The Campaign Trail
Tester to Missoulians: “You Gotta Be in My Ear.”
By Matthew Frank, 7-26-06
Jon Tester hosts a listening session at the Uptown Diner in Missoula on Wednesday. Photos by Chris Lombardi.
U.S. Senate candidate Jon Tester met with Missoulians this morning at the Uptown Diner as part of his “Meet Montana’s Main Street” tour. The purpose of the session, Tester said to a few dozen people packed in booths and on bar stools, was to hear Missoulians’ ideas and concerns on an “unfiltered basis.”
Issues thrown Tester’s way were many, ranging from a perceived failure of federal checks and balances to the importance of local food systems, from renewable energy to the asbestos-related diseases and lack of corporate accountability in Libby, Montana. Global warming, health care, social security, and the war in Iraq were hot issues, too, of course.
One woman voiced her concern that pursuing renewable energy sources in Montana won’t be enough. “We need to address global warming on the federal level,” she said. “We got to have the whole nation walk the line.”
“We ought to have the whole world walking that line,” Tester replied. Tester sees Montana driving the country's transition to renewable energy. "But there's got to be a will to do it," he said.
Perhaps the most salient message from Missoulians to Jon Tester as he battles incumbent Conrad Burns for a Senate seat was this: Stick to your convictions, and keep the campaign positive. He will, he said.
And Tester’s message back was this: “You gotta be in my ear.” He urged Montanans to contact him during the campaign and once he’s in office to make sure he understands the concerns of Montanans. “If I keep in mind the people who sent me (to Washington),” he said, “the country will move in the right direction.” He urged Montanans to “talk to your neighbors, talk in church, at ball games” about the issues important to them.
This five-day, statewide tour offers an opportunity to “listen to working Montanans during one of the most important times of the year to families across the state—the summer harvest,” Tester was quoted as saying on his website. “We’ll be cutting Sunday,” the Big Sandy farmer said Wednesday of his own harvest. “It’s a family affair.”
Tester has recently been touring out-of-state as part of his fundraising campaign, something his opponent has garnered a fair amount of criticism for. While he couldn’t provide specifics as to how successful he’s been at tapping out-of-state money, he said leaving the state is important for getting his message out – and for keeping up with Conrad Burns financially. At last check, Tester and Burns were neck and neck, with Tester raising $864,000 to Burns’s $870,000 last quarter.
Tester’s tour continued today with a stop at Missoula’s “Out to Lunch” in Caras Park with Mayor John Engen. He’s heading down to the Bitterroot this afternoon for a listening session in Corvallis at Memories Café. And he’ll be up north in Bigfork and Kalispell tomorrow.
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I guess he is not waiting to get to Washington to demonstrate his own backslide on ethics that he claims he will attack once he gets there. Not exactly the "clean" campaign he is promising.
The argument always comes down to some twisted form of one bad act justifies another bad act. Since they do it we'll do it. Or some form of moral relativism. According to an MSU political science professor, only about 17% of Montanans define themselves as liberals, the proponents of moral relativism. 83% of Montanans have a different value structure than that.
If Mr. Tester wants to claim to be the moral and ethical candidate who demonstrates real values and principles, he is going to have to do more than what he has done to date.
You're grasping at straws with every complaint in your laundry list above. Not having an opinion is an ethical lapse huh? Maybe Jon's just careful and doesn't want to tackle a huge issue like coal development with having performed due dilligence? Sheesh... You sound like Chuck Denowh.
>>>>>On Thursday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which works to elect Republicans to the Senate, distributed a statement from spokesman Brian Walton, saying that "it's interesting that admitted lawbreaker Jon Tester likes to lecture about ethics but is now taking to the road with ethically challenged John Morrison to pick up a few votes."
It's a double-barreled salvo: The "admitted lawbreaker" refers to the fact that a year ago, both Tester and Morrison acknowledged using pre-recorded telephone calls to solicit campaign contributions, a practice that violates state law. Both men said the law was unconstitutional and that Republicans also used the practice. Tester and Morrison both stopped using the messages.
Walton's "ethically challenged" gibe was the same sort of remark that Tester directed at Morrison during the primary campaign, alluding to Morrison's long-ago affair with a woman whose fiance was later investigated by the auditor's office. Morrison called in an outside investigator to supervise that probe.<<<<<
Regarding Montana coal development, Mr. Tester has lived a life-time in Montana. Coal is not a new issue. Even Governor Schweitzer has a firm, clear position. Why is Mr. Tester hiding his? 71% of Montanans want coal development and you suggest Mr. Tester has gone John Kerry on having a position. Montanans need to know whether Tester is for or against their economic interests.
Nick, as an aside and far more important than the political sparring, thank you for your Meth project work and leadership. Montana needs many more like you attacking this vicious issue.
>>>>>>>Last year, Tester solicited campaign money with prerecorded phone messages, a practice that violates state law. Tester at the time said he believes the 1991 law is unconstitutional, and Democrats said Republicans have done the same thing.<<<<<<<<<<<
Real Montana principles and values are MUCH higher than this rationalization. However, I can see the appeal to the 17% for proclaiming ethics while practicing moral relativism.