Category: Uncategorized

Posted: May 23, 2013 at 5:40 am

Militia of Montana: A Closer Look

Now that the president of the Montana Senate has come out publicly in support of a Militia of Montana affiliated leader for the Montana Republican Party, its time to take a closer look at this group and what it stands for so we can get a better sense of Essmann’s vision for the MTGOP. As a recent report by the Montana Human Rights Network reveals, its not pretty.

As I wrote in my previous post, Essmann is supporting Jennifer Fielder for Montana Republican leadership. She and John Trochmann are leaders of the “Sanders County Resource Council,” which is the name the group Militia of Montana is using to try to appear innocuous. As, the MHRN reports, the group was started by a bunch of low-lifes with ties to white supremacists.

John Trochmann and members of his family started the Militia of Montana (MOM) in 1994. Prior to founding MOM, Trochmann spoke at and attended meetings at Idaho’s Aryan Nations. In the mid-1990s as MOM attempted to portray itself as mainstream, Trochmann tried desperately to distance himself and MOM from racist beliefs and Aryan Nations. Richard Butler, leader of Aryan Nations, responded with a letter asking why Trochmann lied about the number of times he had visited the hate group. The letter also stated Trochmann attended several of the group’s Bible studies and helped draft a code of conduct for the Aryan Nations compound. Over the years, MOM distributed material by well-known white supremacists, racist websites, and activists who deny the Holocaust. Its newsletter also published articles claiming Jewish people are the “synagogue of Satan” and control the government.

MOM grew out of another group Trochmann helped organize, United Citizens for Justice (UCJ), the MHRN reports. Some well-known white supremacists were leaders of the UCJ. They included a self-proclaimed neo-Naz, an editor for editor of a “Christian Identity” magazine (that’s the religion of the Aryan Nations), and a former leader of the Texas Ku Klux Klan. This group eventually folded due to infighting, and reformed as the Militia of Montana.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that this Trochmann character is the only Sanders County Resource Council activist with a history with the white supremacist militia either. Again from the MHRN report: “Ed Dosh is a [Sanders County Resource Council] activist. A longtime MOM member, Dosh worked the gun-show and preparedness expo circuit with the group during the 1990s. He’s been a close associate of John Trochmann ever since. Dosh was also a founding member of the Church of True Israel, a white supremacist group that splintered off from Aryan Nations in the mid-1990s.”

One final thing that’s important to note from the MHRN report is that Trochmann and the Militia of Montana havn’t been about to avoid trouble with the law:

In 1995, Trochmann and others were arrested in Roundup, MT, following an armed confrontation with law officers after Trochmann’s group tried filing documents supporting the Montana Freemen. When they were arrested, the “patriots” were equipped with plastic restraining devices, $80,000 in cash and coins, and numerous weapons. Charges against Trochmann were later dropped. In 2005, Trochmann faced charges of kidnapping and assault in Spokane after roughing up his niece, because he believed she had stolen a firearm from him. The charges were eventually dropped, but not before MOM shelled out $10,000 for an attorney.

If all of this weren’t enough, check out what happened when Trochmann’s brother tried to kick him out of the Militia for cheating on his wife. Trochmann went and formed a new group that he called the “Coalition for Men’s Rights.” This group was made up of men who had restraining orders against them for spousal abuse. So this is quite a crew and it will be interesting to see if the rest of the Montana Republican Party believes that this is the kind of people they want to follow.

Posted: May 21, 2013 at 12:37 am

Intimidation Tactics

The Billings Montana Shrugged TEA Party is preparing for another angry anti-government rally today. They are calling it a protest against the IRS, but they should be calling it a celebration of their success in stopping existing U.S. laws from being enforced.

What the TEA Party doesn’t understand (and its big money donors are hoping no one does) is that the law IRS to investigate political dark money groups–even if congress and several administrations have failed to enforce them.

As Floyd Norris explains in the NYTimes business section: there are two reasons that the IRS is involved in political contribution rules.

The first reason is that while 501c3 charities (such as the March of Dimes) are exempt from gift tax laws, there isn’t an exemption in the law for c4s–like American Tradition Partnership. That means that if the laws were actually enforced, donors who gave more that $13,000 to a c4 like ATP should be paying taxes on that donation.

This would certainly constrict the massive flow of cash into these organizations –conservative and liberal both, though of course there is much more conservative money. As ABC news reports, there has been a big uptick in 501 c4 applications from right-wing groups like American Traditions Partnership recently.

There is a second reason the IRS has a role here. While your donations to the March of Dimes (a C3) are tax deductible, donations to c4s like ATP and ALEC are not. However, corporations may be deducting their support for groups like ALEC anyway, calling their donations “necessary business expenses.” No one knows whether corporations are doing this or not–and we never will since the TEA Party has bullied the U.S. government to the point that its afraid to do its job and even investigate the matter.

That’s why the GOP is so up in arms about the latest IRS attempts to find out what’s going on. They’ve learned that any time the IRS makes a move to actually enforce current law, the TEA Party, the GOP, and Fox News can simply freaks out and the IRS and the administration backs down. Here’s how Norris explains it:

As the political furor grew this week, President Obama forced out the acting commissioner of the I.R.S. Does anyone think his successor, or his successor’s successor, will have any appetite for trying to enforce the tax law’s restrictions on political activities by so-called social welfare groups? After all, any political group can contend that an audit reflects partisan politics.

It would be much better if someone other than the tax collection agency had to decide whether to start investigations, but that is not what the law now says.

