Havre High School Roof Collapses

The recent heavy snow in Hill County has found at least one victim today as a large section of the roof at Havre High School collapsed under the snow load. Luckily school was still on break for the Christmas holidays.

Interestingly the former flat roof at the High School was modified to the pitched slope they now have by the school board’s favored out of town premier contractor Dick Anderson Construction just a few years ago. It appears there was a slight design flaw someplace.

I will post further details as the damage is assessed. With less that 3 days until the January 3rd back to school deadline school officials will have to be scrambling to make sure the school is safe for occupancy.

 

Refrigerator Give-Away

Everybody is certainly aware of the “Energy Star” rebate program offered to consumers to entice them to upgrade their old inefficient appliances. The state even hosts a page on their website where you can easily apply for a rebate from the Montana Appliance Rebate Program. While the benefit of this rebate program is debatable what can be truly labeled as “government waste” is the Montana Department of Health and Human Service’s recent purchase of 114 “energy star” refrigerators for the tidy sum of $64,000 of your taxpayer dollars. According to a recent article at the Montana Watchdog the refrigerators were given to “certain applicants that met the agency’s qualifications”. Thank you Mr. Montana taxpayer for so graciously providing these new refrigerators at the average cost of over $561 each not to mention the undisclosed bureaucratic administration costs of overseeing this newly implemented “entitlement”

The legislature convenes on January 3rd and it may just be high-time to call Representatives Hansen and Warburton to demand that they give some in-depth scrutiny to the Department of Health and Human Services budget. It is time for the over burdened taxpayers to start paying attention to the systematic waste of our hard earned tax dollars.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Forest Jobs you Say?

Last week as the infamous pork filled earmark laden Omnibus spending bill gasped for its last breath  so too went the Tester so called Montana Forest Jobs initiative. When the news of the original “Montana Forest Jobs and Restoration Initiative” first came to light over a year ago I personally thought that Senator “No Earmarks Ever” Tester was on the right track. What I didn’t know at the time was that the language and provisions of this bill was agreed upon by a small group of Tester lovers in one of those smoke filled backrooms similar to those “deals” for which he berated Senator Burns.


Interestingly the very liberals that paraded around supporting Sir Tester in his election campaign are now blowing the whistle on his antics. George Ochenski has written some details over at the Missoula Independent and if you want to hear what a former cheerleader for Tester thinks you don’t want to miss this article.

TSA Colossal Failures

While TSA workers were busy checking for liquids and groping airline customers a Houston businessman walked on a plane and flew undetected to his destination with a loaded Glock 44 he had forgotten was in his carryon.  This is the full report from ABC news.

What I find interesting is the fact that the TSA regularly conducts tests of the screening process and know that they are failing miserably at their jobs yet nothing improves. Inconvenience to passengers increases and when questioned about these “tests” the only response given by the TSA is that the results are “classified”

Anyone else notice the slowly eroding liberty in our country?

States with lowest Taxes Excel in Growth

The Washington Examiner published some interesting information about the 2010 Census, the reapportionment of House seats and the correlation of electoral votes. The shining star seems to be Texas which had an increase in population of over 21% in the last decade.

Here is a short excerpt from Michael Barone, the political analyst that wrote the article;

This leads to a second point, which is that growth tends to be stronger where taxes are lower. Seven of the nine states that do not levy an income tax grew faster than the national average. The other two, South Dakota and New Hampshire, had the fastest growth in their regions, the Midwest and New England.

Altogether, 35 percent of the nation's total population growth occurred in these nine non-taxing states, which accounted for just 19 percent of total population at the beginning of the decade.

Perhaps the Montana legislature should look at the facts and actually do some over-haul of our state tax system?

Saving You from TSA Nudies

Senator Tester didn’t do much for us during the Healthcare fiasco, or the earmark ban, or anything else for that matter but at least he is now making an effort to protect us from the gropers.  This report is from KFBB

Poor Senator Tester

Our beloved Senator “No Earmarks Ever” Tester was the liberals dream come true only a short 5 years ago. He was not only aided in his election effort by people such as Pelosi and Reid but he was hailed by liberal bloggers such as Markos Moulitsas over at the DAILY KOS as the “real thing”. Markos loved him so much he even contributed $1,500 to his campaign and praised him daily in his blog.

Fifteen-hundred bucks just doesn't buy the kind of loyalty it used to and on saturday Markos had this to say about his good buddy Jon-Boy;

To me, he is the Blanche Lincoln of 2012 -- the Democrat I will most be happy to see go down in defeat. And he will. Nothing guarantees a Republican victory more than trying to pretend to be one of them.

Funny thing is………………………… I had also noticed that “No Earmarks Ever” Tester started pretending he was a Republican just hours after the Democrats were handed their collective butts on November 2nd. Is there anyone left that loves you Jon?

How did they vote?

You can see every vote your Congressional delegation makes thanks to a data base published by the Washington Post

Montana Chamber Poll Results

A poll authorized by the Montana Chamber of Commerce breaks down what the average Joes in Montana think about the following issues

The number one economic concern was unemployment. Contrary to popular belief the majority of Montanans want to see more oil, gas, coal and mining development. Two-thirds of the folks polled are disgusted with the uncontrolled medical marijuana laws. School funding is ranked as satisfactory according to 47% of those polled while 38% would like to see increases.

Not surprisingly, 63% want the President Obama replaced and 60% “disapprove” of the federal healthcare reform bill.

Keep watch beginning in January to see if our state-wide elected officials even bother to take into consideration the “thoughts of us average Joes”

Montana Term Limits Referendum





House District 33 Representative Kris Hansen

   Only eighteen days until the legislature convenes and all ready the out of state lobbying interests are hard at work trying to influence Montana politics. I have been repeatedly hearing radio ads bemoaning the fact that newly elected District 33 Representative Kris Hansen has introduced a bill to repeal term limits. The group running the ads is called U.S. Term Limits and is based in Fairfax Virginia and they are claiming that Ms. Hansen has introduced this bill strictly as a “self-serving” way to keep herself in office for multiple terms. What these facts twisting out of stators are failing to mention is that Ms. Hansen has introduced this legislation to be placed on the ballot as a referendum to be voted on by the Montana electorate.

