Tagged: Supreme Court

Posted: June 26, 2012 at 6:48 am

The Fight’s Not Over

In a memo thick with bravado but lacking in coherence, the American Tracition parthership today declared victory over Montana voters.

The ATP makes the ridiculous claim that Steve Bullock’s defense of Montana’s anti-corruption law amounts to an “indefensible attacks on Montanan’s God-given right of free political speech.” One can only assume the celebratory drinks were a little too copiously sipped.

In reality, history has shown that big money in politics buys more and corrupts faster at the state and local levels. And so, the Supreme Court’s assertion that money is the same thing as speech makes the words “free speech” bitterly ironic.

ATP goes on to insist that they have “always adhered to every letter of applicable law.” If that’s true, one wonders what they view as inapplicable.

“The fight’s not over,” Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer said the Youtube clip for StandwithMontanans.org. “We’re going to overrule the Supreme Court with a constitutional amendment, to make it clear that we the people are in charge of America, not we the corporations. Here in the Montana we’re putting it on the ballot.”

“Corporations are people? I’ll believe that when Texas executes one,” said the Governor. Click here to get involved in the campaign to overturn the ruling.

As the Billings Gazette reports, ATP has also sued to strike down two other Montana laws. Montana courts will decide whether ATP must disclose its donors. They’ll also rule on ATP’s lawsuit to increase individual contribution limits–a change favored by the failed legislative leader and GOP Gov race dropout Jeff Essmann. Probably Essmann hopes to give wealthy individuals more say in Montana elections. The Sanders County Republican Party has also sued the state. The Sanders County GOPers think Republicans should have the right to endorse candidates in non-partisan judicial races.

Posted: June 6, 2012 at 7:29 am

A Look at the Primary Election Results

Congratulations are in order to Kim Gillan and Pam Bucy who have won their respective primaries for Congress and Attorney General.

But that’s not the only good news.

Republicans have nominated Brad Johnson for Secretary of State. Johnson has battled alcoholism for many years, has had a few DUIs, and has been in and out of rehab recently (in 2008, he even campaigned from a rehab facility toward the end of the SOS race last time). Notably, in the article reporting on his announcement for office, he was unable to state a single reason why the current SOS, Linda McCulloch, should be replaced. Not a good start. He also says that he currently works as a “consultant”, although it is unclear who, if anyone, is paying him for his consultations. The nomination of such a weak candidate is good news for Democrats and for all those who don’t believe in the voter suppression tactics frequently championed by Republicans.

In the legislative races, congratulations to Helena’s Jenny Eck, who defeated two primary opponents for the open seat left when Mike Menahan decided not to run. Here are a few other interesting legislative results:

Incumbents Taken Out

Incumbents are difficult to defeat and are rarely taken out. It’s a lot easier when that incumbent becomes a laughing stock on national television. DUI promoter Alan Hale was taken out by primary opponent Kirk Wagoner 863 to 813. Birther Bob Wagner was defeated by Ray Shaw in Madison County 1040-991.

Crackpots Advance

In Park City, nutjob TEA Party hatemonger David Howard somehow surpassed his two primary challengers by a wide margin.

In Sanders County, TEA Partier Jennifer Fielder (here’s her flyer) defeated the saner Rick Seeman. Feilder seems to have focused her campaign on the fact that her opposent was at one time employed by the government. GOPers have also nominated the legislature’s largest recipient of government funds, TEA Partier Janna Taylor, over Republican Carmine Mowbray for Senate District 6.

More Good News for Democrats

Brad Johnson isn’t the only good news for Dems. In the Laurel House races, supernatural scholar Sarah Laszloffy defeated main streat Republican Debra Bonogofsky, giving an edge to Democratic candidate Sean Whiting for that seat.

