Tagged: agriculture

Posted: March 5, 2012 at 11:07 pm

Case Dismissed

The Republican Party was rebuffed last week, when the state’s top constitutional lawyer dismissed the GOP’s longstanding ethics complaint against Schweitzer.

The complaint alleged that the Governor had broken the law because he ran a public service announcement during an election year, using state funds which the law forbids.  Schweitzer has always claimed that he was simply doing his job by promoting Montana agriculture, and also that no funds were expended because the radio ad was free.

The GOP expressed outraged at the determination by Jim Goetz, the Bozeman lawyer who was deputized to decide the case by the recently appointed Commissioner Jim Murray, that Schweitzer had done no wrong. “Laughable” is how the decision was described by Bowen Greenwood, head of the Montana Republican Party.  Greenwood also said that the GOP will appeal the decision.

I’d say if a radio station gives free air time to a Governor to do an ad promoting the state’s agriculture sector, then it’s hard to see why Montana citizens would benefit by having such promotional activity be illegal.  And recall that the GOP chose to go after Schweitzer on this issue during 2008, when they needed to hit him hard on something, anything, to try to put a dent his numbers during an election year.

But there is also an undercurrent to this whole affair: agriculture no longer appears to be embraced by the GOP in Montana.  It has been a long time since a GOP gubernatorial candidate (or governor) has hailed from an Ag background, and Rick Hill/Jon Sonju are continuing the trend.  Neither Sonju nor Hill has ever picked up a shovel, planted a seed or poked a cow.  Nor had Roy Brown or Steve Daines (two corporate bozos); nor had Bob Brown or Dave Lewis (two career politicians/bureaucrats); nor had Marc Racicot or Judy Martz (a lawyer and an imbecile), nor has Denny Rehberg (he inherited ranch land from his parents and developed condos on it).

On the other hand, Schweitzer and Tester, both farmers, have dominated the Democratic scene in recent years and have eaten into the Agriculture sector that perhaps the GOP once had a much stronger hold on.  So it sort of makes sense that the GOP would become so irritated about the Governor doing a radio PSA supporting Montana growers.  But rather than just be irritated, they became childish, but have now been slapped down, hard, and probably for good.

Posted: September 29, 2011 at 12:46 pm

Trampling on Our Rights

This week’s must read is a guest editorial in the Bozeman Chronicle by Blaine County Commissioner Vic Miller.   The well-written piece explains how Congressman Rehberg’s federal land grab bill amounts to trampling our rights to declare a police state over Glacier National Park, Indian reservations, and a vast swath of public lands. Commissioner Miller says:

it is exactly the kind of Big Government Montanans don’t tolerate. All of us should be up in arms over the prospect of this bill. It infringes on our constitutional rights in the name of freedom – much like the controversial REAL ID Act. In fact, this bill builds off of REAL ID.

Commissioner Miller knows what he’s talking about, he runs a county on the Hi-Line and deals with border issues as part of his job.   Don’t miss the piece on this bill up at Intelligent Discontent either.

 

Posted: December 21, 2010 at 7:18 am

A Montana Talk Radio Fact Check

For the past few weeks, rightwing radio talk show host Aaron Flint has been trying to harpoon the Food Safety Modernization Act. Not sure what his problem with safe food might be. This is the bill that sailed through the Senate Sunday with unanimous support.  I guess Mr. Flint is against it because it includes a very good amendment in it by Senator Jon Tester, and it’s hard for a rightwinger to give credit where credit is due.

Tester’s amendment exempts family produce farms and food producers from what would be very expensive new federal regulations that are needed for the big food factories and huge growing operations that ship thousands of bags of lettuce to half the states in the union in a matter of hours… the companies responsible for our nation’s food-borne illness problems.

Under Mr. Flint’s rationale, since the exemption doesn’t apply to Tester’s own farm, then “there’s a chance  your farm doesn’t qualify either.”  Aaron Flint sounds like he’s against the Tester Amendment because “the typical family farm in Montana would not be exempt from the new regulations.“

Now I’m no farmer, but even I know that “typical family farm” in Montana probably wouldn’t even be subject to the new Food Safety Act regulations in the first place.   It makes me wonder if the talking heads over at Northern News Network even read the bill.

The Food Safety Act applies to those who grow produce or make processed food.  The majority of Montana farmers grow grain (like Tester) and sugar beets.  The last time I checked, grain and sugar beets weren’t the cause of America’s food safety problems, rather things like tomatoes, bagged lettuces and whatnot.  Ranchers won’t be impacted either because this bill doesn’t even deal with meat.

But, if you grow produce or process food in Montana, then chances are you make less than $500,000 per year in sales and you sell directly to the marketplace.  If Aaron Flint had actually read the bill, he’d see that’s exactly who the Tester exempts.

Posted: October 15, 2010 at 7:04 am

McDonald Faces Rehberg in Home Field Debate Tonight

Tonight, Dennis McDonald, Democratic challenger for Montana’s congressional seat, will take on GOP incumbent Dennis Rehberg, at a debate at the Montana Farmers Union Annual Meeting, held at 4:00p.m. at the Heritage Inn, 1700 Fox Farm Road, Great Falls. Dennis McDonald has invited supporters from across the state to a pre-debate rally 2:30 p.m. at the same location.

A hot topic of the debate is expected to be the issue of opening up new markets for Montana producers.  New markets like Cuba would mean new jobs for Montana’s agricultural producers and farmers who make up Montana’s largest industry.

Lifting the travel ban and readjusting the payment terms for exports to Cuba would increase U.S. agricultural exports by more than $360 million annually, generating 6,000 domestic jobs and a $1 billion boost to the U.S. economy. This would be a tremendous help to Montana’s agricultural producers that will grow our state’s economy and create jobs in our rural communities.

Dennis has long been a leader in addressing agriculture and trade issues critical to Montana’s farmers and ranchers. He pushed for laws such as the Country of Origin Labeling Act and the Montana Certified Natural Beef Program. He also founded the Beef-On-Every-Plate charity program, which has provided hundreds of thousands of meals to needy Montanans. His hard work led to his appointment in 1998 to the President’s International Trade Advisory Committee for Livestock, for which he traveled extensively through the western hemisphere. In this role he fought against the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which he felt placed Montana farmers and ranchers at a competitive disadvantage.

He also lead efforts to raise Montana’s minimum wage in 2006. Under his leadership, he made sure the Dems were key players in helping this pass, directing organizing staff and volunteers to collect signatures.

His vocal role as an advocate for the Ag community-he is founder of R-CALF, a national progressive ag organization-led to greater involvement in state politics when, in 2005, he was chosen chairman of Montana’s Democratic party. His efforts to revitalize the party, particularly in rural areas all over the state, helped to elect Democrat Jon Tester to the U.S. Senate in 2006.

McDonald also knows what it’s like to face true hard times. Early in his life his family lost their home in Kansas and moved to northern California to start over. To pay for college, he worked summer jobs in a cannery as a member of the Teamsters Union and as a Forest Service firefighter.