Guest Commentary
Montana Dems Cater to State’s Literal “Center”
By Pete Talbot, 8-04-06
Lewistown, Montana is smack dab in the middle of the state. Are the Democrats sending a subliminal message by holding their platform convention this weekend in the Sapphire City? They aren’t meeting in the left part of the state – at that liberal bastion called Missoula, for example. Nor are they meeting in the right part of the state – Glendive or Miles City or other conservative enclaves. No, the Montana Democratic Party is being centrist.
No rocking the boat this year. It’s a love fest. Pick up a U.S. Senate seat, a couple of seats in the Montana Senate and House, and Montana Democrats are back on the map.
Similar to herding cats, keeping Democrats in line can be a challenge. But with the electoral momentum on their side, Democratic Party leadership is working overtime to make sure this convention runs smoothly.
(Every other year, the Democrats, and Republicans, hold a convention somewhere in the state to hone their principles and message. It’s also an opportunity for each party’s candidates to rally the troops.)
This year, because the Republicans are back on their heels, the Democrats just need to hold it together and so they’re playing it safe. The governor will be pushing some alternative energy policies, according to party officials. He’ll also be speaking on behalf of a couple of the ballot initiatives (minimum wage and his own initiative that restricts some lobbying activities) and against other initiatives, especially CI-97 (the initiative that caps state spending). And he’ll be promoting his “square deal” plan for property tax relief.
There are some rumors of discontent within the Democratic Party. There’s a potential plank being advanced by the environmental wing of the party that deals with coal development. While some Democrats advocate more development in the Eastern Montana coalfields, notably Governor Schweitzer’s coal-to-diesel proposal, others want to take a go-slow approach to mining.
Whether a coal plank makes it to the floor of the platform convention for a vote (or what the exact wording will be) remains to be seen.
Then there was that TV commercial talking about U.S. Senate candidate Jon Tester’s support of “traditional marriage” and being against flag burning, paid for by the Montana Democratic Party. Some progressives were upset.
“These are non-issues,” said one party activist. “We shouldn’t rise to the bait.” The bait being a Sen. Conrad Burns TV ad saying gay marriage and flag burning are important issues for Montanans.
Tester explained that there are going to be Tester TV and radio commercials that he has no control over, and this is true. With potentially millions of dollars being poured into Montana to unseat Burns, and with strict laws prohibiting political action committees from talking to candidate campaigns, it will be hard for the Tester camp to always control the message. That’s politics.
Controlling the message coming out of the platform convention should be easier. Democratic leadership, which is basically Schweitzer, Baucus and party apparatchik, will work hard to nip any controversial platform language in the bud.
So the rhetoric coming out of Central Montana should be rather centrist. Jacques Rutten, editor of the Lewistown News-Argus, said he thinks that holding the platform convention in Lewistown, “sends a good message.” He added that although Lewistown basically votes Republican, “people are excited, more so because the governor, a senator and a senate candidate will be speaking here.” Asked about the impact that 300 visiting Democrats might have on the community Rutten said, “hey, we’ll take anybody we can get.”
(I was just informed that because of the death of Sen. Baucus’ nephew, Cpl. Phillip E. Baucus, in Iraq last Saturday, the senator will be with family and not able to attend the convention.)
Guest columnist Pete Talbot will be writing from the Montana Democratic Convention in Lewistown this weekend. Talbot is a film and video producer who works with WestRidge Creative, an advertising firm in Missoula that provides marketing for nonprofits, and coordinates issue and candidate campaigns. He also does freelance film and video production under the name Sterling Productions, a company he founded nearly 30 years ago. Pete is a board member of Missoula’s Sustainable Business Council and treasurer for Missoula Community Access Television (MCAT). Politically, Pete has served on the Montana Democratic Party Executive Board and was chairman of the Missoula County Democrats.
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Comments
Mark Twain explained it this way, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics." Anyone with an ounce of sense realizes that a few hand picked examples out of thousands of instances do not represent an honest sampling. Jon Tester’s thinly veiled attempt to rewrite history does more to illuminate Tester’s lack of substance than Senator Conrad Burns’s track record. Sometimes amendments add such baggage to a bill that its author ends up voting against it. The Democratic election machine evidently feels you’re stupid enough to swallow it whole without question.
Forget all the party line blather. I can testify to the following:
In 2002, I approached both Senator Burns and Max Baucus with news of a very unsettling matter involving over 10,000 U.S. Servicemen nationwide including at least ten that I know of in Montana. Senator Burns’s staff has worked tirelessly from the onset, making great strides for both myself and the other veterans involved. Baucus, calling himself “Montana’s Veterans’ Senator”, couldn’t be bothered. As far as I know, the information I hand delivered to his staff in Missoula is still sitting in the same drawer, gathering dust. Max’s chief of staff shook my hand in Kalispell, vowing to, “look into it and get back to me.” I haven’t heard from him since. It’s about real concern and firm action, not just getting elected.
So, when Jon Tester hitches his wagon to cheap lies and the less than stellar accomplishments of that grinning gasbag in a bolo tie, Brian Schweitzer, he’s going nowhere. If their overwrought bungling of the school funding issue is supposed to make me sit up and take notice…it may, but it sure won’t cause me to back either of them. Vote for the real deal, Conrad Burns.
[Please see: http://vva.org/shad/index.htm and ]http://www1.va.gov/SHAD]
J.B. Stone
Whitefish, MT
No only doesn't the MDP have a coal development position, Jon Tester has NO stand or position on coal development. As reported, 71% of Montanans want coal development. For the MDP and Tester to not have coal development positions suggests a "knife in the back" to the hopes of a majority of Montanans. Governor Schweitzer seems to be aligned with those Montanans and deserves credit for taking a position that the people want eventhough the militant enviros in Tester's camp do not. It's too bad that Tester does not have the same courage to declare himself.
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