Tagged: transparency

Posted: July 18, 2012 at 8:06 pm

The Montana GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award Goes to…

….Steve Daines, the Republican millionaire who makes his money shipping American jobs overseas.

Mr. Daines first revealed his hypocrisy to 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 to avoid ethical conflicts of interest in Congress, 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.Take the two $10,000 donations Daines collected for his political action committee (PAC) called the “Daines Montana Victory Committee.”

The law says that Daines must report the occupation and employer of his PAC’s donors. However, months have passed since Daines received the cash and he still hasn’t made that information public. That’s what makes him an award winning hypocrite.

The checks came from a Sid Greehy and a Sam Tallis, who both claimed 214 Main Street in Scobey, Montana, as their address. This same address is listed as belonging to the Shale Exploration Oil Company, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. An internet search shows that Greehy is the CEO of the Shale Exploration and Tallis is the Texas company’s president. Neither Greehey or Tallis were found in a search of Montana voting registration records.

Of course this isn’t the first time Daines has hidden his financial backers from Montanans. 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.”

Posted: January 26, 2012 at 5:14 pm

Congressman Rehberg: Clueless or Lying?

KXLH News is reporting this week on the issue of corruption and the need for accountability and transparency in Montana election laws. Tester supports it, Rehberg does not.

Here’s the video:

You can see that Rehberg either doesn’t understand the issue or is deliberately trying to mislead the public about what Citizens United is about. Take a closer look at the Congressman’s statement for this report:

“I don’t think we should deny people their Constitutional right to free speech just because they’re part of a corporation instead of a different form of organization like a non-profit, a campaign or a union,”

Of course, this is not what Citizens United is about. Under the Citizens United decision, corporations can secretly spend unlimited money on political campaigns with no transparency or accountability—a decision Jon Tester opposes and is trying to overturn through a constitutional amendment. The speech and contributions of individual people is not at issue as Rehberg tries to claim. To be sure, alcohol does kill brain cells.

Jon Tester meanwhile has always has been a clear champion of transparency and accountability. In his recent opinion column, Tester said the Citizens United decision:

“undermines Montana’s values and America’s democracy by allowing big – even foreign – corporations to secretly buy American political elections.”

Posted: January 5, 2012 at 7:25 am

Rehberg: Congress Wouldn’t Be So Unpopular If We Couldn’t See What They Were Doing

If people would just stop trying to learn what our elected Congress is up to, we wouldn’t hate them so much.

That’s the message Dennis Rehberg sent in a startlingly candid interview in the Bozeman Chronicle this week. The TEA Party Congressman told the Chronicle that Congress is “not necessarily” dysfunctional. The problem, says Rehberg is “the close scrutiny that’s occurring.” It’s the scrutiny that’s really the cause of Congress’ record low approval ratings.

To be sure, at some point in the interview Rehberg must have realized that he has said this out loud. He quickly ads that this scrutiny can be a good thing. However, he just hopes that our attention to the work of the officials we sent to represent us

“doesn’t destroy government or trust in government because of the constant observation.”

H/t Dump Denny Rehberg Facebook page.

Posted: November 29, 2011 at 5:07 pm

Daines Fumbles on Transparency

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.”

Posted: November 29, 2011 at 6:34 am

Deficit Supercommittee Secret Transcripts Uncovered

Lee State Bureau reporter Mike Dennison reported this weekend on the workings of the supercommittee tasked with finding ways to fix the federal budget. Or rather he tried to:

I’d like to tell you, with some degree of certainty, which side is more to blame for the failure this week of the deficit-cutting “supercommittee,” which included Montana Sen. Max Baucus.

But I can’t, because the panel inexplicably conducted most of its business in secret.

There is a compelling and fundamental right on behalf of all citizens to have access to vital information relating to the deliberations of publicly elected officials to cuts $1.2 trillion from the federal budget.

That’s why the Montana Cowgirl Blog uncovered the secret transcripts of the debt panel proceedings, which are presented here for your edification. As you can see, the transcripts reveal just how heavily the U.S. Senate relies on ancient tradition, logic and most importantly, precedent. Many of its current rules, procedures, and traditions even draw inspiration from the dealings of ancient Rome. I hope you draw as much inspiration and confidence from these passages as I have.

DEFICIT SUPERCOMMITTEE OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT

Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas (Republican and committee co-chair): I call this meeting to order. Twelve buzzards appeared around lunchtime last Tuesday, and, as provided for in Senate Rule 2837B-2, a surprise visit by more than eight buzzards signifies that it is time to commence our work.

Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan (Republican): Thank you gentleman for the opportunity to address the body.

Aide: Reminds Upton that there is also a woman present.

Upton: (Waves hand dismissively, continues.) When I was last home in Michegan in 1994, I witnessed two eagles dueling over a dead goat. This portends ill for the continuation of the Bush tax cuts.

Sen. Max Baucus of Montana (Democrat). Aside, to an Aide: How many goats do we have in Montana?

Aide: leaves to fetch graphing calculator, returns with a printout.

Baucus: I vote no.

Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona (Republican): We must increase military spending by at least double the amount of any revenue increases we make. This is partially to fight terrorists who want to harm our freedom, but mostly because I saw three meteors strike the moon at dawn.

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts (Democrat): I disagree. When meteors strike the moon that signifies an unhappy parent, meaning we must not cut Medicare and Social Security.

Kyl: No it doesn’t.

Kerry: Yes it does.

Kyl: LIAR!

Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania (Republican): We must consult the Oracle to clarify this matter before proceeding further. Lets adjourn for three weeks. This work is very tiring.

Meeting Adjourns.

Posted: September 14, 2011 at 7:47 am

America waits as Rehberg… cancels

Earlier this year, Republican party bosses in the U.S. House of Representatives took a big gamble by putting the TEA Party’s favorite boat crash survivor in charge of an important subcommittee–the one responsible for funding health care, financial aid, community health centers, and Head Start–just to name a few.

That means Dennis Rehberg, best known for naming post offices and suing firefighters, is now responsible for what could be his first real bill, and it happens to be an important one.

Here’s the hitch: Rehberg is the only subcommittee chairman (there are a dozen of them) who has yet to introduce his funding bill for the next fiscal year. He was supposed to unveil his plan in July like everyone else. Then he was supposed to do it last week, but he canceled again. Now, who knows?

With a matter of days until the deadline, Congress is now waiting for Montana’s Congressman to make some big-kid decisions about what to do with his “Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Act.”

But what is Rehberg’s committee up to? The thing he does best. Nothing.

Doing nothing is what Rehberg is best at, but in this case, his doing nothing means keeping Montana citizens who want a voice in these important budget proposals in the dark. Dennis Rehberg likes to preach transparency and open government, but we’re all still waiting for it.

What is Rehberg planning to cut? What does he want to spare? What have Montanans told him during his August town hall meetings? Oh, wait. Strike that. Only Jon Tester and Max Baucus held public events in August to hear from the people they serve.

Below the fold there’s a closer look at just some of the things Dennis Rehberg is responsible for, but refuses to talk about:

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