Tagged: Rehberg Ranch Estates

Posted: March 5, 2012 at 11:07 pm

Case Dismissed

The Republican Party was rebuffed last week, when the state’s top constitutional lawyer dismissed the GOP’s longstanding ethics complaint against Schweitzer.

The complaint alleged that the Governor had broken the law because he ran a public service announcement during an election year, using state funds which the law forbids. Schweitzer has always claimed that he was simply doing his job by promoting Montana agriculture, and also that no funds were expended because the radio ad was free.

The GOP expressed outraged at the determination by Jim Goetz, the Bozeman lawyer who was deputized to decide the case by the recently appointed Commissioner Jim Murray, that Schweitzer had done no wrong. “Laughable” is how the decision was described by Bowen Greenwood, head of the Montana Republican Party. Greenwood also said that the GOP will appeal the decision.

I’d say if a radio station gives free air time to a Governor to do an ad promoting the state’s agriculture sector, then it’s hard to see why Montana citizens would benefit by having such promotional activity be illegal. And recall that the GOP chose to go after Schweitzer on this issue during 2008, when they needed to hit him hard on something, anything, to try to put a dent his numbers during an election year.

But there is also an undercurrent to this whole affair: agriculture no longer appears to be embraced by the GOP in Montana. It has been a long time since a GOP gubernatorial candidate (or governor) has hailed from an Ag background, and Rick Hill/Jon Sonju are continuing the trend. Neither Sonju nor Hill has ever picked up a shovel, planted a seed or poked a cow. Nor had Roy Brown or Steve Daines (two corporate bozos); nor had Bob Brown or Dave Lewis (two career politicians/bureaucrats); nor had Marc Racicot or Judy Martz (a lawyer and an imbecile), nor has Denny Rehberg (he inherited ranch land from his parents and developed condos on it).

On the other hand, Schweitzer and Tester, both farmers, have dominated the Democratic scene in recent years and have eaten into the Agriculture sector that perhaps the GOP once had a much stronger hold on. So it sort of makes sense that the GOP would become so irritated about the Governor doing a radio PSA supporting Montana growers. But rather than just be irritated, they became childish, but have now been slapped down, hard, and probably for good.

Posted: August 31, 2011 at 7:43 am

New Rehberg Scandal: Public land is my ‘Privately owned land’

Here’s a new video making the rounds of yet another controversy involving TEA Party Congressman Dennis Rehberg, who is worth millions and owns vast swaths of land, developments, and other investments.

For the past few weeks, hunters and public access advocates have been trading “can you believe it?” emails about Rehberg’s private property signs posted on state trust land (aka public land) he leases near his Billings ~~ranch~~ goat farm. To bowhunters who can’t be restricted to trails and consider this public land prime hunting ground, these signs basically say: STAY OUT.

In fact, at least one of Rehberg’s signs is brazenly posted only a couple feet away from a “STATE LAND” sign!

I have a feeling the signs will be coming down soon. At least someone had the sense to get some pictures first.

Of course, Rehberg is no stranger to securing sweet land deals for himself, then screwing everyone else. Way back in 2004, the Lee State Bureau reported that a section of public land leased by Rehberg closest to his subdivision “is surrounded by private property and so far, no one has been able to get in.” And:

“When the Rehbergs subdivided the development, they left a 10-foot strip of their own land between the state land and the lots in Rehberg Ranch Estates. Although they can see the state land from their backyard, they cannot cross the 10-foot strip for fear of trespassing.”

Yep, as with his political career, Dennis Rehberg’s land deals are all about serving himself–even when it ain’t his land.

Posted: June 17, 2011 at 5:34 pm

Rehberg’s June Snow Job

Facing the biggest election of his life, the only real challenge since the first time he ran for Congress, lagging poll numbers, and a race in the national spotlight that is already being talked about as one of the top three in the nation, Rehberg is giving us all a giant snow job.

He’s trying to hide (by writing down) the value of his property so that he won’t have to run as one of the richest members of the entire U.S. Congress.

