Treasure State Politics

For the first time in decades, Congressman Rehberg is absent from Montana political news…until today. The American Motorcyclist Association, which is the premier advocate for motorcyclists’ freedoms in the country, honored current and former federal lawmakers for their support of motorcyclists during the just-completed 112th Congress.

Montana’s former Congressman Denny Rehberg topped the list of those honored. He received an  AMA Government Relations Department “Hero” award for his efforts to support motorcyclists and motorcycling.

The honorees were  praised for their successful efforts to save the Recreational Trails Program from extinction, as well as to exempt kids’ dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which  banned the sale of those vehicles.

I grew up riding motorcycles that were banned by the CPSI Act until Congressman Rehberg led legislative efforts to once again allow Montana kids to ride.

 Montana Hunters and Anglers Leadership Fund, a well known liberal extremist hit group,  has a new ad up urging conservative libertarians to vote for Dan Cox in the US Senate race coming to an end. Why would Tester and Baucus staffers, in a margin of error race close race, start spending money urging votes for another candidate rather than votes for Senator Tester? Desperate Senator Tester is unable to defend his own record, and has to relay on fooling voters in order to get votes for himself–and this example takes the desperate attacks one step too far.

This is not the first time Tester’s mudslingers have been tied to helping Cox, and it is no secret that Cox is the Libertarian candidate who is generally thought to be a possible spoiler and the ONLY way Tester wins. The fact is, a vote for Dan Cox is a vote for Jon Tester and Barack Obama–not only has the press numerously reported on it, but Tester’s campaign has now with only days to go determined that is his last hope in winning a reelection.

The fact is, we are just as annoyed as you are of politically spun negative attacks taking quotes out of context. That is why we are going to provide you with the facts, the reasons why you should care, and allow you to make the decision.

Who are the Montana Hunters and Anglers: 

Montana Hunters and Anglers” is run by Members of President Obama’s Campaign Leadership Team in Montana and Political Operatives with Close Ties to Senator Tester and Senator Baucus. The list does not include Senator Baucus’s mistress scandal wife, but do include:

• Montana Hunters and Anglers President, Land Tawney: Member of Montana for Obama Committee, Member of Senator Advisory Panel, and lobbyist in Washington (I know, although campaigning against special interest as the number one recipient of lobbyist cash–hard to believe his insiders are, gasp, lobbyists).
• Montana Hunters and Anglers Secretary, Kendall Van Dyke: Member of a Montana for Obama Committee and elected Democrat State Senator from Billings.
• Montana Hunters and Anglers Treasurer, Barrett Kaiser: Former staffer to Sen. Max Baucus,  Former consultant to Sen. Tester’s 2006 campaign, and DONOR to Senator Tester.
• Montana Hunters and Anglers Treasurer, Beau Wright: Democrat activist and long time Tester supporter working to push liberal agenda on the ground.
•  Montana Hunters and Anglers Director, George Cooper: Donor to Senator Tester, Lobbyist for Forbes, Cauthen and Williams (The Forbes is Jeff Forbes, former Chief of Staff to Sen. Max Baucus).

• Montana Hunters and Anglers Donor, Robin T Nichols: Donor to Montana Hunters and Anglers: total contributions $5,000–Donor to Tester: total contributions $2,500. 

Who are they working with: The League of Conservation Voters front group has spent millions trying to advance an agenda that would kill Montana jobs, especially those in natural resources that pay for Montana schools, and have PLEDGED to work to defeat Congressman Rehberg, by any means necessary including by promoting Dan Cox.

Why do groups of Tester and democratic staffer attack dogs matter in determining the ethics of Senator Tester himself? 

Senator Tester has a long-standing problem with ethics. Despite promising Montana voters integrity and honest leadership, Tester has proven he is a typical career politician and will go to any length to save his job by cynically launching false, dishonest attacks using sleazy scare tactics in an attempt to divert attention from his record of supporting Barack Obama’s failed liberal polices 95% of the time.

