Tagged: Diane Smith

Posted: March 19, 2012 at 10:17 pm

Staggering Statistic Confirms GOP Anti-Woman Bias

Out of 40 Republican candidates running for state-wide office in Montana, only two are women. (Patty Lovaas and Sandy Welch)

For the Democrats, there are eight women out of 22 total candidates. (Monica Lindeen, Pam Bucy, Linda McCulloch, Kim Gillan, Denise Juneau, Heather Margolis, Franke Wilmer, Diane Smith)

Notably, all seven GOP gubernatorial candidates are male, and have all chosen male running mates.

Republicans aren’t very good with math, so I’ll spell it out for them: The GOP clearly either does not believe that females belong in politics, or the Party simply repels women.

Posted: February 17, 2012 at 7:00 am

Female Elephants Need Not Apply

No female elephants in today's GOPIn the Republican primary for governor, six male candidates have now chosen six male running mates. It is a male-only field.

And it gets worse: Of the twenty or so Republicans who have announced a run for statewide office, only one is a woman.

At a minimum, you’d think at least one of the idiots running for governor would sense some political value in choosing a woman.  Yet none did.  Perhaps this is why the GOP has been relegated to a fringe sect in Montana. Perhaps this is why an ignoramus like Dennis Rehberg is now the Republicans’ lone statewide office holder, literally the last man standing.

Fortunately, Democrats give no quarter to such sexism.

For starters, Pam Bucy, an accomplished lawyer and deputy attorney general, is poised to become our next Attorney General.  She would become Montana’s first female Attorney General and one of only six in America, and only the second woman in Montana’s 122 year history to occupy a top elected office in Montana (the others are Jeanette Rankin and Judy Martz).

And don’t forget Monica Lindeen, Denise Juneau and Linda McCulloch, who are sitting in the three other executive positions right now, as well as Carol Williams who was Senate President in 2009 and now Senate Majority leader. She is the only woman ever to hold the top legislative post in either house.

And the Democratic nominee for Congress will also be a female, either Kim Gillan, Franke Wilmer or Diane Smith.  In the past, our nominees for Congress have included Tracy Velasquez, Lindeen, and Nancy Keenan for Congress, and Dorothy Bradley ran for Governor.  On the Public Service Commission, we have Gail Gutsche and may also soon have Lynda Moss.

The only females of the species playing a role in the GOP gubernatorial primary are the numerous ex-wives and mistresses of a few of the candidates.  I guess that’s better than nothing.

Posted: January 31, 2012 at 5:01 pm

Congressional Candidates Reveal Their Finances

The federal candidates released their fundraising numbers today.

The House Race:

Kim Gillan (Billings) retains the lead over Diane Smith (Whitefish) and Franke Wilmer (Bozeman), with more cash in the bank. (cash balances: Gillan $100K, Smith $75K, Wilmer $54K).   Smith, however, had a big quarter and nearly doubled what Wilmer and Smith each brought in, Smith raising $100K to Wilmer’s $55K and Gillan’s $52K.

The bad news is that on the GOP side, Steve Daines raised $173K and has $631K clams in the bank.

The Senate Race:

Tester continues to kick the shit out of Rehberg in fundraising, probably because Tester is capable of speaking in full, grammatical sentences while speaking to prospective donors on the telephone.

As the Missoulian reports:

Rehberg raised $656,000 during the last quarter of the year, compared to Tester’s $1.2 million. Rehberg also had a little more than half of the Democrat’s $3.8 million cash on hand.

To recap, in the State races reported last month the snapshot were: Bullock handily beating Rick Hill (governor); Bucy edging out Laslovich (attorney general) by a hair for the quarter, Laslovich raising slightly more overall but Bucy having more cash on hand; and Lindeen, Juneau and McCulloch beating their likely GOP opponents.

Posted: January 12, 2012 at 8:48 pm

Political Quick Hits

Quote of the Day

The Billings Gazette ran an article today announcing the Democratic candidates running for office this year.  One man who had been through the 2011 session got right to the point.

“We don’t need to waste our time talking about whether we should or should not secede from the United States,” said Rep. Bill McChesney, D-Miles City. “I’m not here to do that. I’m here to ensure that my kids and their kids have an opportunity for a good education, a good job and a solid future in the state of Montana.”

Amen.

 

Something…Different

Here is an interesting item from Congressional candidate Diane Smith. It is kind of a strange way to announce yourself, but maybe standing out gets you noticed. See for yourself.

 

Leadership Troubles

The top Republican legislator in the GOP House of Representatives says he’s waiting “to see whether another Republican candidate surfaces” before deciding to run again himself.  Speaker of the House Mike Milburn (R-Cascade) is termed out of the House but is eligible to run for the Senate seat that encompasses his house district.  That seat is currently held by Democrat Brad Hammlett.

“I’ve thought about running for the Senate against Democrat Brad Hammett, but haven’t decided yet,” Milburn said. “I’ll wait and see whether another Republican candidate surfaces and then decide.”

All things being equal it is unusual that the top Republican legislator would be so fearful of opposition from within his own camp.   It suggests that Republicans are not as unaware of the disastrous nature of the 2011 Legislative Session as they publicly pretend to be.

Posted: November 4, 2011 at 9:52 pm

UPDATED: Mrs. Smith Going to Washington?

A woman named Diane Smith, from Whitefish, has announced a run for Congress.

 

Smith has an interesting profile as a candidate with some strengths and weaknesses.   She has never run for office (likely a strength) and she has an impressive professional resume.  She built a $190 million business in Kalispell that employs 100 people, and before moving to Montana from the DC area in 2002 she served Vice President of the Alltel cellular company.  She is an author as well, having written a book on rural entrepreneurship.

 

At the same time, Smith is known in Whitefish to have close alliances with some local Republicans and Realtors, on key local issues like development and sprawl.  And based on the feedback that has been sent to this blog in the last 24 hours, there is clearly a sector of democratic voters in Whitefish that will not be voting for her in the primary. Smith also donated in on two occasions to Rehberg and Burns, some time ago (and has also donated to Tester and other Democrats).

 

The wild card, of course, is that she helped found a business that is worth $190 million. Meaning she probably has some good personal wealth, which is something that the other primary candidates–Kim Gillan and Franke Wilmer–do not.  Right now Kim Gillan leads the pack in terms of funds raised, and Smith is starting at zero assuming she spends no money of her own.

 

So it looks like we will have an interesting primary.  And a feminist one, too.

UPDATE: The Flathead Memo also has a piece up on the Congressional Primary that you’ll want to read.