Columns

Election 2022: The more things change ...

“Election Day” has become a fuzzy concept lately: Officially it falls on “the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November,” but most states offer early voting in person or by mail these days.

In the mail

To the editor, Throughout Montana’s modern history we’ve consistently had a mix of republican and democratic leadership, with one party as governor and always a mix in congress. When I was a kid, our governor was Ted Schwinden (D), followed by Stevens (R), Racicot (R), Martz (R), Schweitzer (D), Bullock (D), and Gianforte (R). If you keep looking back, you’ll see a surprisingly balanced “purple” trend in the office with nine Republicans and 15 Democrats. Our congressional delegation has exemplified a similar trajectory, currently with Senators Daines (R) and Tester (D), and representative Rosendale (R), with a history of 14 Democrats/eight Republicans in the Senate, and 15 Democrats/18 Republicans in the House. A few governors have even chosen lieutenant governors of the opposite party (most recently Schweitzer/Bohlinger).

Missouri v. Biden: Putting America’s Lysenko under oath

Missouri v. Biden, a lawsuit filed by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, cites a previous action (Biden v. Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia Univ.) to this effect: “A private entity violates the First Amendment ‘if the government coerces or induces it to take action the government itself would not be permitted to do, such as censor expression of a lawful viewpoint.”

Older politicians aren’t necessarily wiser politicians

“It’s passed,” US president Joe Biden said of his student loan forgiveness plan at a recent forum. “I got it passed by a vote or two.” But he didn’t “get it passed,” nor were there any votes. He issued an executive order.

James Brown: Bring balance back to the Montana Supreme Court

I’m a fourth-generation Montanan who grew up in Dillon, small business owner, private practice attorney and public servant. My entire 15-plus year legal career has been dedicated to protecting the legal rights of Montanans and upholding the rule of law. I have primarily represented Montana’s farmers, ranchers, and small business owners in both state and federal courts.

Mine, cough

There will not be a follow-up this week on the subject brought forth on last week’s editorial page. There will be a brief pause to contemplate the direction going forward. So yes, for this week it is all quiet on the Western front.

California’s ‘Progressive’ War on Workers goes national

On Oct. 13, the U.S. Department of Labor published a “draft rule” which, if adopted, will escalate California’s disastrous war on workers and the “gig economy” to the national level.

“MINE”

People in Dillon love football, whether it’s played by students at Dillon Middle School or Beaverhead County High School’s varsity and subvarsity teams or by the University of Montana Western. Part of what makes football so appealing to locals is for a team to be successful, its players have to cooperate—with one another and with leadership and even with other teams to set up games and adhere to rules and longstanding traditions. That’s also a big part of what makes living in Dillon so appealing—and what allows the town to continue to operate. Sharing. Cooperation. Respectful communication as opposed to just making a big decision on your own that will negatively impact your neighbors.

Call to action

Once again, the state of Montana is pushing more costs down to the local, county level. The county treasurer offices across the state have always had a partnership with the Department of Justice Motor Vehicle Division to provide the service of licensing and renewing motorized vehicles for the residents of our counties.

Journalism: “Objectivity” and “Neutrality” aren’t the same thing

“With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations,” Hunter S. Thompson wrote in 1973, “there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms.”