Rehberg is claiming that he suddenly went from being a mega millionaire to being just like the rest of us because of fire damage to his scrub brush. The scrub brush was burned nearly two years ago. Go up on the rims and check it out. It’s as green now as Ireland. But here’s where it gets really rich.

If you look at Rehberg’s latest 2010 Personal Financial Disclosure compared to the one he filed in 2009 you’ll find that the corporate entity known as “Rehberg Ranch Land & Livestock” dropped from a minimum value of $5 million to maximum value of $1 million.

Here’s the problem, the only corporation filing for fire damages in the lawsuit is Rehberg Ranch, LLC – that’s a different company than Rehberg Ranch, Land, & Livestock LLC.

On his 2009 report, Rehberg specifically noted that Rehberg Ranch LLC was being reappraised for fire damage – but he did not say anything about Rehberg Ranch Land & Livestock.   So if the drop in value (by millions and millions) at Rehberg Ranch Land & Livestock wasn’t because of the fire, um…where did all the value go?

Rehberg’s been working hard to keep this out of the press. He even filed his reports a day late to miss getting covered in the annual news stories about the income reports, which were due Wednesday. Only Roll Call went back and got the Rehberg report. Word on the street is that he’ll be filing an amended report soon, and it will be interesting to see how Rehberg tries to further obfuscate and attempt to spin the situation away from inevitable disaster for his campaign.

Watch for more to come out on this one. All eyes are on this race, and this story isn’t going away.

Posted: September 27, 2010 at 12:01 pm

The Montana GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award Goes to….

…Dennis Rehberg, GOP incumbent to the U.S. House, who is pictured here cutting the ribbon this week for a Montana road project near Alzada that is being paid for using with the Recovery Act that Rehberg voted against, calling it “failed spending” and a “boondoggle,” among other things. (Is he…no…grabbing the ribbon cutting scissors from Conrad Burns?)

Yet Rehberg raced to eastern Montana to take credit for a major project there funded by the Recovery Act, something he has done several times before. The project will invest around $8.6 million into the highway and local economy, no thanks to Rehberg. As a spokesman for the Montana Democratic Party said:

Rehberg showing up at this event is the very definition of a poseur and is akin to lying to the people of Montana.

Hmmm… saying one thing and then doing another? I’m pretty sure there’s a word for that. Oh, yeah. There’s an award for it too. Congrats, Denny Rehberg, you’re the Montana Cowgirl Blog’s GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

Though this is the first time we have given Rehberg an award, it is just one small example of Congressman Rehberg stomping on the fingers of rural Montana and our small business economy as he continually climbs the ladder to wealth and power, screaming about his own importance all the way.

UPDATE: It gets worse.

To see a list of past award winners, click here.

Posted: July 31, 2010 at 7:52 am

Area 51, Montana

As the T.E.A. Party/Eric Olsen’s campaign against the city of Billings possibly banning cell phones (he believes the UN is involved) takes shape (largely in the form of email forwards) it has at last become clear why Congressman Denny Rehberg is a natural fit in the Tea Party a.k.a. Conspiracy Caucus.

A brief examination of Rehberg’s and the Tea Party’s shared obsession with conspiracies allegedy aimed at Montana are no doubt what drew our Congressman to join the tin hat brigade.

Now that the Montana Shrugged Tea Party has gone big time with a member of congress in its ranks, let’s hope they don’t forget about the conspiracies outside the “Magic City.” After all, there are other conspiracies that need exposing too:

Conservationists are at the center of a vast federal land grab conspiracy targeting Montana–and have been since the conception of the idea of The Buffalo Commons.
Mind controlling bar codes are secretly used to sneak Canadians across the border into Montana illegally using non-motorized trails. Rehberg claims in press releases to be co-chair of the Northern Border Caucus, but according to the caucus’ website it is led by Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Representative John McHugh (R-NY). There’s another conspiracy in there somewhere. Our Congressman wouldn’t just make things up.
The Helena smoking ban caused the decommissioning of Malmstrom missiles.
Members of Congress from competing states secretly orchestrated the No New Earmarks pledge in an attempt to destroy Montana’s “envy of the world” quality of life.
Charges of poaching by Rehberg State Director Randy Vogel were actually trumped up by the people who faked the Apollo 11 landings–people who are employed under the Witness Protection Program at the Montana FWP.
The state legislature’s approval of and funding for more time at kindergarten is a communist plot to support abortion, teach evolution, and indoctrinate children into the so-called ‘gay agenda.’
The firefighters of Billings secretly met with ATF officials from Waco, TX before causing scrub brush on Rehberg’s Ranch Estates LLC to burn.
The Montana fast food chain Taco Beat makes fat white people impotent, wait, or is it the other way around…

