GUEST COMMENTARY

Montana Democratic Convention, Day 3

Jon Tester sounds like a nice guy. I still don't know what he stands for, but he sounds like a nice guy. Too bad I'm voting for a senator, and not my next-door neighbor. How about telling me why I want him to be a senator? So far, I gather that Tester doesn't like Burns, and Burns doesn't like Tester's haircut.

Kyle, perhaps someone should ask him how to keep the fit from hitting the shan. See Martin Wolf's economic article, 'America on the comfortable path to ruin
': http://www.rh.edu/~stodder/BE/Wolf_Ruin.htm

He writes:
>>>>> The US is now on the comfortable path to ruin. It is being driven along a road of ever rising deficits and debt, both external and fiscal, that risk destroying the country's credit and the global role of its currency. It is also, not coincidentally, likely to generate an unmanageable increase in US protectionism. Worse, the longer the process continues, the bigger the ultimate shock to the dollar and levels of domestic real spending will have to be. Unless trends change, 10 years from now the US will have fiscal debt and external liabilities that are both over 100 per cent of GDP. It will have lost control over its economic fate...
Politicians wait until crises hit. Statesmen foresee and then act to prevent them. What is the chance of such an economic statesman emerging after the election? Almost none, I fear.<<<<

Kyle, another issue Mr. Tester should answer is coal development. I saw the following article today: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/4098012.html

>>>>>>It would be far better, says U.S. PIRG, to say no to all new coal-burning plants, put gasifying technology on a far back burner, and invest instead in promising, zero-pollution solar and wind energy installations that could substitute for all the new coal plants proposed.<<<<<

A poll by the Missoulian awhile back found that 71% of Montanans want coal development. Mr. Tester, after a lifetime in Montana, has NO position on coal development. Unlike Governor Schweitzer who has declared his support for the Highwood plant, Mr. Tester is silent. His website "issues" section talks in terms of the US PIRG position. From that alignment of position and in the vacuum of a real stand, he leaves us to deduce that he is AGAINST Montana coal development and the 71% of Montanans who want it. Whether a voter is for or against coal development, Mr. Tester should find the Montana courage to tell his neighbors which side of the fence he is standing on.

Hello Craig,

It seems to me that, as important as coal is to Montana, and the nation because of our energy crisis that Senator Tester should have something to say on the matter. But, then there is this from Pete Talbot, "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."

Strategically speaking, I suppose he should say nothing specific.

As for voting for your nice neighbor; isnt that how Senator Burns got is foot in the door? Its politics.

When it comes to abilities and political acumen, Tester is everything Burns wishes he were. Montanan for generations, a farmer, in touch, and nimble with his mind. They are both very personable.

Matt

The question of coal development is an important one, and it's something that deserves serious debate, not talking points for electoral politics. But coal development is only part of the energy problem that Congress needs to tackle. I won't speak for Jon, but I have heard him speak several times and I've talked with him one on one, and what he has emphasized is first and foremost developing Montana's vast renewable energies, primarily wind. This is something that the federal government has dragged its feet on since day one. Thank god our state legislature moved to pass SB415 that provides incentives for wind development in the state, and sets benchmarks for success. That was Jon Testers bill. He's also very passionate about encouraging ethanol, biofuels, and oil seeds in Eastern Montana. That is a direction that will both ween this country off of oil and provide much needed economic relief for farmers and families in that part of the state. Seems to me that is a more economically sustainable route than the coal gasification project. Plus by going with bio fuels and wind energy you don't have the unintended consequences of falling back on the extractive industries. Decades of mining in this state have taught Montanan's a brutal lesson that in some parts of the state we are still paying for, literrally. So I think that it's entirely reasonable to second guess public officials when they start talking about the wonderous benefits of coal. That's not to say that we should entirely discourage any mining, but that we should first encourage industries in this state that will provide jobs and income for Montana families for an untold number of years into the future. And thank god I think Jon Tester knows that.