone wrote a great book called Clarence Darrow for the Defense. If you haven't read it, I humbly suggest that you do. For Darrow is one of my greatest heroes. He was a brilliant attorney who was in the middle of all the great legal battles of the twentieth century. He fought them all.

And do you want to know what he considered the greatest case he ever took on? The Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925. For you see, the fundiwackmenalist "christains" scared the HELL out of him! As they do me. For I have seen them up close and personal. And they are a very, very scary un-American group on the ascendancy in this country. GeeyanFARtey is the very epitome of this evil, ignorant, backwards group. They do NOT have the right to influence public policy with their uneducated, snake-handlin', bizarre beliefs!

Likewise, of all the great roles Spencer Tracy played, he thought that by far his most important role was that of Darrow in Inherit the Wind. Did they teach that when you were in high school?

Greg, the christofundiwackmentalists can do REAL harm to our lives here in Montana. It is NOT theory. One simply needs to go back and see what they've already done and proposed in the past. THAT is why I cannot vote for Giantfart. The guy represents the worst of the worst.

Again, if you don't understand the threat posed by the rightwing supposed chhristian groups, I would be glad to recommend some critically acclaimed books to bring you up to speed. Guys like gigi do NOT represent the Montana that you and I know and love!

As bad as the Dims might be in Montana, the fundis are WAY worse! Trust me on this one. Been there, done that.

I was the very FIRST teacher in Montana to take on the creationists. AND I HATE THEM!

Greg Strandberg

3/30/2016 11:38:53 pm

According to my movie watch list, Inherit the Wind was the 195th film I watched in 2004, the end of November. I remember it, B&W, lots of courtroom stuff...sweat.

I remember the scene out in the night when they had that revival meeting. I've been thinking that the country's due for another Great Awakening-style movement like we saw around the 1820s or so.

Lots of people want to rebel, others want to cling to dogma or beliefs or the old ways.

I have one vote and a pretty small platform. I don't think what I do or say is going to change too much.

I do like the sturm and drang of it all, the push and pull. Most people are very nice and just try to pull you in the direction they want, usually with incentives.

The Dims don't react to that. They like the ol' push. So you push them and push them but instead of changing or even turning around and listening to you, they dig in their heels and cross their arms and do the terrible thing they were doing twice as much.

Maybe people like that chap at Chicken is Not Pillage is correct - just focus on football and other mindless bread and circus distractions, because the political season is becoming too much.

3/30/2016 11:59:17 pm

"Maybe people like that chap at Chicken is Not Pillage is correct - just focus on football and other mindless bread and circus distractions, because the political season is becoming too much."

Too much? Really?

Well, I can't agree with that sentiment at all. But then, we all have different genes and different backgrounds. I come from a long, looong line of underground coal miners. I grew UP on the stories of union wars and bloody fights with union thugs. I had ancestors mining coal in Colorado during the Ludlow Massacre and the subsequent coal wars, the largest in the county.

So, I guess it's kinda in my blood. We never quit. NEVER! In fact, I revel in the fight, for I know what my ancestors suffered to make a better life for me. The least I can do is not pussy out for my own kids and grandkids.

And now that I'm old, I watch my grandkids growing up and I fight even harder, for my days are numbered but their lives are just beginning. And just like my all my mining ancestors, my great granddad, both granddads, and my own dad, we want to leave a better future for our kids and grandkids. Is that so bad?

I simply can NOT allow the nazzzis to win by default, for that's not who I am. I'm sixty-four, nearly sixty-five years old, and I've still got plenty of fight left in me.

True story.

I knew and old lady in the Missouri River Manor nursing home here in GF. Her name was Betty Dimunovich. She was old, REALLY old, and had lost both legs to diabetes. She had been a communist back east in the twenties and thirties. And by GOD until the day she died she had never lost the fire in the belly. She used to appear at every Dem and labor event that she could, even without legs! And I think that she was writing letters to the ed right up until the day she died! She used to give me her socialist worker newspapers when she was done reading them.

THESE are the kind of people we are lacking now days! If ya ain't in it for the long run, well then, reconsider. For you might just like living under a fascist regime. And you will have no choice! And neither will your kids!

Greg Strandberg

3/31/2016 04:09:04 pm

The governor of Alabama's sex scandal is unfolding right now:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/31/an-inside-look-at-how-alabama-gov-robert-bentleys-sex-scandal-broke-wide-open/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_fix-bama-scandal-430pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

MT Progressive

3/31/2016 04:25:00 pm

McLean2020!

Greg Strandberg

3/31/2016 04:33:31 pm

I would have liked to seen that bumper sticker this year. And how is she going to get past Laslovich, the consensus favorite for the candidate the Dems are grooming for that office?

I'm afraid she's been pushed from the party. Do you really think Bullock's Helena Cabal is going to accept her back?

Her goal should be the same as mine - get rid of Bullock and start to repair the party. It's more than Bullock, though, it's the D.C. taint that rolled in with Baucus, and probably before him.

We like to forget that Mike Mansfield went to work for Goldman Sachs from 1989 to 2001.

We should not.

3/31/2016 07:18:50 pm

If you want a real Dem, back Amanda Curtis. She's the real deal.

MT Progressive

3/31/2016 08:18:00 pm

It looks very plausible that Laslovich will lose to Matt Rosendale this November...against Champ Edmunds Laslovich would've won in a walk. Laslovich has raised over $100,000 which was pretty incredible considering that Edmunds raised just a few thousand---but when Rosendale got in the race Edmunds left. Look at the hundreds of thousands Rosendale pumped into his race. Laslovich lost the AG primary in 2012 to Bucy, two losses in a row would completely negate the conventional wisdom that he'd be the strongest Dem candidate in 2020.

By 2020 Bullock's 'Helena Cabal' are going to be exposed for their true calculating selves.

Amanda seems also to be fairly calculating and self-promoting. She is right in line with party elders.

Angela McLean is the hardest working, most compassionate Democrat this state has had in a long time. Look at how often she got out to communities large and small, conservative and liberal during her time as LG.

Greg Strandberg

3/31/2016 08:36:20 pm

I like the Amanda Curtis idea.

I have to agree on the Laslovich/Rosendale situation. I haven't heard much on that race, however, so can't say much else besides the money situation. When Rosendale got in that must have shaken up a few people in Helena.

I think he could still win. I'm not sure who he has heading his campaign but he's been going around the state.

In terms of the Helena Cabal, I guess you know something that I don't that would cause the to "be exposed" over the next four years. I hope that happens, but I'm not that confident. Seems like they're good at covering things up. People are still waiting on records from the governor's office.

I cannot argue against Angela McLean. I wish she would have run this year for governor, though the time wasn't right and would have hurt her. Oh well. I'm just frustrated we're stuck with Bullock.

When Will the Rumors of Bullock’s Affair Get into the Campaign?

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When Will the Rumors of Bullock’s Affair Get into the Campaign?

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​Montana Blog

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Categories

Archives

​My MT History Books

My Montana Novels

My Montana Short Fiction

Montana Blog

Popular Posts

My MT History Books