Tagged: Jesse Laslovich

Posted: May 21, 2012 at 8:56 pm

Statewide Candidates Reveal Finances

The statewide candidates turned in their fundraising numbers today.   Here are a few items of interest:

The Governor’s race:

Steve Bullock raised twice as much as Rick Hill during the latest reporting period ($100,000 for Bullock to $54,000 for Hill).  Bullock also has a war chest of more than double the unspent funds still in the bank.  Hill used to bring in amounts much closer to what Bullock has been raising, but Hill’s financial support continues to weaken as the word about his past continues to circulate.

Neil Livingstone also brought in $90,000–although the entire amount came from a donation Livingstone made to himself. In an email to supporters, Livingstone said he has used the money to put up “the largest statewide media buy, both radio, and TV” of any of the candidates.

Livingstone says openly what many are privately thinking.

“Rick cannot beat Attorney General Steve Bullock in the general election.”

He then proceeds to go negative on all of this opponents.  I’ve pasted the entire email from “Neil and Ryan” asking that voters “join the revolution” below the fold.

 

Attorney General primary:

The AG race continues to be tight.  While Jesse Laslovich reported raising $7,000 more than Pam Bucy for this period, the money appears to be “bundled” oil industry donations from out of state.  ”Bundling” occurs when an industry collects donations from its management, employees, and their relatives and sends them in a lump “bundle” so the candidate knows exactly who’s paying the bills.

Laslovich’s report today includes $7870 (a third of the money he raised this quarter) from out of state donors–all affiliated with the oil industry–primarily from Texas, Connecticut and Maine.

The Texas contributors look like employees (and their relatives) of a company that makes chemicals used in oil drilling. The corporation is called DX Chemicals. Guy Mossman and William Hixon, VPs of DX Chemicals, gave.  The Connecticut contributors are affiliated with a venture capital corporation called American Bailey–a private investment firm specializing in fuel and energy development.  (J. William Drake, VP of American Bailey, and Douglas Bailey, President, are contributors).  Other Texas money comes from Charles Kerr and Corbin Robertson, VPs of Quintana Minerals Corporation, a private oil and gas exploration development company.

Also of note, all of this money came in on May 16, the last day to collect money for today’s report. The contributions were all for $320 (weird number to contribute since the limit is $310). There is also an expenditure for a wire transfer to a bank, so I’m guessing this all came in last minute.

Certainly the oil industry would like greater influence over the land board. The corporate executives may also be concerned because Citizens United is going to be a key issue for the next AG.  Bucy raised $20,000 over the most recent reporting cycle.

 

Superintendent of Public Instruction:

Republican Sandy Welch is lagging further and further behind current Superintendent Denise Juneau, a Democrat.   Welch raised about half what Juneau did for the most recent reporting period–$6,300.  However, she has only $19k in the bank to Denise Juneau’s $89k.  This, combined with Juneau’s recent staggering earned media streak, probably means the GOP has already given up on taking Juneau’s seat.

Continue reading →

Posted: March 29, 2012 at 6:19 pm

GUEST POST: It Takes Courage

The following is a guest post by Holly Kaleczyc.

In my years serving women in crisis in Helena, I learned that it takes courage to be an advocate for women—to stand up for our reproductive rights in the face of aggressive and sometimes ugly, violent opposition. I’m thrilled to support such an advocate for Attorney General—Pam Bucy. Pam has served on the board of Planned Parenthood, she has done countless hours of pro bono legal work on behalf of women, and she authored the Attorney General opinion that ended gender discrimination in insurance purchasing and mandated that health insurance cover birth control like any other prescription. Pam has fought, with courage, for women.

Women’s organizations are lining up behind Pam. EMILY’s List and the Women’s Campaign Fund endorsed Pam very early on. Just a few weeks ago, Planned Parenthood Montana gave their sole primary endorsement to Pam Bucy. Her primary opponent, Jesse Laslovich, received a recommendation, indicating that his record has not been 100%– and demonstrating that he is not the best advocate for women running in this race.

Mr. Laslovich has not always been on our side. In 2003, Mr. Laslovich had a 66% score with NARAL for his vote for a fetal pain bill—a bill mandating questionable medical procedures for women and opposed by the medical profession. In 2009 he had a 90% record because he voted for a bill that defined life at conception, creating a crime of fetal homicide. Overall, Jesse’s record on choice has been ok most of the time. Pam Bucy has stood with women all of the time.

With the attacks on our basic rights to contraception, funding for victims’ services at risk, and continuous anti-woman rhetoric, we need to elect leaders who we can count on all the time. 

