Tagged: Rob Stutz

Posted: May 31, 2012 at 8:53 pm

GUEST POST: How Democrats Will Win the US House Race in November

[Note: The following is a guest post by Rob Stutz who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Montana's congressional seat.  If you're interested in writing a guest post, email me on the tipline. --Cowgirl]

Steve Daines has reason to be concerned.

Brian Schweitzer won his Governor’s elections without taking PAC money. Jon Tester won his US Senate election by standing up for Montana values, including the values in our Constitution. My campaign for Montana’s lone US House seat is based on the strategies of the successful Schweitzer and Tester campaigns.

I don’t take PAC money. I don’t sign pledges for special interest groups. I stand up for Montana values and our Constitution. This is what Montanans want. This is what works. Schweitzer won, Tester won, and the Montana Constitution was reaffirmed in 2010.

My campaign has less money, but let’s be honest: Daines will have more money no matter who Democrats nominate for the US House race. Daines wants to buy this election. He is running a politics-as-usual campaign, squeezing every last dime from PACs and his rich friends. Montanans are tired of it and, given the choice with an open US House seat, will choose a different approach.

The predictable approach has not worked for Democrats in the US House race. Pat Williams last won 18 years ago. The kids born that year are voting for the first time this year. If Democrats run a predictable race against a predictable candidate the results are likely to be predictable.

I offer voters the choice to take a different approach. Historically, Montanans like having that choice. Rankin and Mansfield come to mind, neither having held elected office before we sent them to Congress. Too long ago? Schweitzer, Bullock, and Juneau come to mind as current statewide elected officials who never previously held elected office. Voters know when politics-as-usual isn’t working. Offer them a clear choice – no to the PACs, no to the pledges, yes to the people – and they will try the different approach.

Montanans want a candidate who puts people first. I show them. If it doesn’t breathe, I don’t take its money. I don’t pledge away the independence needed to cut through the gridlock in Congress. I champion the values in the Montana Constitution – privacy, public education, clean and healthful environment, equality of opportunity, open government, hunting and fishing heritage, American Indian heritage, and more. I listen when Montanans speak by voting on the Constitution and on citizens initiatives. Across the political spectrum, this is the message that the people of Montana want to hear and are ready to support.

It is better going into the November campaign to know that message, not money, is our strength. Turn the message up loud, fire up the grassroots, expose Daines for the wannabe career politician that he is – my “Trouble with the Truth” series is a good place to start – and give voters a clear choice.

That is how Democrats will win the US House Race in November. And, that is why Steve Daines has reason to be concerned that Stutz for Congress keeps chugging along, picking up momentum heading into the June 5 primary.

 

Posted: May 15, 2012 at 7:15 am

MEMO: Why the Montana Republican Party Repulses Women

Montana Republican Party bosses say they have ”no idea” why women aren’t running as Republicans.  Today, we bring them the answers.

Reason # 1: Dennis Rehberg

Dennis Rehberg does not being called out for who he really is.Let’s start with the man at the top of your ticket.   As we all know, one of the biggest challenges your party seems concerned with is coming up with a socially, and more importantly, legally acceptable excuse for raping women.

As an example of this, look at Congressman Rehberg’s vote to prevent certain situations from “counting” as rape. Up for debate was a bill to regulate who got to decide whether or not to have the rapist’s baby, Mother Jones via Think Progress reported. Women who were to be excluded from getting the choice: those who are drugged or verbally threatened and raped, minors impregnated by adults, and women who say no but do not physically fight off the perpetrator for fear of being murdered.  This would exclude abortions as an option for women who were raped in these circumstances (drugged and unconscious, 13 year old girls impregnated by 55 year old pervs, and women who keep still for fear of being murdered) from Medicaid coverage.

Dennis Rehberg was also busted pretending to support breast cancer awareness while voting to end mammogram coverage. (Note: A mammogram is a test for breast cancer.)  He opposes equal pay for women–the guy even flipped off a pregnant constituent.   Rehberg tried to end funding for Planned Parenthood twice in the last year. The  TEA Party Congressman cosponsored and of course voted for H.R.358, the “Let Women Die” bill. H.R.358 would force doctors to let women die rather than provide abortion care.

