Tagged: Jeff Essmann

Posted: June 9, 2013 at 12:28 pm

Deschamps Re-elected, Fielder Comes Aboard

Will Deschamps won re-election as chairman today at the GOP convention, and Jennifer Fielder, a candidate with ties to the militia movement and some of its shadier members, became vice-chair.

Derek Skees, who had run on a platform of requiring republicans to swear a loyalty oath to uphold Tea Party principles, lost. And Christy Clark, who was the incumbent vice chair, also lost, displaced by Fielder. Clark came from what she herself termed the “responsible wing” of the GOP–which is an automatic ticket home. Words like “responsible” or “reasonable” or “moderate” are not terms that a GOP politician can now embrace. They are radioactive. Continue reading →

Posted: June 6, 2013 at 10:02 pm

GOP Floats New Strategy

Republicans have taken heat recently because their backward platform and failure to embrace science is repelling voters.

But a new proposal from a Montana Republican could change the game this weekend at the state GOP convention in Bozeman. Continue reading →

Posted: May 23, 2013 at 5:40 am

Militia of Montana: A Closer Look

Now that the president of the Montana Senate, Jeff Essmann, has come out publicly in support of a militia-connected candidate for vice chair of the Montana Republican Party, its time to take a closer look at this woman and the group she leads, 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 vice-chair. Fielder is a colleague of John Trochmann. They are co-leaders of the Sanders County Resource Council.

Trochmann is the infamous leader of the Militia of Montana, and in the 1990s was a big figure in the national militia movement. And the Sanders County Resource Council was formed by Trochmann specifically to serve as a front group for militia activity. We know this because Trochmann admitted it, in a radio interview, in which he explains that for legal reasons, he now conducts much of his militia-oriented activity under the guise of several new groups, SNRC among them.

As the Human Rights Network reports, the Militia of Montana 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-Nazi, an 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.

And Trochmann isn’t the only Sanders County Resource Council activist with a history of involvement with white supremacist militia types. 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.”

The MHRN report also says that Trochmann also has a history of 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 these are the kind of people they want to follow.

Posted: May 22, 2013 at 6:40 am

Essmann Backs Candidate for Republican Leader with Militia Ties

The leader of the Montana Senate is backing a candidate for Vice-Chair of the state Republican Party with ties to the militia movement. Senate President Jeff Essmann put his support in writing–sending a letter to GOP convention delegates on official state letterhead backing Jennifer Fielder, who is a prominent member of a group linked to the Militia of Montana and a state legislator from Sanders County, where the Militia of Montana is headquartered. (This also appears to be a misuse of the state seal and official letterhead–which is supposed to be used for official state business only, not for partisan politics.)

Fielder is a leader of the innocuous sounding Sanders Natural Resource Council–the organization is the latest incarnation of the Militia of Montana. Fielder is on the group’s board of directors, according to her website. Here’s the screenshot in case this gets taken down.

Fellow Militia of Montana leader John Trochmann explains in this radio interview why the Militia of Montana is currently operating under the name Sanders National Resource Council–to evade detection by federal agents. Organizing an armed anti-government para-military group is against the law.

“For you federal agents that are listening, this movement is growing. There are sweet little units everywhere. Government, you figure it out…

Here in MT it is impossible to start an armed militia and take ‘em out and train them because of state laws…so if you want to train you have to do one thing at a time. You go out and target practice or you go out and do your skills as camping out or cold weather survival, especially like communications. We do that very well here, undetected hopefully…the name may be changed but we are still the same. “

Right now, that name is Sanders Natural Resource Council, Trochmann explains. If you wonder why the Militia of Montana would want to pose as an anti-environmental group, consider this. The militia leaders say that the biggest threat the militia sees right now is from attacks by “globalist organizations” of “environmental wackos.”