Montana’s original term-limit law was passed in 1992 and limits State House members to four -two year terms and the State Senate members to two- four year terms. Since the passage of the term limit law what has been happening is that the legislature is heavily weighted with leadership that has no historical experience so in essence the lobbyists are running our government. Is that really what the citizens of Montana want? The term limit bill was designed to get rid of the career politicians but what it does allow is for a person termed out in the House to then run for the Senate so technically the career minded folk can in reality serve for 16 years. I fail to see how our so called term limits serve any purpose other than giving the lobbyists and special interest groups more say in how the State operates. While it is arguable that some term limit law is needed the one we have now is too short to allow for qualified experienced people to retain their seats.

I admire a newly elected house member like Ms. Hansen that will get to work the very first session to correct the deficiencies she sees in the way the State does business. In addition to the term limit bill Ms. Hansen has also introduced bills to correct problems with annexation, youth court sentencing guidelines, public disclosure, State income tax, school election laws and etc-etc. Beware of what you read in our biased newspapers and advertisements run by lobbying groups. Take the time to follow the bills yourself by checking on the Montana Legislative Website which is updated as the session progresses.

Or better yet – contact information is available on the legislative website so you can contact each of our representative and senators yourself if you have an opinion about any of the proposed bills.

Havre High needs some Renovations

Anxious to start the demolition and build all new

I find it quite ironic that less than 2 weeks after we all have scrimped, borrowed, and begged enough to pay our ever increasing local property taxes (of which 65% go to fund our schools) we are hearing that the school board is working on plans for a major renovation on the high-school building. Wednesday’s Havre Daily “News” reported that school board heard a report from a consulting engineering firm about re-hab work at the high school which could end up with a price tag of 1.7 million dollars. Of course as soon as this dollar figure was disclosed to the board that first thing that popped into their collective heads was the thought of just forsaking everything and working towards building a NEW high school building. After all, the poor dilapidated building is 50 years old. Not to be out spent, the next thought brought to the table was the elementary school buildings which are even older than the high school. I recall we had to pass a mill levy increase just a few months ago just too barely make it thru the year but the economic times are certainly better now that we have all that Obama stimulating going on around the country.


I will be the first to dare say it out-loud -- Let’s just bull-doze all the school buildings and start over, after all there seems to be a never ending supply of property owners that we could tax into oblivion to fund all these lofty projects.

GO PONIES (let’s get a new luxury coach for the team also)





Tax on"Sugary" Drinks

Betsy Hands - Democrat - Missoula

Here we go again. The 62nd legislative session hasn’t even begun and here comes House Democrat Betsy Hands from Missoula with a bill that will again attempt to tax soda pop. According to Montana Watchdog Ms. Hands says that the bill could generate  100 million dollars in tax per year which could possibly be used to subsidize Medicaid and Medicare. To make this tax more tolerable to the consumers Hands says it could be collected by the distributers of these evil sugary products.

Of course Hands fails to mention that the distributers will indeed pass this tax on to the consumers as well as an additional fee for collecting the tax and dealing with another paperwork burden.

Betsy Hands first served in the legislature in 2007 and carried mostly environmental type bills last session including the “Global Warming Solutions Act”, a bill to regulate mercury thermostats, motorcycle helmet laws and the like. If you have an opinion to share with Ms. Hands you may contact her at betsyhands@gmail.com  or call your local representatives to alert them to be on watch for this ridiculous excuse to raise our taxes.

Forced Healthcare Ruled Unconstitutional

A Virginia Federal Judge has ruled that “forcing” a citizen to participate in nationalized healthcare is unconstitutional.  Judge Henry Hudson said it is “all about liberty”  Here is the full report from ABC News.

Havre Two-Hour Parking

Mayor Tim finally made an “executive” decision today and decided it was high time the City enforced the two-hour parking ordinance downtown. Mayor Tim sent uniformed officers to all the businesses downtown with a letter from the Chief of Police demanding that downtown business owners and employees no longer break the two-hour parking law. City ordinance provides that violators can be subjected to up to a $300 dollar fine.

Some downtown business owners had previously taken it upon themselves to place “customer only” parking signs in front of their businesses only to be obnoxiously told by a public works uppity-up that they had to remove them as all streets are public and they were violating city ordinance. Apparently this is a stepped up attempt by City Hall to drive what is left of down-town business people out to the mall or elsewhere. Interestingly, this will be one of the few ordinances that are actually enforced in our city limits if they indeed do follow through with this action. A scan of the letter is attached below.

It appears those down town business owners shouldn’t have gone to City Hall to complain about that proposed business license. Look out boys ------------- I hear they are issuing the officers new Jack Boots and they will be keeping an eye on you.



Anyone else notice that City Hall excluded themselves from this directive? I guess if you want free all-day unlimited parking you will have to walk to work from over at City Hall. I also noticed that they “suggest” in their letter that “All businesses should report such violations to the Police Department” - Yep.......turn in your buddy. Yet another tactic copied directly from the Jack Booted Thugs Training Manual. I predict that, like all our local ordinances, enforcement will be selective or non-existent.

Merry Christmas everyone!

The Billion Dollar Man

Will President Obama be the nation’s first Billion dollar man? Chris Cillizza, a staff writer for the Washington Post predicts that the Obama reelection campaign could very likely raise over one Billion dollars for the 2012 presidential race. Mr. Cillizza points to the following facts;

First, he collected $750 million while running as a senator. He'll now be running as a president, which should allow him to clean up financially to an even greater extent, thanks to the power of incumbency.

Second, the continued development and maturation of Internet fundraising over the past four years means that the $500 million - yes, you read that right - that Obama raised online in 2008 could well be topped in 2012, noted Ben Ginsberg, a top Republican lawyer who served as an adviser to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential bid.