Posted: May 9, 2013 at 10:31 pm

Former TEA Party Lawmaker’s Trial Gets Weirder

Today’s TEA Party news comes to us courtesy of former GOP lawmaker Joel Boniek, who is using his trial to put forth conspiracy theories and frivolous arguments to defend himself against charges that he ran a police roadblock in 2012. Because of his behavior, the court was forced to issue an official ruling to limit what Boniek can address in his upcoming trial to try to keep him on topic.

Cowgirl readers will recall that last year, Boniek was hauled into court to answer charges that he’d sped through a roadblock in defiance of an officer’s order to keep out. Boniek was trying to get to his house, but his house was in an area where a forest fire was burning and had been evacuated and blocked off due to the emergency. As a devoted Tea Partier and general wingnut, Boniek did not recognize the authority of the policeman to keep him away from his private property. Also, during his encounter with the officer before he crashed the barrier, Boniek allegedly reached for a gun that he had with him in the front seat. As the Livingston Enterprise reported, he:

“allegedly argued with the officers and eventually ‘dropped his left hand near what looked like a holster’ before a deputy brought him to the ground….The deputy removed a loaded handgun from the holster, according to court documents.”

For his day in court, Boniek brought with him an angry mob of supporters, who shouted down the Judge and Prosecutor in such a menacing way that they fled the courtroom fearing for their safety. At that point, Boniek stood up and proclaimed himself regent over the courtroom, and decreed himself innocent of all the charges (before the bailiff told him otherwise, while brandishing his own weapon).

Boniek, who is representing himself, has been asked to stop bringing up a number of frivolous and conspiracy-related arguments.

The first is “jury nullification” which is when a jury ignores the evidence and or instructions of the judge and returns a verdict of “Not Guilty” despite its belief that the defendant is guilty of the violation he or she is charged with. This appears to be a primary focus of Boniek’s self-defense, and the case is being closely followed by the jury nullification crew, as you can see from their press release on the case. He and his band of TEA Partiers have also been ordered not to distribute TEA Party pamphlets around the courthouse before the trial tomorrow, May 10.

During a hearing of his court case on Friday, the Livingston Enterprise reports, Boniek himself “lodged multiple complaints and objections, including that the court is fraudulent and that officials are treating him as an “artificial person” because his name appears in all capital letters on legal documents.”

He’s also accused the judge and everyone involved with the trial of being “fraudulent” so therefore his trial should not proceed. Boniek alleges that the judge will see personal financial benefit from his trial and any fines related to it.

Boniek is also angry with the Livingston Enterprise,who he has demanded show him every story they write about him before it is printed. The whole Enterprise article on the case’s latest developments is a must read.

Posted: May 8, 2013 at 11:30 am

TEA Party Launches Bid for GOP Leadership

The TEA Party may have its own ticket among the candidates who seek to run the Montana Republican Party

Embattled TEA Party figure Tim Ravndal, who made headlines for his remarks that implied support for violence against gays, is floating a slate of candidates for GOP Chair and Vice Chair. Gary Carlson has already announced and put out a flyer listing his qualifications. Jennifer Fielder, a TEA Party legislator from Noxon with ties to the militia movement, is the second name.

In the past, the GOP has tried to give token support to the hard right wing of the party without actually letting them take full control. However, the battle we saw in the Montana legislature between the hard right leadership of Wittich, Priest, and Essmann and the more traditional GOP-ers is also likely to play out here.

Posted: May 6, 2013 at 6:44 am

What Not to Wear

Missouri Senator Ryan McKenna added an amendment to an education bill to ban anyone in the state of Missouri over the age of eight from wearing seersucker suits.

McKenna added the following language to Missouri Senate Bill 437:

“Any person living in this state aged eight and under may wear seersucker suits at their leisure. Any person over the age of eight living in this state may not wear seersucker suits because adults look ridiculous in seersucker suits,”

While the Esquire blog in which this item first appeared has its own theory on the proposed ban, I’ll add mine here. It’s already started to get quite warm in the south, and perhaps by banning comfortable clothing Sen. McKenna was hoping to get the GOP-controlled body out of town earlier before more damage could be done. The 2013 session of the Missouri legislative assembly is scheduled to end May 17.

Posted: April 25, 2013 at 12:37 pm

Political Quick Hits

Helena City Commission Race

Dan Ellison has already filed for Helena City Commission according to the filings at the Office of Political Practices. As of yet, no one else has filed. Continue reading →

Posted: April 24, 2013 at 7:16 pm

A Difference Between Democrats and the GOP in Montana These Days…

…Is enthusiasm, and can be illustrated by the following juxtaposition:

On the day that the news broke about Max Baucus’s decision to retire, several national groups, including Howard Dean and his outfit Democracy for America, Daily Kos, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee began circulating petitions to “draft Schweitzer.” In 24 hours, some 40,000 people across the country had already signed. Schweitzer stayed mum.

On the GOP side, Steve Daines sent out an email declaring his desire to know if anybody in Montana would like him to run for the senate seat. (Bwahahaha!)

Posted: April 24, 2013 at 12:27 pm

WiFi at HLN? Sometimes, yes

by Cowgirl

For the second time in a row now, I’ve arrived at the Helena airport 1.5 hours early (which is less than the two hours we are all advised), gone quickly through security, and then sat in the waiting area for my flight–without a functional internet connection.

The airport supposedly has WiFi, because you can find an available network to log onto. It’s just that it’s so slow that it doesn’t work at all. You can’t do basic things, like read a blog or send an email. I’d say of the last ten flights I’ve taken, the internet has worked about six times. Continue reading →