The Sanders Natural Resource Council (pronounced “SNaRC” by locals) believes that conservationists who support wildlife management of local bear populations are part of a conspiracy to conduct surveillance on the militia movement. Here’s how the bear surveillance conspiracy works:

“If you try to do anything with these bears–they have collars on them. If you try to plug a bear and the heart stops there will be a satellite over the top you instantly to take your picture of you and call out the game wardens instantly.”

“What if you plug one of the game wardens?” the host asks. To be sure, the host goes on to clarify his remark :”I was being somewhat facetious–but only somewhat, with that.”

And so, to fight the ominous threat of bear-activated satellite surveillance systems, the SNaRC Militia set about spreading fear with a spree of “town hall” meetings. GOP candidate Jennifer Fielder led the meetings, saying the Forest Service was planning a conspiracy to close down the entire forest.

At the meetings, the militia members raved that private property rights are at risk over grizzly management lines that they only just learned of. Problem is, the bear management lines have actually been on the map for thirty years.

The Militia of Montana organized from the remnants of an earlier organization, United Citizens for Justice. That was the group of angry white supremacists that formed in the 1990′s after the wife and son of white supremacist Randy Weaver were killed in a standoff with federal agents in Ruby Ridge, Idaho. The Alliance Defense League reports that “nearly all of its leaders and chief supporters were white supremacists, including Louis Beam, former ambassador at large for Aryan Nations.”

A screenshot of Essmann’s letter can be seen below:

Posted: April 10, 2013 at 7:22 am

Internet Buzz: Kim Jong Jeff Essmann

by Cowgirl

As Pogie at Intelligent Discontent first reported, the internet is buzzing with satirical Twitter accounts and posts about state Sen. Jeff Essmann and his bizarre leadership style.

The buzz is growing as Montanans find out about the extraordinary actions Essmann is taking to manipulate an electoral advantage for Republicans in the next election. Essmann broke the Senate rules to force two bad GOP ideas onto the ballot. The GOP uses ballot referenda to circumvent the legislative process and push through ideas that are so egregious that they face a sure veto by Governor Bullock. The latest: a voter suppression measure and a measure to block third-party candidates from the ballot. The GOP also deceptively manipulates the wording of their ideas on the ballot in a manner designed to cause confusion and obscure what’s really at stake.

Essmann ignored motions from Democrats on the Senate floor so that he could force voter suppression measures on to the Montana ballot. He later claimed no motions were made, in spite of the all day fracas that broke out in the Senate chambers last Friday. He even claimed he had broken no rules and that the Dems have no remedy in court. Finally, he issued subpoenas to democratic legislators demanding that they appear in his presence for questioning today.

Here is a compendium of the internet’s most recent delights.

Kim Jong Jeff Essmann Tweet

Posted: April 7, 2013 at 12:42 pm

Statecraft: Essmann finds solution to senate stalemate

by Cowgirl

After taking the legislature to the brink of a constitutional crisis, Senate leader Jeff Essmann today conducted debate on the floor of the senate, to try to figure out how to resolve the stalemate that has gripped the chamber after Friday’s raucous session.

After a few hours, Essmann, the consummate statesman, arrived at a very basic solution–donuts:

[Note: After you've seen the summary of Essmann's response, can watch his full response here WARNING-Legislative website clips are set by their system to autoplay.]

Posted: January 16, 2013 at 8:56 pm

Leaked Emails Show Civil War in Montana GOP

The big news today, if it is news at all, is that Republicans in Montana are at war with each other.

Some juicy emails [PDF] were published by the Great Falls Tribune Wednesday, showing the machinations of rightwing Republicans such as Jeff Essmann and Art Wittich as they try to vanquish the moderates, led by ousted Senate President Jim Peterson. Presumably, these missives were leaked by one of the moderate legislators in the scrum, who thought it would be good to publicize the schism.

There are some hilarious exchanges, and the article in the Trib, by John Adams, is required reading for anyone interested in Montana Politics. It’s fun to observe the various leaders, or aspiring leaders, openly agitating against the opponent faction.