Posted: March 15, 2012 at 6:12 am

Organizations Endorse in AG Primary

Groups are beginning to make endorsements in the Democratic Attorney General Primary.

To date, the groups that are endorsing Pam Bucy include:

  • Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana,
  • Montana Teamsters,
  • Montana Conservation Voters,
  • EMILY’s List, and
  • Women’s Campaign Fund

The groups that are endorsing Jesse Laslovich are:

  • Anaconda Teachers Union Local 502

While more organizations are endorsing Bucy at this point, Lazlovich seems to be better at putting endorsements on his website.  The Bucy campaign has not yet posted their endorsements on the campaign site. Instead, supporters of the candidate are touting the endorsements in letters to the editor.

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 7, 2012 at 5:03 pm

The Assman Raiseth

Steve Bullock blew Rick Hill out of the water this fundraising period, raising almost twice what Hill raised, the Billings Gazette reports this week.  That doesn’t surprise me, because Hill has baggage and GOP activists and donors have steadily been learning about it.

But the juicy part about the just-released fundraising numbers is that Hill got beat by Jeff Essmann, aka the Assman, a moniker that refers both to his physical situation and also the smell of his foul legislation, which resembles ass.

Perhaps Essmann’s impressive money victory means that the rumors about Dennis Rehberg supporting Essmann are true.

At any rate, Bullock raised double what Essmann and Hill were able to bring in ($171k as opposed to $85 and $82k, respectively) leaving the entire GOP field in his dust. Neil Livingstone is once again bankrupt, and the other dwarves have no money either.

In other fundraising news, Pam Bucy and Jesse Laslovich are neck and neck in the money game.

Denise Juneau meanwhile had a very strong quarter and is inviting little in the way of a serious challenge.  In the Secretary of State race, Brad Johnson, who is trying to reclaim his lost seat, raised around $4,000 and spent $2,000 (on whiskey, perhaps), and Scott Aspenlieder did better than Johnson but he too fell short of matching what Linda McCulloch raised.  Derek Skees came in at a sad $2,000.

Posted: November 1, 2011 at 7:05 pm

Political Quick Hits

We Take It Back

The Great Falls Tribune reported this week that the Great Falls Chamber of Commerce has flip-flopped, rescinding its endorsement of embattled Great Falls TEA Party leader Cyndi Baker, who is running against Mary Jolley.  When asked about whether the reason for the un-endorsement had anything to do with the fact that  Baker had threatened local schools with “bad publicity” if they didn’t offer her a government job as a liaison to the TEA Party, a Chamber representative said that was “part of it.”

 

Rehberg’s Lawsuit Continues to Make Waves

Dems continue to pound Rehberg for his lawsuit against Billings firefighters this week, but that’s not the only controversy the lawsuit has raised. Some Democrats are upset that Attorney General candidate Jesse Laslovich has found an unusual source for his campaign treasurer and financial support in Cliff and John Edwards. The pair are, respectively, the Rehberg’s lawyer and his son.  Both work at the Edwards firm, which represent the Rehbergs.  Rep. Carolyn Pease-Lopez (D-House District 42) posted on her Facebook page this week:

I just learned some disturbing news. The law firm that is representing Rehberg in his lawsuit agains the Billings Fire department are supporters and donors of the Jesse Laslovich campaign for A.G. One of the lawyers is even his campaign treasurer. What is Laslovich thinking! This is ridiculous.

 

Flathead Fallout

The latest political scandal in the Flathead keeps getting bigger.  James Conner of the Flathead Memo and former State Representative Mike Jopek have some harsh words for the Flathead County Commission today.  Here’s a sneak preview.  The entire post is not to be missed:

Once only landowners did have the vote — and those landowners had to be white men. There are those who think that’s how things should be today.

Posted: August 2, 2011 at 5:47 pm

Words and Actions

This week there have been a couple of  posts over at Intelligent Discontent about Jesse Laslovich and abortion rights.  One post, combined with some of the comments under it, says basically that a democratic primary “should not be about labels but issue positions“.  Another lauds Laslovich for making critical remarks about Ravalli County Republicans, for their refusal to accept family planning money.

These blog posts seek to immunize Laslovich from criticism that he is not fully pro-choice and that he is not as strong an advocate for women as Pam Bucy.