You GOPers already know that Foster Friess, the Wall Street billionaire bankrolling Rehberg, outraged millions for saying basically that women wouldn’t need contraception if we would just keep our slutty legs closed.

“Back in my days, [women] used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives; the gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.”

A little while ago Congressman Dennis Rehberg said the War on Women was “fabricated.”


Reason # 2: Rick Hill

Just last month, former Congressman Rick Hill, who is running in your GOP primary for Governor, endorsed legalizing insurance company discrimination against women.  This means insurance companies would be allowed to charge women more for health coverage, or to exclude women’s health needs like mammograms from coverage–which is currently illegal. He’s the subject of a recent television ad about how his first wife went public over the abuse and adultery she suffered though.

In 2000, Congressman Rick Hill criticized challenger Nancy Keenan for being a single woman without children. Keenan, a former teacher, responded by saying she “wanted to have children,” but was unable to because of a hysterectomy. She also noted: “nothing is more devastating when a doctor walks into the room and says you’ll never have children” [Great Falls Tribune, "Hill Unleashes First Campaign Volley," May 25, 1999]

Republicans never seem to mention Rick Hill’s voting record.  Perhaps that is because Hill voted in support of a $115 billion cut in Medicare – a program that helps mostly women (who live longer). Hill also curbed payments to hospitals that serve a large number of poor and uninsured people who would see Medicaid payments shaved by $15 billion, and cut $2 billion from health oxygen benefits to seniors and the disabled.  These cuts also predominantly impact women and children.  Women are usually the one’s who bear the burden of caring for aging parents and family members with disabilities. [HR 2015, Roll Call 241, 6/25/97]

 

Reason # 3: GOP Legislators

Welcome to the land of nutters, the Montana Legislature.
h/t RastaMon

Republican legislators have twice compared women to animals to convince each other to vote for anti-women bills. Coincidentally (??), your men in the legislature also openly posted pornographic images of women and animals on their Facebook pages.

During the 2011 legislative session, you Republicans tried to legalize insurance discrimination against women. You also tried to pass an entire slate of anti-woman bills. The fact that the bills were unconstitutional didn’t stop you. It got so bad that word on the street is one of the attorneys hired to draft the unconstitutional bills quit halfway through the session.  He later began a campaign for Congress–on the Democratic ticket.

One of the bills would have forced women seeking an abortion to undergo a mandatory trans-vaginal ultrasound.  In other words, before she can get a abortion–which is her Constitutional right–she must be penetrated–with or without her consent–by an ultrasound wand in a procedure that serves no medical purpose whatsoever.  (No, the other kind of outside the tummy ultra-sound won’t work because it is too early in the pregnancy.)

There are, of course, many more reasons why the Montana Republican Party is repulsive to women, but when dealing with Republicans, it is best to give information in small doses, that you might digest it more easily.  At least now, you’ll have no excuse for pretending ignorance in the news.

 

Posted: March 10, 2012 at 8:19 am

Mansfield Metcalf Preview

It’s the big night of the year for Democrats tonight, as the Party will be holding its annual soiree, the Mansfield Metcalf dinner. It will be held at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds. This is the night where the rank and file may buy a ticket for $50 bucks for the privilege of drinking and dining and mingling with Democratic politicians, and can listen to them give speeches.

In past years the dinner has been well attended and raised good money for the Democratic Party.  So pull out your checkbook and come down to the fairgrounds.  This year’s featured guest is CNN analyst Paul Begala, also known as the Montana Cowgirl of Washington DC.

M&M, as Democrats like to call the affair, has become quite a party in recent years, especially when Hillary and Barack showed up in 2008 and debated each other in dueling speeches.  Recent speakers have also included Tammy Duckworth, the VA chief; Jim Messina of the White House; and regional politicians like Ken Salazar and Mark Udall.  Sometimes the speeches are interesting, and some have been real snoozers.