Anyone know any others? The truth is out there…

Posted: July 15, 2010 at 6:49 pm

New Rehberg video surfaces: “The longer you’re in power the more you feel immune from public criticism”

Blackberry users click here. Rehberg’s been cozying up to the tea party factions across the state, and what he says behind close doors sometimes never sees the light of day. Sometimes it does. He has to walk a fine line in these meetings because the Tea Party is all about voting the incumbents out, and he’s the five-term incumbent. Here’s Rehberg telling Bozeman Tea Party members about the problems that come with incumbency:

“It’s arrogance of power that creeps in and the longer that you’re in power the more you feel immune from the public criticism.”

Perhaps this explains Rehberg’s utter nonchalance about suing firefighters in the middle of an election year, failing to designate a driver when it could have saved him and his staff from serious injury, and voting for earmarks out the wazoo while claiming to be against government spending. You can listen to the entire interview of Dennis Rehberg by the Bozeman Tea Party starting with the first video here.

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Posted: July 15, 2010 at 12:25 pm

McDonald struggling financially

Dennis McDonald filed his campaign report early, and so it is now available. It states that after running for Congress for a year and a half, he has $18,000 in the bank. This includes a loan to himself for $15,000.

UPDATE: Rehberg’s now filed. By contrast, Rehberg has $623,000 in the bank. Big disbursements include $125,000 to the MT GOP and $10,000 to the MT GOP legislative campaign committee, and piles of cash to consultants. This is a very depressing state of affairs.

About a third of the $18,000 McDonald took in this last period was from Max Baucus’s political action committee, Glacier PAC, and a union PAC as well.

The problem is that McDonald is probably known to about 1/8 of the electorate, if I had to estimate. Rehberg’s last five opponents have average about 39% at the polls, and only one of them managed to break the 40% mark, just barely, Nancy Keenan, in 2000.

So, it is quite simple. All McDonald must do, to make a race of it, is raise about a million dollars in the next two months.

Rehberg seems to have carved out a seat in Congress that is immune to threat. What is unfortunate is that Rehberg has liabilities right now, his drunkenness, his wealth having soared to 50 million dollars or more during his ten years in Congress, his outrageous lawsuit against firefighters, and some very bad votes in Congress over the years.

Unfortunately, Rehberg has plenty of polling in front of him because he has spent a fortune on consultants. And we can assume that when he chose to sue firefighters to get some money–a crazy political move by any candidate in an election year–that he must have taken a look at the numbers and decided that there is virtually no threat at all from McDonald. Thus I predict that the polling today probably says Rehberg is leading McDonald 60-38 or thereabouts. At anything significantly tighter, Rehberg would have been more careful.

McDonald has done a good job recently of pouring salt in Rehberg’s wounds with some free media activity. Unfortunately, those articles have limited value without lots of money to put on TV. And McDonald, once again, is broke.

For those of you who think they can gloat that Tyler Gernant might have done better, I doubt he’d have any more money right now. He raised about the same amount as McDonald in the primary.

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Posted: July 9, 2010 at 11:20 pm

NEW Video: Rehberg bungles question “why are you suing firefighters for doing their job”

Now this is the kind of smart campaign tactics I’m talking about.

Watch as Rehberg gets asked to explain why he sued the Billings firefighters for doing their job. Rehberg is all over the place: he starts in some kind of weird weedy hedge, then he recites his terrible quotes from the media–some weird analogy about about not blaming the soldiers but the general.

Incredibly, immediately after that he starts listing things he blames them for–about how they did f-up the firefighting, so…what do you make of this?

gop politics montana dennis rehberg