But facts are stubborn things.   Pam Bucy, Laslovich’s opponent and a favorite of mine, is a tremendous advocate for women and their right to privacy.  Bucy has been an attorney for Planned Parenthood.  As the Assistant AG to Mike McGrath and at the request of Jon Tester, Bucy wrote the AG’s opinion granting that insurance companies must cover birth control when they cover other prescription drugs–like Viagra, and the fact that Bucy has also  made financial contributions to choice organizations –more times than can be linked to here.  Jessie Laslovich has voted generally pro-choice throughout his career, but he is not on a level with Bucy in this regard.

In two separate sessions, in 2003 and again in 2009 and Laslovich took votes in the Senate in favor of what this session was a Keith Regier bill (the one in which Regier compared women to cattle), which gave personhood to fetuses and was vetoed by Schweitzer for its unconstitutionality.

I applaud Laslovich for speaking out against Ravalli Rs, but actions are what matter, not words. And when action was at hand, he voted for a right-wing pro-life bill.

So given this contrast, and given the fact that I started blogging primarily to give women a voice on the Montana blogoshpere where I did not believe we were sufficiently represented, I will side with Bucy as a far greater advocate for women and choice.

This is not to say that Laslovich isn’t a good democrat and strong on many issues important to us. But Bucy wins out on protection of women’s rights from a clear contrast.

Posted: July 6, 2011 at 7:48 pm

The More Information, the Better

Interesting discussion going on at Intelligent Discontent here and here about the choice voting record of Jesse Laslovich, a former legislator who is running for AG.  The issue was also mentioned in passing by a guest poster here a while back.  Whether a couple of wrong votes on a candidate’s voting record will matter to voters is an interesting question that merits a closer look.

How much these things matter depend not just on what the votes were about but also on the circumstances of the race and the political climate during the election cycle.

It’s important to remember that year after year, every session, nearly every day, Republicans are relentlessly attacking women’s rights on every possible front they can come up with–be it working to chip away women’s freedom piece by piece and vote by vote in the Montana legislature, in ballot initiatives in the states (Montana faces two anti-choice ballot initiatives this election cycle) or in the black hole that is the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress.

Look at what’s going on right now with the war on women.  It’s not just about abortion, or even just about defunding Planned Parenthood.  The Republicans are fighting basic healthcare for women, for their whole reproductive lifespan. Women have a big fight on our hands in terms of respect for women, our value and roll in society, and what is the right fit for Montana in terms of family decisions, personal privacy, Medicaid, and preventative health care.

The uptick in attacks probably means that in this climate elections matter even more than usual.  Women aren’t likely to take any race, any candidate, nor any vote for granted.  When there is an opportunity to do so, I think we’ll see women looking to support a candidate that can be counted on to stand up for women in all circumstances.  A primary election race is a classic example of this type of opportunity.

It appears that Laslovich wants to be considered pro-choice, and that’s good.  But the facts are that a look at his voting record shows he has made a couple anti-choice votes over the years from 2001-2009 that he served in the legislature.  In 2003 and in 2009 Laslovich voted for bills which would not protect women, regardless of the narrowly stated intent of the bill, but instead give fetuses legal personhood, as a wedge to re-criminalize abortion. These voting records are created to help constituents know which votes were pro-choice and which were anti.  One can debate the points of the bill or the percentage of bills that a bill represents, but the decisions over whether these measures are good or bad for women’s rights are made by experts and analyzed by attorneys and advocates who work on these issues every day, fighting the attacks year after year.  The work of these groups is supported  and trusted by local members who make financial contributions in order to get this information and to make sure their rights remain intact.

Voters are going to have to compare the candidates in order to decide whom to vote for.   At some point there will likely be endorsements by individuals and groups that will provide us with more information, but voting records aren’t the only record of where an individual candidate stands on an issue.

Voters will likely look at the candidates’ actions on issues, whether they’ve worked on the cause, been active in an issue, or been a donor.  For example, they’ll probably look at how Bucy has been an attorney for Planned Parenthood, how as assistant AG to Mike McGrath and at the request of Jon Tester, Bucy wrote the AG’s opinion granting that insurance companies must cover birth control when they cover other prescription drugs–like Viagra, and the fact that Bucy has also  made financial contributions to choice organizations –more times than can be linked to here.

The women’s vote will be key in next year’s elections, and analysts expect a battle for our allegiance.  Sine 1984, according to CNN exit polls, women have been a majority of voters in both presidential and congressional mid-term elections.  However, women make up roughly 58 percent of Democratic Primary voters, so our votes will definitely matter in this race.

It isn’t surprising that commenters, tipsters, and activists are getting involved this far ahead of the 2012 elections, as the stakes are high.  Keep the information coming.  The more we know about the candidates, the better.