On one occasion there was even a wonderfully awkward situation, when the guest speaker was Jim Webb, a U.S. Senator from Virginia.  Webb’s speech contained numerous references to Andrew Jackson, with Webb referring several times to Jackson as his hero.  When Schweitzer then took the stage, he explained to Webb that Jackson might be a hero in Virginia, but not in Montana, because he slaughtered innocent native Americans.  There was an audible gasp from the crowd, and Webb was visibly humiliated.

The usual mix of funny, inspiring, exciting, boring, predictable and weird political speeches will no doubt be served up, some appetizers from Denise Juneau, Linda McCulloch and Monica Lindeen, Carol Williams and Jon Sesso, followed by the main course from Schweitzer, Baucus and Tester and Bullock.  Aspiring members of Congress Franke Wilmer, Kim Gillan, Dianne Smith, Bob Stutz and Dave Strohmeier will also probably get a few minutes of stage time.

Also creating some buzz tomorrow night will be the newest addition to the Democratic Party’s roster, General John Walsh, who was picked as a running mate yesterday by Steve Bullock, a pick that so angered and stupefied the Republican Party that they never  bothered putting out a statement about Bullock’s choice.  That says it all.

So what’s the theme going to be this year?  Last year the crowd was fired up because Schweitzer had just vetoed, with his branding iron, a pile of lunatic legislation put forward by Tea Partiers.  And the Democrats at the time were successfully standing in the way of the GOP’s efforts to revert the state to the Judy Martz era of deficits and incompetence.  So the dinner was up beat and  a much-needed catharsis after a depressing election in which the GOP took over the legislature by historic margins.

Speaking of which, there will be local candidates at the dinner as well, such as those running for the state legislature.  Some of these folks are lucky to be running against Tea Party lunatics, and so will likely be in the legislature next year.  Most of the GOP wingnuts who won legislative seats in 2010 did so only by the slimmest of margins–a dozen votes in some cases–and so we should expect not to see them back in Helena because 2010 was an anomalously large GOP turnout year.

And as always, a justifiable pride will be circulating in the ballroom on Saturday, from the fact that Montana Democrats control all six state-wide political offices. That’s a whole Happy Meal, whereas the Republicans are down to their last greasy french fry, Dennis Rehberg.

Posted: February 4, 2012 at 6:09 am

Denise Juneau’s Announcement Video

There are a couple of candidate introductory videos making the rounds on email this week.  Intelligent Discontent has one from Rob Stutz’s congressional primary campaign.  Here’s one from Denise Juneau, who is seeking a second term as Montana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Here’s a link to watch the video on Youtube.

Posted: August 31, 2011 at 7:29 am

Does the GOP Have the Right Idea?

Congressional candidate Steve Daines was given a clear field by the GOP powerbrokers. No challenge.  As a result, he’s been able to amass $600,000 in contributions.

The Democratic primary, by contrast, is a four-person race: Franke Wilmer, Kim Gillan, Rob Stutz and Dave Strohmaier.  They  they must split money four ways, and thus none of these candidates have amassed more than 10 percent of what Daines has raked in.  And all of them, in the final months before the primary, will be forced to deplete their funds in an effort to win the primary, while Daines will horde his chips in tall stacks and continue to take in more.

Partly this problem stems from the fact that there is no democrat in the race with any state-wide recognition, such as Steve Bullock who will likely enter the governor’s race some time in the next few months.

Also, there can be a downside to powerbrokers getting involved in primaries and hand-picking a horse.  Rumors have long held that the bigwigs in DC tried forcing Jon Tester out of the senate race in early 2006.  If that’s true, then such a heavy handed move by the DNC, had it succeeded, would have been an utter calamity because John Morrison, a  candidate with a history of adultery, would have ended up as the nominee. So primaries serve an important Darwinian purpose and should be taken seriously.

Of course Daines, for all his money, has tremendous personal problems that will eventually come to light. When that happens, we will hopefully have a strong and well financed horse in the race against him.