The Sexual Predator Free for All

Anyone remember anything from the long list of “promises” made back in 2008 by candidate Steve Bullock who was running for Attorney General? Bullock promised to make protection of children from sexual predators his priority. Bullock bemoaned the fact that Montana’s sexual predator registry was woefully out of date and he claimed he would get that whole mess straightened up post-haste if he was elected to the AG office. The Billings Gazette quoted Bullock as saying;

Bullock, father of three young children, said he would put two more investigators at the Justice Department focusing on Internet crimes involving children. And he would try to find more people and money to keep the registry up to date. But Bullock said most Montana children who are crime victims are abused by someone they either already know or meet in person, not over the Internet. The state still fails to do an adequate job protecting children from traditional predators and prosecuting the perpetrators of such crimes.

To that end, Bullock said he would expand the Children's Justice Center within the Justice Department. The center, already active in Missoula, Helena, Butte and Ravalli County, deals with children victimized in any way, including by Internet predators.

Well Steve Bullock won that race and has been our AG for the past 4 years so what has he accomplished? Nada – Zip – Nothing. In fact the Sexual Predators Registry has sunk even lower in worth than it was 4 years ago. The Montana Watchdog reports that a review of Montana’s Sexual and Violent Offender Registry found that three sexual offenders of the 5,000 listed in Montana claim a Wal-Mart parking lot as their listed home address. The Watchdog further reported that over 1,400 of the 5,000 sexual predators didn’t even bother to verify their location as is required by Montana law. Furthermore the Legislative Audit Division noted back in June that these violators were not even flagged so local law enforcement would be aware they had failed to register.

This should give everyone that warm and fuzzy feeling knowing one of these predators could be living next door to you. If Bullock can’t make good on this promise why would I now want to vote for him for Governor? The Democrats had best find a decent candidate for Governor or we will be seeing one of the vast herd of GOP contenders taking Governor BS’s spot when the vote is cast in 2012