• As he campaigned for Senate in 2006, Jon Tester told Montanans, “You’ve gotta have honest leadership,” he boasted “I’ve got the kind of honesty and integrity… that will serve Montana well,” and he claimed Montanans could “expect integrity and honesty” from him but has been called out twice in the Montana media for dishonest attacks and playing tasteless political games with cancer (Montana U.S. Senate Debate, 09/23/06, www.C-SPANVideo.org)
• In one attack, Tester claimed Rehberg “voted to eliminate funding for breast cancer screenings” but an independent analysis, published in newspapers across the state, showed that Tester’s attack is false as the legislation on which tester bases his claims in fact “did not eliminate funding for breast cancer screening.” Days later, Tester was again exposed in the Montana media for playing politics with cancer while voting for a cancer funding level far lower than the level for which he attacked Rehberg (Billings Gazette, 07/16/2012; CBS Montana, 7/23/2012).
• Tester hypocritically accused Rehberg of wanting to end Social Security “as we know it,” but Tester boasted that he is “the only congressional person who supported Simpson-Bowles, in Montana” a plan which would raise the retirement age, increase Social Security Taxes, and reduce benefits for many Americans. The plan demands tax hikes on families and job-creators.
• Tester even falsely accused a women’s group critical of his liberal tax-and-spend record of of having “lobbied Congress against child pornography protection.” (Washington Post, 7/31/11; The Flint Report, 7/31/11).

Why does this matter to you, the voter?

Jon Tester has made Barack Obama’s agenda his agenda in Washington.  That’s not an agenda that works for Montana, which is why he would lose any head-to-head race with a Montana conservative like Denny Rehberg.  That’s why his liberal henchmen are desperately and dishonestly trying to split the conservative ticket, hoping that Tester wins by default.

When a  candidate resorts to advertising to vote for someone that takes votes away from his opponent rather than build votes for himself, it becomes a demonstration of the job he will do–and a job that he has done for the last six years–in Washington. It’s not only desperate, it’s unethical.  Quite frankly, Montana deserves better.

Last month TSP reported that Jon Tester set to hold a campaign event set up for and paid for using student resources. As if that wasn’t bad enough the day of the event they allowed Tester to break multiple university policies and have a campaign rally on campus. Jon tester even took out an ad in the Montana Kaimin

(The school’s newspaper) to advertise for his campaign rally. Paid for by Montanan’s for Tester, his campaign organization, and not by anything relating to Tester’s Senate Office

Here is the picture Tester posted on his Facebook page from the event:

Notice the banner for his 2012 Senate race against the backdrop of University Hall; also notice the rally poster in the foreground, both clearly evident of a campaign rally. We contacted the University of Montana Vice Presidents Office, and they confirmed that Tester did have University permission to hold a rally.

It remains unclear why the University allowed the event to take place. Maybe its because the Board of Regents chair donated over $1000 to democratic candidates including at least $500 to Jon Tester.

Or because University faculty have also donated hundreds to his campaign.

As the Missoulian reports

The scene was different several hours later at the Adams Center south annex, where Tester had a reception with 250 paying guests and four members of the band – Ament, lead guitarist Mike McCready, drummer Mike Cameron and rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard. After some brief remarks by Ament and Tester, the musicians mingled with the crowd, signing autographs and posing for photos.

So not only did the University allow a public fundraiser, where the band consistently praised Tester during their performance, they also allowed a private fundraiser.

Whatever the reason, the University is a taxpayer funded public institution who should NOT be playing politics with education and students nor favoring one side over another by allowing one side to throw partisan rallies and fundraisers using student resources.

Today the House votes on a bill sponsored by Ron Paul to edit the federal reserve.

Last time there was any sort of federal reserve audit a myriad of conflicts of interests and corruption was brought to light

As the Huffington Post Reports:

The Fed audit authorized by Dodd-Frank revealed a web of conflicts. At the height of the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, for instance, made six major loans to SunTrust Banks, totaling at least $7.5 billion. James M. Wells, the Chairman and CEO of SunTrust, sits on the Board of Directors at the same Atlanta Fed that lent his company the money.

Federal reserve chairman Ben Bernanke claims the organization is transparent due to a yearly financial audit. But this bill is about more then fed payrolls. This bill would audit the way the federal reserve sets monetary policy. Hopefully avoiding things like bank chairman voting themselves loans.