But it is also quite disturbing. For the emails reveal that the objective of Tea Party Republicanism is to control all branches of Government, with absolute power, in its entirety. Here is an excerpt from a September 2012 e-mail by Essmann to his ultra-conservative cohorts (the subject line of the email is “Agenda Control”) about how a redistricting of legislative seats will make the ultimate goal achievable:

Jon Bennion was able to draw a map with 63 safe Republican seats. If we can implement the long term strategy we will be in a position to actually elect a majority of conservatives in both bodies, adopt conservative legislation and have a court that will uphold it.

And here is one from Art Wittich, describing efforts to get rid of moderates in GOP primaries:

We must help the purge along. Hopefully, a new phoenix will rise from the ashes.

Sadly, these writings and many of the other emails that were disclosed to the Tribune reveal an almost jihadist mentality at work. The right wing of the GOP views itself as an historic movement seeking a distant, ultimate triumph in which the opposition will be vanquished and the right-wing view of the world will be imposed, imposed upon all Montanans even if a majority of the voters don’t want it.

How can this type of thinking possibly be the basis for a successful political movement? It can’t, which is why Republicans are currently circling down the toilet nationally. America has a two-party system and regardless of what party you are in, to be taken seriously and help the greater good you must work with the opposition, and accept the fact that your opponents are not enemies, but simply a counterbalance representing the viewpoints of many.

Posted: November 27, 2012 at 9:57 pm

GOP Legislator Junkets Exposed

Today, new evidence of the extent to which Montana’s legislature has been corrupted by out-of-state corporate interests has come to light. Citizen advocates have released documents showing that several Montana legislators received all-expense paid junkets where they were wined and dined by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The latest ALEC extravaganza kicks off tomorrow in Washington D.C.

As Cowgirl readers know, ALEC is the bane of workaday Montanans’ existence. It’s corporate America’s mainline to corrupting the lawmaking process. At lavish, closed-door “summits” they write “model bills” and instruct GOP state legislators to force them through back home.

ALEC won’t say which Montana lawmakers are showing up for tomorrow’s posh retreat. However, documents released today reveal some of the state lawmakers who were in on these junkets from 2006-2008.

This influence-buying scheme is illegal in some states, and should be in Montana. Probably some smart democratic legislator is already coming up with a bill to this effect.

The list of the Montana junkateers who are still in office includes:

Elsie Arntzen R-Billings
David Howard R-Park City
Lee Randall R-Broadus
Llew Jones R-Conrad
Cary Smith R-Billings
Wendy Warburton R-Havre
Scott Sales R-Gallatin County
Jesse O’Hara R-Great Falls
Tom McGillvray R-Billings
Roger Koopman (now on the PSC)
Verdell Jackson R-Kalispell
Jeff Essmann R-Billings
Debby Barrett R-Dillon
Rick Ripley R-Wolf Creek
Bob Lake R-Hamilton
Krayton Kerns R-Laurel

Besides those listed above there are many other legislators who are members of ALEC. Some have already been busted directly introducing ALEC bills, including: Mark Blasdel, Jason Priest, Ted Washburn, Scott Reichner, Pat Connell, Tom Berry, Jeff Welborn, and Jon Sonju.

What kind of laws is ALEC pushing this year? Lots. One way to find out if a bill is ALEC boilerplate is to compare it to the lists of the latest model legislation from the various corporations which can be found here. Examples of new model ALEC bills include:

a law to require Attorneys General to do the legislature’s bidding,
requirement that all public employees must personally pay the costs of producing public documents unless the printed item does not display the publication’s printing cost,
a resolution for a constitutional convention to eliminate consumer protections,
repeal of voting access laws,
and ironically, a bill to create a new government commission to identify ways to cut to state government–at taxpayer expense,

and dozens more. Some of the bills are designed to enhance corporate profits by stripping consumer protections from the laws, while others are “message” bills designed to enhance GOP chances in upcoming elections by forcing democrats to vote on controversial, if impractical, bills.