Considering that the opposition candidate will have to raise a like amount to even hope to unseat an incumbent president this will be a squandering of cash at unprecedented levels. The picture shows 10 million $100 bills stacked on 12 pallets. No wonder these candidates are out of touch with reality.

It may just be time for some election finance reform.

Ethanol ----- Why are we still promoting it?

Ethanol decreases mileage – Increases fuels costs – and is subsidized by taxpayers. Why do we continue to beat this dead horse? Here is a very informative article in The Hill’s Congress Blog

What do you think should be done about ethanol?

Merry Christmas Earmarks?

Sorry for the lapse in posts. I have been somewhat out of touch as I have sometime in the last number of years “grown old” and have been inflicted with that desire to go someplace warm with the little woman this time of year as the air temperatures drop and my enthusiasm wanes.

As I have begun browsing that pile of unread newspapers by my easy chair the first pattern I have noticed is that our wonderful Senator “No Earmarks Ever” Tester has been repeatedly stating over the past couple of weeks in various news stories that he really wasn’t against all earmarks like he said in his 2006 campaign but that he was only against those lacking “transparency” Jon-boy is now saying that Montana “desperately needs” these earmarks and that the call for a earmark moratorium by Congressman Rehberg and those naughty republicans is all political grandstanding. Uh……….you mean grandstanding such as saying catch phrases like Jack Abramoff –Culture of Corruption – No Earmarks Ever – and the like Senator?

I am not necessarily against the “proper” use of earmarks but I fail to see how we will ever get to the point where this magic “transparency” Mr. “No Earmarks Ever” Tester is now proclaiming to be the “fix” will work. Take a look at this article in the Huffington Post with the headline “Obama-GOP Tax cut Bill Turning into ‘Christmas Tree’ Tinseled with Gifts for lobbyists, Lawmakers” and you will see that every vote has a price. While I agree that the actual earmarks themselves make up less than one per-cent of the budget they are the grease that lubricates the vote for large obscene spending bills.

The bill talked about in this Huffington Post article was to extend the Bush tax cuts. Ironically it is now being called an Obama tax-cut bill but it really doesn’t cut any taxes but rather extends the Bush tax-cut for another two years. Without passage of this extension we would in reality see tax increases. (Why do the newspapers erroneously title these stories as “tax-cuts”?) You can plainly see by this article that millions upon millions of dollars have been ‘earmarked” unto this tax bill for everything from ethanol subsidies to wasteful grants for experimental solar power. Without earmarks these same subsidies would have to be brought to congress to be voted upon by their own merits instead of simply being the grease that lubricates the real screwing being given to the tax-payers.

It’s time to call your congressional delegation and tell them to vote to eliminate the legality of ALL earmarks………………….. Forever!

Be Happy Gas is only Three Bucks

Isn’t this great? The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. interior Department has designated 187,000 square miles of offshore sea ice in Alaska as a “Critical Habitat” for Polar Bears. Drilling was to commence this next summer. Only a year or so ago they were saying this was all political rhetoric and telling those people about to be thrown out of work in Alaska “not to worry” - kind of like they have been telling the ranchers around Malta about the proposed National Monument .

I will continue to get that warm fuzzy feeling about the anti-drilling crowd and these lame-brain government workers every time I pull my car in to gas up with $3.00 gas. Apparently no one has learned anything from the election results just a mere 4 weeks ago

Time to vote some more of the bums out!

It appears "No Earmarks Ever" Tester is now for Earmarks

Anyone remember this picture of Jack Abramoff that our Senator “No Earmarks Ever” Tester used repeatedly in his 2006 Senate Campaign against incumbent Conrad Burns? Abramoff was on the verge of being convicted for “influence peddling” and pay-offs by trading favors and promoting earmarks for his clients. Abramoff eventually was sentenced to a 6-year term in the federal prison and is currently residing in a Baltimore half-way house awaiting his release after serving 3-1/2 years.

“No Earmarks Ever” Tester repeatedly claimed Senator Burns was in bed with Abramoff and he promised he would never-ever join in the “Culture of Corruption” which he falsely accused Burns of joining because of his campaign donation from Abramoff. Tester further went on record numerous times saying “Quite frankly, I don't support earmarks, period.”  Interestingly, Burns was exonerated yet we never heard one peep from Tester apologizing for his false accusations during the campaign.


According to the Weekly Standard “No Earmarks Ever” Tester has been instrumental in over 239 earmarks since he was elected and is even releasing press releases to us ignorant yucks back home bragging on his “Earmarking abilities.” Whatever happened to that No Earmarks Ever promise Jon? Apparently that was all campaign rhetoric that was forgotten once he joined what he campaigned against which was the “Culture of Corruption” in Washington, DC.

Today Senator Tester got his chance to go on record in his alleged quest began in 2006 to eliminate earmarks and missed the opportunity as the Senate failed to garner enough votes to pass the proposed ban on earmarks. The Flint Report had this to say about the proposed earmark ban;

Noticeably absent from the list of Dems up in 2012 who voted for the earmark ban: Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), who campaigned against the use of earmarks in his 2006 race, saying, “I’m opposed to earmarks, period”

Scroll ahead to the 9 minute mark on this video to hear it said by Mr. Jon "No Earmarks Ever Tester" in his own words during the Tester – Burns debate in Bozeman back in the 2006 campaign.


Certainly there will be those that claim Montana will be short changed if earmarks are eliminated but the country needs to get back on track towards fiscal responsibility. Earmarks are just a smaller portion of the waste in our government but they are the oil that lubricates the passage of huge deficit spending bills. Anyone remember all the “favors” given to those that voted for the ObamaCare bill? It is but one example of a bill that would have failed if not for the votes garnered by the lubricating earmarks attached.


So come on Jon ……………… You promised the voters of Montana better. No Earmarks and No “Culture of Corruption” yet you have already joined the den of vipers you campaigned against.  Have you forgotten that you barely squeaked by Burns by a mere 3,000 votes?