Currently the Fed carries out deliberations behind closed doors, it’s not until three weeks later that minutes are released, and a full 5 years before the full transcript is released to the public.

The Federal reserve likes to play on the ignorance of people when dealing with the public. For instance when they are increasing the money supply, the Fed simply announces a decrease in the Federal Funds Rate. Something your average everyday American doesn’t understand.

But Montanans have a voice on this issue in Representative Denny Rehberg who spoke for the bill on the house floor.

the bill is on track to pass the house, it will be interesting to see whether Tester and Baucus support such a needed audit.

With Jon Tester scrambling as a result of continuously losing poll back to back (times three) to Congressman Denny Rehberg the amount of times he sticks his own foot in his mouth is unfathomable at this point. When you fear writing a post on yet another blatant hypocritical flailing leap from the Tester Camp because it is happening so often it looks like we (TSP) are being redundant–it becomes a pretty clear explanation for why the junior Senator continues to trail in the race.

Remember when Senator Tester said this in 2006:

Not only does the ad remind us of the blatant lies by Senator Tester at the time, it also reminds us that Senator Tester is the number one recipient of lobbyist cash. On top of that, we cannot forget Tester’s political bribery tactics partnered up by Senator “Don’t worry, she is now my wife” Baucus.

Just last week Tester’s, whom might I add proposed an amendment to the constitution regarding Citizens United,  Ex-aide Barrett Kaiser was discovered to be an ‘independent’ super PAC staffer funding an untruthful ad regarding Congressman Rehberg, and this is not the first time Commander Kaiser has reported to Tester ‘doo-ty’.

The original story is just too good to summarize:

If anyone could answer questions about the relationship between the Tester campaign and the liberal super PAC it would seem to be Bradley’s colleague at Hilltop, Barrett Kaiser. He’s a former Tester campaign aide who also worked for Montana’s other U.S. senator, veteran Max Baucus, in his Senate office and on Baucus’ 2002 and 2008 campaigns.

On his Hilltop profile, Kaiser boasts that he aided in Tester’s 2006 “dramatic upset” over GOP incumbent Conrad Burns. He left Baucus’ office in 2010 to join Hilltop.

Calls to Kaiser also went nowhere.

These days he works in the firm’s Billings office, and lives in the city with his wife, Kari.
Kaiser often is the first to tweet about CSS Fund’s anti-Rehberg campaign, pushing the group’s recent commercials.

At 6:49 a.m. on March 8, the morning after CSS Fund launched the pay raise attack ad, Kaiser tweeted, “New ad calls on Rehberg to cut waste.”

Kaiser also was right there at 9:06 a.m. on March 8 to announce a CSS Fund radio spot loaded to YouTube blasted Rehberg on separate topic. “Check out the new radio ad in MT,” he said via the micro-blogging service.

Kaiser’s work with CSS extends to family. On April 25, 2011, a political action committee closely aligned with the nonprofit paid $312 to Stranger Sister Creative of Billings for design services. Stranger Sister Creative is run by Kari Kaiser.

With Tester trailing in the last 4 polls (here,here,here,here) it seems his campaign has gotten desperate.  Recently Jon Tester has been piggybacking on an advertisement run by the Citizens for Strength and Security. An attack advertisement that accuses Rehberg of voting to raise his pay. This piggybacking is in direct opposition with the rhetoric of the campaign. For instance Testers campaign has been quoted as saying:

“We can’t let the negative ads running against us … make me something that I’m not.

But isn’t that exactly what you are trying to do?

or

“We encourage all Montanans to see what organization is responsible for any third-party ad, Who is it? What do they stand for? Who bankrolls them?”

But no one knows who bankrolls Citizens for Strength and Security, or what they stand for. Evidently the group “seeks to raise awareness about the issues that matter to America’s middle class.” Whatever that means.

Jon Testers Piggybacking endorsement of 3^rd party advertisements is a little confusing considering his quotes in the Tribune:

“It’s a shame that third-party organizations are allowed to pollute our records and drag our character through the mud with no transparency and no accountability,” Tester said in the letter. “I imagine Montanans are telling you what they’re telling me: These attack ads distract from the issues Montanans truly care about.”

