Posted: May 20, 2012 at 12:02 pm

Washington Post Notes Rick Hill’s Poor Leadership

The Washington Post’s “The Fix” blog highlighted Rick Hill’s reputation for poor leadership this week.

At issue is an AP article uncovered by Democrats profiling Hill’s lack of leadership abilities. Apparently, Hill “buzz-sawed through three chiefs of staff, three legislative directors and three schedulers in just two years” and that he “lent new meaning to the term ‘micromanage’ when he went ballistic after an aide ordered the wrong kind of office paper.”

If he can’t even manage a small congressional staff, he’s going to have trouble serving as the head of the executive branch in charge of running the entire state.

On Friday, the Post released a ranked list of the most competitive gubernatorial races across the country. Montana is again one of the top five to watch this cycle. Here’s how the Washington Post described the race:

“4. Montana (Democratic-controlled): This is by all accounts a Republican-leaning state, but Democrats have a statewide official, in Attorney General Steve Bullock, while Republicans have a pretty uncertain crop of candidates. The leading GOP contender appears to be former congressman Rick Hill, who Democrats noted this week was once rated the second most-difficult boss in Congress. We have yet to see what Hill is made of, but it will go a long way in determining the GOP’s chances here. An automated poll from Democratic-leaning pollster Public Policy Polling this week showed Bullock and Hill tied at 39 percent.”

The entire AP article on Rick Hill’s lack of leadership skills can be read below the fold.

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Posted: April 27, 2012 at 7:40 am

Rick Hill: “I DON’T EAT DELI!”

As Montanans observes National Administrative Professionals Week – and bosses across Montana honor and thank their hardworking employees – the Montana Democratic Party is expressing its sympathy to those who currently work for Congressman Hill, who is notorious for being difficult to work for.

Congressman Hill, during his tenure in the nation’s capital, was rated by George magazine as the “second most-difficult boss” in all of congress. [Source: The Associated Press, “Magazine Finds Hill Second Most Difficult Boss in Congress,” June 19, 1999.]

To earn this dubious distinction, George noted that the Congressman:

“angrily hurled a letter opener at an aide”
Shouted: “I don’t eat deli” to a staffer who brought him the wrong sandwich
“fills some afternoons playing Free Cell, a computer game”’
And went through three chiefs of staff, three legislative directors and three schedulers in two years.

There’s no sign his diva mentality has let up since. He appears to have insisted that his gubernatorial campaign pay for a new car for him to cross the state in luxury.

Other worse boss nominees over the years have included Mark Sanford, who asks his aides to wash his sheets, and Sheila Jackson Lee, who “had an intern positioned at her side all day so he’d be ready to open her Sweet ‘n Low packets for her.”