City of Havre Proposed Business License (YET AGAIN)

Here we go again with the proposed city business license ordinance. First we were, then we weren’t then we were then we weren’t; now apparently we are again. No matter what you think of this proposal it is obvious after watching this dog and pony sideshow over the past year that Mayor Tim is easily swayed back and forth by all the varying opinions and stands in the way of the council ever accomplishing anything.  Vote it up or down for crying out loud and move on to something important.  (Maybe you can re-vist the Cat leash law or something?)

The Ordinance Committee is meeting at 5:45 tonight at City Hall to hear public comments regarding the proposed business license. According to the notice from the Chamber of Commerce the proposed ordinance rules include;

• Charging a $25.00 business license fee
• Businesses would have 90 days to register or close your doors or face prosecution
• The City will have the power to tell you to close your doors with a “cease or desist” order if s business fails to comply
• They are also talking a $250 penalty for any business person that dares to ignore them

 

I especially loved the part about the power to serve a business a “Cease and Desist” order if they fail to comply. Wouldn’t someone have to actually go out of their warm office at City Hall to do this? Are they going to target all businesses for compliance or just the obvious downtown guys that already carry most of the load?

You may recall that this all started when the City realized they had no power to regulate medical marijuana businesses although they deny this is the driving motivation behind this proposal. I don’t really have a problem with the licensing itself as we are one of the only cities in Montana without business licensing but let’s make it apply to ALL businesses in all areas of town, not just the select few. Also, how is the City intending on enforcing this ordinance when they only selectively enforce the ones they already have on the books?

If you care be sure and show up tonight to hear the latest before Mayor Tim again waffles and changes the game plan

Jesse Jackson says if you are for repealing ObamaCare you are for Genocide

What is the matter with this guy?

What is Havre adding to the "Kool-Aid"?

What is wrong with these candidates in Havre?


Today Democrat elect Hill County Superintendent Gary Pfister said in a news report in the HDN that “he has decided not to take the office next year” Pfister went on to make excuses and cast the blame on the County Commissioners for his decision. Why would you run for an office if you have no intention of fulfilling your obligation to the county taxpayers once you were elected? Apparently Mr. Pfister is not a follow through with your obligations type of person.  The time to make this decision was BEFORE you filed to run Mr. Pfister.

Back in July of this year the Republican candidate for Hill County Treasurer Bill Gupton suddenly withdrew from the race citing a “better job offer” out of town. While this was somewhat understandable it still left the race with no contest in the November election.

A year ago, not even two weeks after he had won the election for Havre Justice of the Peace, Dave Krezelak resigns the position before he even took office. Dave actually campaigned, spent some of his own cash, and handily beat his opponent by a healthy 600 vote margin only to bail out before he was even officially seated.

Maybe it has something to do with our water? This must be why the Havre water always stinks and tastes funny. Is the Mega-million dollar water plant adding something to our “Kool-Aid”?

Havre's own Representative Wendy Warburton elected GOP Majority Whip

Hill and Blaine County Democrats gave their all to oust House District 33 Representative Wendy Warburton this last election saying she was an “ineffective” Representative and bemoaned the fact that she was running on a pro-life pro-property rights platform. Not only did she surprise them by absolutely rolling over her opponent but now she has been elected to a leadership position in the Republican caucus yesterday.

The Montana Watchdog reports that Mike Milburn of Cascade was elected Speaker of the House and Representative Wendy Warburton from our own House District 33 was elected as one of the Majority Whips. Milburn was quoted as saying

“We’ve got to stand up to an overreaching federal government,” Milburn told fellow House Republicans. “I’m talking about ObamaCare, wolves, national monuments and our environmental regulations"

The rest of the leaders elected by their respective party caucuses can be found on the Montana Republican Legislative Campaign Committee website.

What a great honor for our home town conservative gal and what a boon for those of us fortunate to live on the Hi-line.  Congratulations Wendy!  We look forward to another term of your outstanding service to our area.

Poor Professor Bill must be livid upon hearing that all his efforts to bash Warburton’s fine voting record not only didn’t influence any local voters but also didn’t keep her from this honored spot of leadership

Touché Bill!

Obama in Review

Heads are Starting to Roll at Montana Democrat Headquarters

Nigh over a year ago the Montana Democrat Party hired one David Benson as their Executive Director.  At the time the Missoulian reported these words attributed to Mr. Benson.

"For me coming in to this position, I want to create stability and continuity for the party for now and in the future," Benson said Thursday.

He said he's excited to help build on the successes of Montana Democrats and believes "in order to make good public policy that positively affects the lives of Montanans, we need to elect good policymakers."

He praised Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer and U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester for fighting to make life better for families, farms and businesses.

Looking to the 2010 elections, Benson fixed his sights on the Legislature and five-term U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, the lone Republican statewide elected official.

"First and foremost, it's recruiting good candidates," he said. "It is being competitive all across the state in the legislative races, holding on to our PSC (Public Service Commission) seats that we currently have and, of course, defeating Denny Rehberg."

It is obvious that Mr. Benson’s grand plans fell a little short on Election Day and KXLH TV in Helena today reported that Mr. Benson has been put out to pasture and Ted Dick has been hired to take over the reins of the State Democrat Party still smarting from the beating they took on Election Day. Dick previously was employed by the Montana Service Employee International Union and is expected to begin work cleaning up the mess in December.

In the report on KXLH TV Martin Kidston, communications director for the Montana Democrat Party said

“We simply want to set a new direction early in the campaign process and now is a good time to do that. The Montana Democrat Party stands firm in its commitment to create jobs.”

Hmmmm ……… If they would have been doing that all along instead of walking lock-step with the Obama regime I doubt they would have been pounded into obliviation on this historic Black Tuesday.