Corporate Money Wins

A secret list of corporations succeeded in electing State Senate TEA Party candidate Dee Brown over Republican Bill Beck in the Flathead. The corporations behind the so-called American Traditions Partnership are fighting Montana’s clean election laws in the U.S. Supreme Court. Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock is defending Montana against ATP in that case. Meanwhile, another corporate front group with secret donors has purchased the Montana Supreme Court race for $41,000. TEA Party Republican Jason Priest’s shadow group succeeded in advancing right-winger Laurie McKinnon over Elizabeth Best.

I’m interesting in hearing your thoughts on the primaries and your takes on other races I didn’t get to here. Please consider this a primary election open forum.

Posted: June 4, 2012 at 5:03 pm

Schweitzer Tells Supreme Court Where to Put Citizens United

Today’s must-read article is a strongly worded op-ed column in the New York Times by our own Governor Schweitzer, who writes that Montana has “fresh mountain air” and implores the conservative-dominated Supreme Court not to “blow the stink of Washington” our way.

At issue is the sequel case to Citizens United, called American Tradition Partnership v. Bullock. Attorney General Bullock will soon be arguing before the Supreme Court in defense of our anti-corruption law dating back to 1912, which the Supreme Court has forbidden Montana from enforcing because it violates the holding in Citizens United that corporations have free speech rights to influence elections.

Schweitzer tells a colorful history of William Clark bribing his way to becoming US Senator and also discusses what he says is “a rare, pure form of democracy” in Montana that can be traced to strict controls on campaign finance.

The full piece can be found here.

Posted: May 17, 2012 at 5:59 am

Montana TEA Party Campaigns for Pro-Nullification Supreme Court

The Montana TEA Party jumped into the Montana Supreme Court race this week. A shadow group for TEA Party Republican Jason Priest has put out a mailer on behalf of right-wing Supreme Court candidate Laurie McKinnon.

Yet while Priest depicts McKinnon has the rule-of-law candidate, her biggest supporters–Priest and the TEA Party–are intent on forcing a law that would mean the exact opposite. I’m talking about nullification. Montana State Senator Jason Priest (R-Red Lodge) is one of the nullification movement’s leaders.

The concept of nullification was a key feature of the most extreme legislature in Montana history–nearly a dozen bills to declare federal authority “null and void” or unenforceable in Montana were introduced by Republicans during the 2011 session. However, the fact that the Supreme Court would declare the bills unconstitutional helped Democrats and moderate Republicans join forces to defeat the nullification bills time after time. Governor Schweitzer called the bills “anti-American.”

Besides seeking a nullification-friendly Supreme Court, TEA Party Republicans are also pushing a constitutional amendment to let state legislatures nullify federal laws. They’re calling the amendment the “Repeal Amendment”.

Jason Priest (R-Red Lodge) is listed among the dozen or so supporters of the amendment.

Priest says:

“Montanans are a liberty-minded people and I will proudly sponsor the Article V application for the Repeal Amendment in the Montana Legislature to send a clear, strong message to Washington that we are a sovereign state with Montana-made solutions to today’s challenges.”

Priest is the TEA Party Republican who made national news for posting comments to Facebook using “hateful, homophobic talk” to argue his dislike for paying taxes.

Priest set up a shadow group to put out the mailer with the innocuous sounding name ”Montana Growth Network.” It has the look and feel of a mailer put out by a mainstream group so as not to alert the public about the impetus behind it. Speaking to group of Tea Party followers, apparently unaware of a running camera, Priest said, it was important to talk to non-TEA Party types “in ways that aren’t offensive to them. That’s a good lesson to learn. I would rather tell them they’re insane… Is that camera on?”

Priest’s mailer does not mention the ethical questions surrounding McKinnon’s campaign tactics raised in a recent Billings Gazette article.

Click the mailer below to enlarge.

Posted: May 11, 2012 at 6:02 am

A TEA Party Legislator Explains His Life’s Work

Failure hasn’t stopped one TEA Party Republican from continuing to focus his entire legislative career on a manic crusade to address his personal problems.

