Steve Daines, the Republican millionaire who makes his money shipping American jobs overseas, recently tried to pull a fast one on Montana voters when he said that we need more transparency in Congress. If Daines really wants more transparency in Congress, he should probably remove himself from the Montana house race.

Here’s what happened.  Responding to Kim Gillan’s call for Montana’s next Member of Congress to pledge that they will place their assets in Blind Trust (smart move), a Daines spokesperson said in the Billings Gazette that Congress need to focus on “the real issues of increasing transparency.”

But even the briefest glance at Daines’ background reveals that Steve Daines is not really a big transparency fan.  In fact, back in 2007, Daines started a shadow 501(c)4 organization that attacked the Governor Schweitzer for being fiscally conservative.  When asked in the Billings Gazette to disclose who was funding his front group, Daines declined:

“Daines has declined to reveal who’s funding the group or how much it has spent, and he said GiveItBack.com will disclose whatever is required under the law.”

But that’s not all that this TEA-Party darling is hiding from the voters.  Recently, Daines’employer sold his Bozeman-based business to Oracle for $1.5 billion.  When asked by a reporter about his profits from the sale and about how many Montana-based jobs would be lost because of it, Daines apparently saw no need for transparency and quickly declined to comment. As the Bozeman Chronicle reports:

“He was unable to comment on anything regarding the company’s proposed sale to Oracle.”