"NO Earmarks-Ever" Tester soon to be # 1

Senator Jon "No Earmarks-Ever" Tester has finally accomplished something big. Politico reports he is currently tied with Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska as the most “ENDANGERED Senate Democrat” Don’t worry Jon. One more trip to help Nancy Pelosi save a field mouse or one more rally to promote Harry Reid and you will be a slam-dunk for first place.

How about a sequel to the “What’s Good for Nevada-California-Kentucky-Virginia is Good for Montana” campaign pep-rallies you helped with just last month? Or any or the other states you think are the same as Montana – Is it time for Massachusetts again Jon?

Montana Republicans are having a "Victory Banquet"

Apparently getting involved and belly-aching to the political party leaders does indeed garner some attention as it appears I have now been added to the Republican e-mail list.  The e-mail said that Republican National Committee Co-chair Jan Larimer will come to Helena to keynote the event! I may just go to see what is so exciting about these gatherings.  I am sure everyone will be in a jovial mood at least.

Anyone want to join me?

Pay Back to the DNC

Remember when the Democrats slammed the Republicans back in the 1992 election? Well it seems that they hauled a full sized stuffed donkey down and set it in front of the Republican National Headquarters to rub it in a little. Not to be out done the Republicans have saved that same donkey all these years and have returned it to the Democrat Headquarters after the November 2nd GOP sweep of the country.


At least they had some fun but I hope both parties take the Tuesday message from the voters to heart and get back to representing “We the People” instead of all the continued partisan politics of the last two years.

Posted at The Washington Scene

Hill County Buffalo Jump Mural

The election is over and it is time to move on to other topics. Has anyone pulled into the parking lot and actually gotten out to take a look at the new Buffalo Jump mural located just east of Murphy’s? It is a fantastic piece of artwork and the detail is incredible.

Kudos to the Hill County Museum Foundation for making this project a reality.

Poor Hill County Democrats

Why did the Democrats get turned out to pasture in mass last Tuesday? Every talking head, every blog, every newspaper has offered up their “ideas.” In Hill County the Democrats were defeated in every single seat where they had a Republican opponent. Why the big change of heart with voters in what is typically viewed as a Democrat stronghold?

Excuses, excuses, excuses are all we find this last week in any article we have read. In the HDN article by Award winning Timmy Leeds in Fridays paper Hill County Democrat Chairman John Musgrove was quoted as saying “I was extremely surprised that we lost all three (legislative elections) Montana usually doesn’t follow the national trend, and this time it seemed to. “I’m still trying to analyze why that happened,” Musgrove added. Timmy Leeds went on to portray National Review Editor and PSC race winner as a “Republican Blogger” that defeated former Democrat Representative Don Ryan. I know Timmy it hurts but does it make you feel better to misrepresent Mr. Kavulla’s employment even after he won handily over Democrat Don Ryan?

The local Democrats said maybe it’s the war, but isn’t that all Republican Bushes fault? They say people don’t understand the wonders of Obama Care and are just not happy with anything going on. Former representative Toni Hagener is even quoted as saying “Maybe it has to do with the weather, too.” WTH? The weather? Considering this is a quote written by Award winning Timmy Leeds I am going to give Toni the benefit of the doubt and disregard this absurdity as yet another quote taken out of context by the dimwitted reporter yet former PSC Chairman Greg Jergeson thought Hill County was just caught up “in the wave” I would love to hear from our readers what you think happened here in Havre.

Personally I think there was a host of problems leading to the Democrats landslide defeat here in Hill County that had nothing to do with national politics, Obama, Pelosi, the weather or any of the other “excuses” offered by our local Democrats. It is true that people are disgusted by our Senators Baucus and Tester who they feel didn’t truly represent the wishes of Montana in the Health care fiasco and that lead to a poor turnout of Democrat voters. Also both Tester and Baucus abandoned Montana and fled out of state to help their liberal friend’s campaign to protect the Obama agenda and that undoubtedly turned off many voters that normally would have marked their X in the Democrat column but was that enough to cause the huge defeat in Hill County?

Let’s consider what has happened in Hill County these last couple of years. The local GOP has finally gotten it together and has worked as a team. In contrast there are wide-spread reports of the local Democrats fighting amongst themselves and not supporting their candidates. Democrat party leaders were instrumental in the controversial ACLU complaint against Northern, a person viewed as a staunch Democrat and party leader tried to again boycott a local business for openly supporting a Republican, and on and on with community busting endeavors in the name of political gamesmanship. People of both parties have grown weary of these tactics and have decided to give them the “pink slip”

While I have yet to determine the motivation behind the driving force of local GOP volunteers the fact remains that a host of new volunteers rallied behind the Republican candidates this year. They worked tirelessly while their opposition sat back and coasted thinking the people of Hill County would again just vote Democrat because that is what we have always done. It is hard to pass the buck and make excuses when you have just been plainly out-worked and out-smarted. In addition the local Republicans offered up the very best qualified candidates I have ever seen in all the years I have watched Hill County politics in contrast to their less than stellar opponents.

Furthermore, boondoggles like the Highland Park School mess, the never ending courthouse renovations, and the constant bickering between the City and County most assuredly have taken a toll on the over-burdened taxpayers that are tiring of the “Tammany Hall” type thinking of the local politicians

I have to take heart when I see that Democrat Chairman John Musgrove said that they “have to take some time and analyze what happened so we’re prepared for next election” Maybe, just maybe some of our local leaders will finally listen to those they are claiming to represent. Let’s hope so.

Democrat Implosion

This short graphic pretty much shows   the Democrat implosion that occurred on Tuesday.  Short – Sweet – and to the point.

Oil Rig Counts tumble since 2006

Think - Think  - Think -  What happened at the start of 2006 to start this trend?

New Election = New group hopefully = new actions. 



source;  http://www.leg.mt.gov/css/fiscal/default.asp

For those candidates that won by 2 to 1 margins this last tuesday the elections isn't really over.  You were elected by large margins to be a conservative and sane voice in Helena

NOW BE ONE!  We all have our eye on you

Thumbs Up -- Great Job HDN

It’s true that the Corrector has done allot of bellyaching about the inaccuracies in our home town paper but we are the first to admit it when they finally nail one. Wednesday’s front page was a marvelous thing to behold. It was the best laid out page we have ever seen in the Havre Daily News.  Lavoi's picture cut-out at the top of the page and the picture placement was fabulous.