This is the legacy of Montana State Rep. Jerry O’Neil (R-TEA, Columbia Falls) who has been failing to wreak havoc on American democracy and justice for over thirty years through an….eclectic hodge-podge of approaches. O’Neil went on the radio this week to explain what started it all. It is not clear exactly what he is talking about, but it involves a cult and appears to be an attempt to explain his fixation with legalizing fake lawyering. Basically, after his wife left him for a cult called the “Fatima Crusaders” the obsessive O’Neil says he could only address the situation by representing himself in court. He sued the cult for causing his divorce. O’Neil is not an attorney.

The Columbia Falls community deserves better than a crackpot who is obsessed with a single issue related to his own personal life. People want a representative who cares about jobs and quality schools.

O’Neil’s career has been a series of failures to make drastic alterations to the justice system to fix his nutty personal problems. Perhaps it was O’Neil’s inability to sound coherent that precipitated a foiled run for Supreme Court. There was also a failed Constitutional Amendment to end the “discrimination” that prevents those with no education from practicing law. He even got himself into the legislature so he could blunder an attempt to move jurisdiction over the bar from the Court to the legislature. (This would let the bright minds in the legislature decide which Burger King employees could become lawyers–education be darned).

I’m sure O’Neil would say he knows lots and lots about the law. That doesn’t mean he’s succeeded in abiding by it. A mailer last election cycle explained in no uncertain terms that O’Neil’s legal experience includes being:

Held in Contempt of Court (stood trial and was found guilty November, 2004, Lake County court)

Charged with Practicing Law Without a License (cited by Supreme Court commission, 2001)

and

Abuse of an Elder / Exploitation of an Incapacitated Elder / Trespassing
(issued formal warnings by the State, March 2010; ordered to cease and desist his conduct)

In the infamous Bat Crap Legislative Session of 2011, O’Neil can take credit for a botched go at legalizing fake lawyering, and even a run at getting rid of some elections so that legislators can hand pick our U.S. Senators.

O’Neil lost again. If, instead of launching his first scheme against law and justice, he had sought education instead, his potpourri of attacks on the justice system might have at least been more successful–if not exactly relevant to his consituents. Of course, he may have flubbed getting an education too. TEA Partiers are not known for their love of schooling.

Now that he’s put his actions into better context, I hope you’ll see this TEA Partier’s life’s work for what it was: a great success. We needn’t remember O’Neil as the crackpot who tried to ruin democracy as we know it, but rather as the nutjob who thankfully continued to fail at doing so for thirty years.

Posted: May 10, 2012 at 12:56 pm

Political Quick Hits

Taylor on the Ropes

A Flathead area property owner is taking on Republican Rep. Janna Taylor for paying less than 20 bucks in property tax for lakeshore property and raking in over a million dollars in federal farm subsidies. In fact, the TEA Partier is the number one recipient of government farm subsidy cash in the Montana Legislature.

Anne Marie Semsak, in a well-written letter in the Missoulian this week writes:

It is a matter of public record that Rep. Janna Taylor owns 15 acres, including 660 feet of Flathead lakeshore property, near Rollins, for which she pays $19 annual property tax, plus a little over $2,000 for the improvements on the land – house, dock and outbuildings. Her taxable value is $400,031.

We own 4.87 acres with 180 feet of lakeshore with two older houses and a mobile home. Our taxable value is $1,064,136.

Taylor is a state legislator, entrusted to fairly serve her district. She lists “rancher” on her biographical information, but their ranch is in central Montana, far from this legislative district. I have not seen “cherry farmer” on any of her information. One could conclude that she is taking advantage of the agricultural exemption, and I find this disturbing.

Taylor made waves in the Montana legislature for her hypocrisy in government spending and her statement that the death penalty is needed to address prisoner spitballs. Taylor is running for the Montana Senate against incumbent Sen. Carmine Mowbray (R-Polson) in the June 5 primary elections.