Really? Your utilizing the same ads you publicly decry, claiming not to support their use while simultaneously using them. This is hypocrisy at its finest.

Not only that but the ad is completely misleading, every member of congress receives an automatic pay raise, even if they were to do nothing. Dennis didn’t vote that pay raise in, it was done in 1989, when Rehberg was a member of the Montana not U.S House of Representatives.

Whatever happened to Stick to the facts and I’ll win?

Jon tester has recently released a new Facebook ad aimed at making Rehberg out to be in the pocket of big business, the accusations go like this: 

 “Who’s paying for the over $1 million in false attack T.V. ads in Montana? Big multi-national corporations. And who benefits from them? Dennis Rehberg. It’s the Washington game — special interests get their way because Washington politicians like Dennis Rehberg let them…”

“WASHINGTON POLITICIAN DENNIS REHBERG SUPPORTS MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS SPENDING BIG MONEY TO INFLUENCE ELECTIONS, THEN GIVES THE SPECIAL INTERESTS EVERYTHING THEY WANT.”

And ends with:

 “Jon Tester doesn’t play the Washington game. Jon has and will continue standing up to Washington special interests.”

 

It makes sense that in light of Testers record and his recent refusal of Rehberg’s proposed “Made in Montana” Plan that he would have to go on the offensive and preempt his image as a big government politician sitting in the hands of multinational corporations, and using their money to influence elections by attempting to attach that image to Rehberg instead. Which becomes questionable when you consider his top contributors:

This list sure has a lot of “MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS SPENDING BIG MONEY TO INFLUENCE ELECTIONS” it’s interesting that the League of Conservation voters gave him so much money considering in 2010 they gave him a rating of 57%. 

But Tester plays all the big D.C politics games check out his P.A.C

Or the $67,494 that Tester has received from lawyer and Lobbyist P.A.Cs

Hell “Montanans for Tester” is based out of Washington D.C at 303 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002

I am astounded at how hypocritical this campaign is they chastise opponents while simultaneously engaging in the same chastised behavior on an even bigger scale. He claims he “doesn’t play the Washington game.” And that he will “continue standing up to Washington special interests.” I’m a little confused how taking millions of dollars from special interest groups is standing up to them? Tester is LYING to the public, a quality unworthy of a United States Senator, if I ran a business and my employees ran around lying to me, you better bet I would fire them. Tester is a public serviceman working for the very people he is lying to and it’s our job to fire him.

A new poll by Public Opinion Strategies has Denny Rehberg leading Jon Tester 53% to 42% percent. Consistently ranked as the most competitive races in the nation all eyes are on Montana in a race that could determine control of the senate.

So far this year Rehberg has either been tied or in front of Tester but not behind. An eerily similar story to what happened in 2006 when Tester consistently led or was tied with Conrad Burns, Tester eventually went on to win the race. If that’s any prelude of what is to come it may well be Senator Testers last year in office,  a prospect with only positive implications for Montana.

Tester Spokesman Aaron Murphy responded to the poll by saying:

 “Polls will show different results all year, but no one’s taking this one seriously,”

Polls have different results all year sure, but this is the first poll that puts Rehberg well outside of the margin of error by almost five percentage points.  To say that no one is taking this seriously is dishonest; you better believe everyone on Testers team is taking this very seriously.

Taking a typical liberal strategy when the facts and logic are not on your side, in other words 99% of the time, testers team resorted to ad hominem attacks:

 “Remember, this is the same Dennis Rehberg who voted to give himself five pay raises, voted to increase the debt ceiling ten times, sued Montana firefighters for doing their job, and gave tax breaks to fellow millionaires who ship American jobs overseas.”

These are the best arguments the Tester camp can come up with? No wonder they are behind in the polls. Jon Tester also voted to increase his salary five times, as well as to increase the debt ceiling. Rehberg didn’t sue firefighters his estate did, and these tax breaks are designed to keep American companies from going overseas.

In addition to scoring lower in the overall poll Testers unfavorability rating is 7% higher than Rehberg’s, and independents break 47% for Rehberg and 43% for Tester again well outside the margin of error. The independent vote is incredibly crucial in almost any election, and something Tester would be wise not to underestimate by saying no one cares about it.