Furthermore the elections articles were well written and surprisingly accurate. Nikki Carlson again proved that the HDN hiring her was the best thing that has ever happened to them. Her photos were marvelous like usual

GREAT JOB HAVRE DAILY NEWS!

Time for Our Bi-annual New Courthouse Steps yet Again

Well they are at it again. The courthouse steps that is. A crew from Dick Anderson Construction started Jack hammering out the courthouse steps yet again yesterday which ironically was the day after the election. I am sure that was just a coincidence and didn’t have anything to do with wanting to protect a Democrat commissioner seat at the courthouse. Didn’t seem to matter though as Hill County voters had finally had enough and decided to try someone that promised not to play partisan politics. I am somewhat surprised that they didn’t wait to start this project until spring so they could blame newly elected Independent Jeff LaVoi. Who in their right mind would start a major concrete job this close to freezing except these guys? I hope LaVoi sees the merit in letting professional contractors do their job and will end the “homeowner” contracting that has been going on at the courthouse and wasting taxpayer dollars all these years.

This project first hit the planning table over a decade ago and hopefully I will live to see them actually completed but at the rate this mismanaged project has been going I am growing more doubtful as each year passes. I noticed in tonight’s paper that they have attempted to lead the public to believe they actually have made money with all their lawsuits. They claimed that the county received $410,000 in an out of court settlement with the architect which was more than the original $340,000 contract. Excuse me if I am skeptical.

I can hardly wait for Mr. Lavoi to get sworn in and see if he can get a handle on this commission that has run amuck.

Hill County Democrats Crushed

It’s a great day in Havre Montana. Last night the local Republicans made history in an astronomical sweep of the Hill County races. Every single Republican listed on Hill County ballots from the PSC and Congress on down to the legislative seats outdistanced their opponents by landslide margins of historic proportions. What a victory for Hill County Republicans

New comer Rowlie Hutton slam dunked our infamous “former” speaker of the house Democrat Bob Bergren garnering over 58% of the vote in Senate District 17. Republican Kris Hansen pulverized Democrat Jack Tretheway to embarrassing proportions wuppin’ up the poor guy by margins exceeding 2 to 1  in HD 33. Warburton easily retained HD 34 over Dana Siedel in what the Democrats had been touting as their best chance for a “landslide victory”. I guess all that campaigning by the ponytail *******(Edited 3/8/11 for alleged slanderous references)  and the boycotts by former chair Friede really paid off as they kept the Siedel defeat to less than a 2 to 1 margin. Way to go Professor Bill

Even the county Democrats shining star commissioner candidate Jim Catt got slapped back down to size with Independent candidate Jeff LaVoi moving into the Democrat controlled courthouse by over 500 votes.  Even more amazing was that the Republican Psc candidate Kavulla killed his opponent in Hill County

Amazing – Simply amazing. I wonder how the partisan Havre Daily will put a spin on this story. I am sure it is all Obama’s fault and has nothing to do with the lack of effort by the local Democrats nor the fact that they just had plain poor candidates nor the fact that the Democrat campaign volunteers are the town idiots. Apparently Friede’s boycott and Professor Bill’s constant harassment of Warburton actually raised the vote count in the GOP column.

You Havre Republicans had better send a big THANKYOU to these numbskulls so they keep up the good work next election

We will bring you further information after we talk to the Party officials.

Halleluiah!

Senator Baucus Screws over Montana Legislative Candidates

All across Montana Democrat candidates for the legislature are either fighting to retain their seats or are seeking to replace Republicans in the legislature. Most are facing an uphill battle as the Democrats Obama connections are taking their toll. What usually helps in these uphill battle races is a little boost from the upper ranking Democrats like Senator Baucus and Tester. Both senators have made a couple of short stops in Billings and around the state but they seem to be more concerned with the battles in neighboring states. Tester has been hard at work campaigning in California, Nevada, Missouri and elsewhere but what really is a kick in the rear for the Democrats is Senior Senator Baucus’s abandoning the local candidates on the eve of the election to stump for his good pal fellow liberal Harry Reid of Nevada.

The Wall Street Journal reports that our good Senator Baucus has flown himself and thirty of his aides to Las Vegas Nevada to assist.

Reid supporters, including multiple labor unions and about 30 aides to Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, are canvassing neighborhoods, making sure likely voters get to precincts for early voting and organizing get-out-the-vote efforts to help Mr. Reid in his tight contest against Republican Sharron Angle.

Full WSJ article here

Aaron Flint from the Northern Ag network has a related article here

In addition to taking his influence and his staffers to Nevada to fight for his good old boy buddy Harry Reid Senator Baucus has given Reid $100,000 from his campaign war chest to assist with get out to vote efforts as reported by CQ politics.com

Maybe the good Senator has forgotten from which state he hails? It appears that Baucus has given the finger to his home state party partners in this year’s state legislative races. At least the Democrats don’t mind screwing their own over along with their Republican rivals. Local candidates Siedel, Bergren and Tretheway can at least blame Baucus for their losses tomorrow evening

Don’t forget to vote and I hope the Montana GOP doesn't forget to send Senator Baucus a Thankyou card for his help.

Additional Flint Report here

Hill County Democrats go All Out to show support for their Candidates

Finally the Hill County Democrats have begun to campaign for their candidates.

Anyone notice in the paper tonight that the local Democrats were advertising that they were having a “BIG” rally at town square to support their candidates? I popped into a business across the street so I could observe and what did I see? Ten yes count them, ten tired old Democrats bouncing around with candidate signs and waving at cars going by. Yes, party leaders Friede and Thackeray were bouncing along with the rest of them. Apparently they were trying to emulate all those Rallies the Republicans held at town Square all fall except they would have about 80 to 100 attend instead of the ten I witnessed tonight. I can hardly wait to see what the voters think of this and here I thought this town was a Democrat stronghold.