Tim Baldwin (R-Crackpot) Running in Derek Skees’ footsteps for Whitefish House Seat

Whitefish residents thrilled to find TEA Party Republican Derek Skees aiming for statewide office and abandoning his legislative seat are re-thinking their good cheer. That’s because TEA Party Republican Tim Baldwin, son of Chuck Baldwin, is running in his place. Baldwin is basically Skees with a law degree + uber-religious conservative + has dad with ties to the white supremacy movement–a truly scary thing.

In the video below, Baldwin discusses his theory on why true Christians don’t need to follow the law if they decide they don’t like the evil government:

Elizabeth Best Campaign Ad Up

Montana candidate for Supreme Court Elizabeth Best has a campaign ad up. Here it is:

Posted: April 9, 2012 at 7:18 am

Ethics Violations Apparent in Supreme Court Race

A right-wing candidate for Supreme Court appears to be blatantly disregarding the Judicial Code of Conduct by having a sitting judge solicit donations on her behalf.

Judge Nels Swandal sent out a mailing on his judicial letterhead soliciting campaign contributions for Laurie McKinnon, a hard right district judge running for Montana Supreme Court. This looks like a clear violation of the Judicial Code of Conduct, which states that sitting judges are prohibited from soliciting funds for a judicial candidate or collecting money on their behalf.

Here’s what Swandal writes (click to enlarge, or view the whole letter here):

The entire Swandal letter (Page 1 and 2) and the exact language of the Judicial Code of Conduct (Page 3) can be viewed here.

Swandal is no stranger to shady dealings with right-wingers. He’s the guy who had to recuse himself from the Rehberg/Barkus DUI boating trial in which one of Rehberg’s staff suffered a severe head injury after neither Congressman Rehberg nor former state Senator Greg Barkus bothered to designate a sober driver. Swandal had to recuse himself because he had a record of supporting Barkus and other Republicans. He even hired Rehberg’s former chief of staff after the brain injury to run his campaign against Beth Baker for Supreme Court. Swandal lost but remains a district judge in Livingston.

The other candidates in the non-partisan race include veteran Beth Best, of Great Falls and Ed Sheehy, of Missoula, though Sheehy does not appear to be raising money.

Posted: February 17, 2012 at 7:00 am

Female Elephants Need Not Apply

In the Republican primary for governor, six male candidates have now chosen six male running mates. It is a male-only field.

And it gets worse: Of the twenty or so Republicans who have announced a run for statewide office, only one is a woman.

At a minimum, you’d think at least one of the idiots running for governor would sense some political value in choosing a woman. Yet none did. Perhaps this is why the GOP has been relegated to a fringe sect in Montana. Perhaps this is why an ignoramus like Dennis Rehberg is now the Republicans’ lone statewide office holder, literally the last man standing.

Fortunately, Democrats give no quarter to such sexism.

For starters, Pam Bucy, an accomplished lawyer and deputy attorney general, is poised to become our next Attorney General. She would become Montana’s first female Attorney General and one of only six in America, and only the second woman in Montana’s 122 year history to occupy a top elected office in Montana (the others are Jeanette Rankin and Judy Martz).

And don’t forget Monica Lindeen, Denise Juneau and Linda McCulloch, who are sitting in the three other executive positions right now, as well as Carol Williams who was Senate President in 2009 and now Senate Majority leader. She is the only woman ever to hold the top legislative post in either house.

And the Democratic nominee for Congress will also be a female, either Kim Gillan, Franke Wilmer or Diane Smith. In the past, our nominees for Congress have included Tracy Velasquez, Lindeen, and Nancy Keenan for Congress, and Dorothy Bradley ran for Governor. On the Public Service Commission, we have Gail Gutsche and may also soon have Lynda Moss.

The only females of the species playing a role in the GOP gubernatorial primary are the numerous ex-wives and mistresses of a few of the candidates. I guess that’s better than nothing.