Testers camp is known for doing questionable things when he is down in the polls.

I wonder what we can expect next.

Politico has just ranked the U.S. Senate race between Senator Tester and Congressman Rehberg the number one Senate race in the U.S. This comes after Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat from Arkansas, won’t be seeking re-election in 2012. Both the Republican and Democratic parties see this Senate seat as key to controlling the U.S. Senate in the next election. Democrats have the most at stake though. As Politico stated, Republicans will likely pick up two seats in Nebraska and North Dakota, but Montana is also a conservative State that is vulnerable for Democrats in 2012.

Senator Tester and Congressman Rehberg have been close throughout this entire race. The last few polls have given Congressman Rehberg a a slight edge over Senator Tester. However, the latest poll gives Congressman Rehberg a six point edge over Senator Tester.

This latest news will put Montana in the national spotlight as millions of dollars from special interest groups will begin flooding our State. Senator Tester has a slight financial advantage over Congressman Rehberg. He has gained most of this fundraising money through big banks and out of state environmental groups who are threatening Montana jobs. He is putting a lot of this money towards fake support groups in order to trick Montanans. As we move into 2012 Treasure State Politics will be bringing to light Senator Tester’s last fundraising quarter donors, so that Montanans will be able to see who is actually paying for the deceitful media ads that are flooding the State.

Congressman Rehberg has an edge in this race not just because Montana is a conservative State, but also because Montanans don’t like to be bought out, so we don’t want our representatives to be bought out either. And as the number one recipient of lobbyist cash this year, Senator Tester has been bought out a lot.

While the House of Representatives and the President were in D.C. late last week trying to sort out the payroll tax debacle, Senator Tester and his colleagues in the Democratic-controlled Senate headed home a for an early Christmas vacation. Senator Tester spent his time touring mills in Townsend, Deer Lodge, and Seeley Lake, trying to bring life to the pet project of his Senate tenure, his federal land grab known as the “Wilderness Bill” (or by its misleading but politically correct title: The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act). Tester’s bill once again failed to receive funding in the Interior Department’s budget this year. Like the last time around, Senator Tester attached his bill to the omnibus spending bill designed to fund the entire federal government, rather than passing the bill on its own merit. Senator Tester says this bill is good for Montana, yet he never has enough support to pass it through Congress, even when his party has a majority. That is why he tries to attach it to other bills. Senator Tester insists that his unpopular bill is not dead though and promptly began scouring for support.

Tester’s wilderness bill isn’t too short and it’s not the easiest reading, but at around 50 pages I was able to get through it in about an hour and comprehend enough of it to be able to know that it’s bad legislation. The most controversial aspect of the bill is that it creates about a million new acres of federal wilderness land. The Wilderness Act of 1964 defines wilderness as:

“A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in this Act an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions…”

It is obvious that Montanans are going to be skeptical of the federal government defining a million acres of their land as “wilderness”. This legislation for obvious reasons is generally opposed by landowners, ranchers, farmers, the mining industry, ATV riders, and virtually every other outdoor group, except a small number in the timber industry that Senator Tester has managed to deceive and the out of state environmentalists who are writing his campaign checks.

The bill would give greater power to the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior and restrict Montanans access to lands for recreational or economic use, while failing to adequately deal with the problems of pine beetles, wildfires, and logging. Tester has consistently spoken of his wilderness bill as if it is purely a bill designed to help the logging industry, when in fact that is only part of the flawed legislation. He also fails to properly address the logging issue by mandating a certain amount of logging in certain designated areas. In the short term, this might help out some mills to a small extent, but by trying to solve a problem by adding federal red tape to it, he is not solving the problem or helping Montana’s economy in any way.

Jed Link, a spokesman for Congressman Rehberg, said it best of Tester’s bill:

“New wilderness areas are guaranteed in the Tester bill but new jobs are not. In the long run, this bill will mean less public access to our lands and fewer jobs. And that’s just not a fair deal for Montanans.”

Maybe now Senator Tester will abandon this unpopular legislation and start working for Montanans instead of his environmentalist campaign contributors and federal bureaucrats.