26 more hours and it will all be but a smudge mark on the history of the Democrats in Hill County.

Havre Daily Corrector - One Year and Counting

Our efforts at the Havre Daily Corrector have officially reached the one year old mark today. We kicked this blog off back on November 1 of 2009 with what could be called a spam solicitation to every e-mail address we could gather in the Havre area. We hope you have enjoyed the opportunity this blog has provided to comment on current issues. Our blog counter has had over 48,000 hits since that first invitation went out  back in November of 2009 and we hope to be able to double that number by next November. Thanks to all our readers and a special thanks to those that regularly participate and send us tips.

Here’s to a great second year!

Montana Democrat Candidates “Stimulate” Connecticut Economy

I was browsing through some of the Democrat campaign reports from other Montana cities this afternoon and it didn’t take long to ascertain that many of the Democrat legislative candidates spent a large portion of their campaign funds they raised locally with out of state printing firms. I am not going to go through every single report but the pattern on the ones I have viewed shows about one dollar spent out of state for every dollar spent in the candidate’s home district. Apparently none of the Democrats think we have printers intelligent enough to handle their campaign printing as they are out-sourcing their printing to Connecticut in mass. Adding up the average amount spent per campaign it looks to me like at least 30 full-time printing jobs have been lost to our state just solely by this sad choice by the “we are working hard to bring jobs to Montana” Democrat Party.

Since Democrats across our state are spending most of our local campaign contributions in Connecticut I wonder if the people there are appreciative. Take a look at this stump speech made today in Connecticut by President Obama in support of fellow Democrat Richard Blumenthal’s campaign. Angry Liberals are even shouting down their savior Obama right in Democrat rallies. I am afraid that the “knockout punch” referred to in yesterdays blog may just be dealt to the Democrats rather than the GOP like they predicted in their campaign letter. Personally I am giving two to one odds on all wagers that the Democrats will indeed have some very long faces Tuesday night. I will meet you at the Democrat “Victory” party at the Havre Eagles Club Tuesday night so we can see for ourselves and I can collect my wagers before the bills become too tear stained

Duran Caferro says the GOP in Montana is "On the Ropes"

Ever heard of a guy named Duran Caferro? He is currently employed as a field organizer for the Montana Democrat Party and also is the reigning USA Boxing National Champion from Helena Montana who has a good shot at representing the USA in the 2012 Olympics.

Well our lone disenfranchised Democrat blogger received an e-mail from Democrat Party headquarters today from Mr. Caferro asking her for a small donation to help deliver the knock-out punch to the Montana GOP on Tuesday. In part, here is what he had to say.

Before I started working as an organizer for the Montana Democratic Party, I was the #1 ranked amateur boxer, so I know when someone is on the ropes. And I can tell you, we've got the Montana GOP right where we want them.

For months, MDP field organizers and volunteers have been going door-to-door talking to voters about the issues that are important to them and what's at stake this election. And with just four days to go, our message is winning.

Interesting part of Duran's message to me was the statement that the MDP "field organizers and volunteers" have been doing all the work which is exactly who has been working to get the local Democrat candidates here in Havre elected while the GOP candidates from our area have actually been working the campaign themselves. I don’t know about you but I tend to vote for the person I think will work the hardest for me, the over-burdened tax-payer, instead of those that have had others do all their campaigning for them. Clearly that is not the Democrats in our area this year.

Duran is also an advocate for expanding the Montana Chips program and the following is his promotion of that program. Best wishes to you Duran in your quest to be part of the 2012 Olympics team as all of Montana will be rooting for you but I rather doubt your prediction that a “knockout” by your party will be delivered on tuesday. See his video “At the Gym, A Human Rights Story” where he proclaims that Health Care is a Human Right.

The People of Newington Connecticut Thank you for your Business!

Well Glory Be!


Our infamous Speaker of the House Bob Bergren has actually finally filed his campaign disclosures. He reports that he raised $8,009 this last reporting period and of that amount $2,455 was actually donated to his campaign by people eligible to vote for him from this area. Bergren’s report further showed that he has spent $13,516 on his campaign this period.  Following suit with Tretheway Bergren has chose to spend $8,867 for campaign services out of town for printing and so forth. Both professional printers Griggs and Florens here in Havre must have been booked up I guess.

Sure is strange that a guy that says he supports bringing jobs to our area would bring home the bacon to Billings and even out of state to Connecticut with his own dollars. Maybe the local printers belong to that nasty Republican Party? Kind of odd that the Big Dog in our local politics wouldn’t know that you have to do business with local businesses to actually help support “bringing jobs” to that business. Well in his defense Bob did buy candy for the Festival Days parade from the Havre IGA and he did single handedly develop the Bio-Diesel program at Northern like he claims in his campaign advertisements.

Unbelievable! See the reports for yourself here

Where's Waldo? Err Jon Tester

Anyone seen Senator Tester lately? He is a busy guy what with all his traveling around the country campaigning for his liberal friends. Yesterday found him in EXCELSIOR SPRINGS Missouri where he was hard at work campaigning for Senate Candidate Democrat Robin Carnahan. The Columbia Daily Tribune reported that Montana Senator Jon Tester is hard at work promoting Obama administration supporters. The Elko Daily Free Press recently spotted Jon campaigning to save poor Harry Reid’s Senate seat in Nevada where his job is on the ropes. Luckily Jon did find time to be in Montana to be the keynote speaker for the Society of Environmental Journalists who were having a conference in Missoula according to the Missoula Independent

Anyone remember this campaign photo where Tester was traveling around the state in a grain truck promising to stand up for “MAIN STREET MONTANA”? So much for Montana Representation and the promises of Jon “No Ear Marks Ever” Tester

Local Campaign Reports make for some Interesting Reading

It is always interesting to browse thru the political campaign reports that are required to be filed by Montana’s political practices. The most recent filings show that former Speaker of the House Bob Bergren has again failed to file his campaign finance reports. I guess when you are one of the people making the laws you don’t have to be bothered following them. If you are interested in seeing all the local candidates’ reports you can find them here.

One report I found quite interesting was filed by House District 33 candidate Jack Tretheway. From the last report filed on June 27th and this report filed on October 21st Jack’s campaign has raised over $7,366 with only $1,155 coming from people living in his voting district. Most of his support comes from government politicos and firefighters union people. Doesn’t seem like a whole lot of support locally considering a good portion of his local donated dollars came from relatives. What I find most alarming was the fact that he spent most of his campaign funds with an out of state advertising firm called Bridge Communications where he shelled out $4,849 for campaign signs and brochures. I guess all that talk about going to Helena to create jobs and grow the economy was intended for growing the economy in Newington CT where Bridge Communications is located.

Why not take a few minutes and take a look at all of the local candidate’s reports? See who is supporting them and where they are spending their campaign dollars

President Obama asks for Your Support

This seems pretty exciting.  Our President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are personally asking for each of us to get involved in your local elections to Get Out the Vote (GOTV) and help the local Democrats get elected to keep all the “Hope and Change” that has befallen us lately moving forward. 

I also received a plea via e-mail from Max Baucus to join him and Senator Tester this election to “protect” the party and help Democrats Bob Bergren, Jack Tretheway, and Dana Seidel Win in Hill County.  I was invited to sign up here on the official Barack Obama website to volunteer for the local Havre Democratic candidates.  Furthermore I was instructed to meet with other volunteers at the Havre Democrats office at 48 2^nd Ave (in the Ryan Building second floor) on Saturday, October 30^th at 10 am.  Interestingly this is the address of the Bear Paw Development Corporation headed by Democrat Paul Tuss yet funded with our local bi-partisan tax dollars.  How is all this co-mingling proper?

On top of all this good news there was an article in Fridays HDN announcing a “Candidates Forum” hosted by three Havre organizations and the article said that Bear Paw Development is teaming up with the Havre Chamber of Commerce and the Havre Daily News to let the voters know “what the positions and opinions are of these various candidates” Now this hardly seems like something that any sane Republican would want to join in on but since I am not involved with any local campaigns I won’t judge the thinking of these Republican candidates that are participating in this “Forum”

Just from the outside looking in I would say that for the first time I can ever remember in Hill County the local Republicans have offered up an excellent slate of qualified candidates that have been literally working around the clock to get elected. I constantly see them out on the doors meeting people. I always see their headquarters bustling with activity and it appears to me (judged by everyone I talk to) that these Republican candidates are ahead by leaps and bounds over their democrat opponents. Why would they want to submit themselves to a “Forum” that is obviously stacked against them? You have Republican hater and news twister Timmy Leeds from the so called “News” paper and joining him is Democrat central committeeman Paul Tuss who obviously isn’t in any Republican’s corner with the local Chamber thrown in to try and provide the appearance of a “fair and balanced” event. Who do they think they are kidding?

This whole affair stinks and it also comes too late for many voters that have already voted early. To any voters that haven’t already voted I would say that you should consider voting for those candidates that have stepped up to the plate and proven themselves as hard workers this election over those that have layed about and are now trying to rally some support in the 11th hour. After all, you are known by the work you do and the company you keep.

If anyone is actually interested in viewing this travesty it is being held in the Henslar auditorium at MSU-Northern beginning at 6:30 on Wednesday the 27th. Anyone attending that wishes to take some pictures and/or send us a report you may do so at havredailycorrector@bresnan.net  

THINK BEFORE YOU VOTE!

Montana Supreme Court: Justice vs. Politics?

When November 2nd rolls around folks from all walks of life will be watching the polls for their favorite candidates from around Montana and around the nation. Will the Republicans take control of the Montana House or the U.S. House of Representatives? Will Barack Obama be forced to deal with Republicans? These are but a few of the questions that will be answered after that day, but one very important race will be decided that day as well, who will join the Montana Supreme Court in January? The choice is an interesting one and both candidates are seeking your support and your vote, District Judge Nels Swandal from Livingston and Helena attorney Beth Baker.

Let's face it folks this choice is decidedly partisan without exception with one candidate admitting it and the other pretending she is the non-partisan candidate; however, there is one more important distinction in our opinion. Swandal is a judge with actual judicial experience, while Baker has 25 years legal experience as an attorney, she has no judicial experience.

The history of the Montana Supreme Court teaches us that judicial experience need not be a prerequsite to run for this office, indeed the legal qualifications for that office do not require judicial experience; however we feel one's background is just as important running for Montana Supreme court as it does in any other position.  Perhaps if the high court had more prior judicial experience, it would habe a more favorable rating from the public or its peers nationwide.

Moreover the candidates offer a choice in values. Swandal, who is a retired U.S. Army Colonel and has served as a county prosecutor and district court judge for the last 15 years, has chosen not to run away from his Republican leanings and instead says other judicial candidates should be open and honest about their own values and political opinions. Really? That would be a novel approach! It has been a number of years since a candidate for Montana Supreme Court has not pretended that they have zero political leanings and applies the law with an unbiased interpretation. We at the HDC find this to be another favorable reason to support Swandal.

Baker on the other hand seems to be a lovely person and a well qualified attorney with definite experience and a proven admiriation for the law. Her list of endorsements while pocadotted with a few high profile exceptions, such as former Governor Marc Racicot, is quite liberal. Perhaps Mrs. Baker ought to be more forthcoming about her own political leanings. I am sure her husband Tim has no problems finding his way down the political aisle being the legislative director of the Montana Wilderness Association. Along with endorsements from the Montana Conservation Voters and Planned Parenthood of Montana it is no wonder how her supporters think she will vote!

For us experience counts, but the right kind of experience wins the day. We say Swandal for Montana Supreme Court.