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You can only buy a politician who is for sale

Big Fin

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A famous line of Montana politics came from former Senator William Clark who was exposed for paying state legislators huge amounts of sums to vote for him as Montana's Senator. This was back in the time when state legislatures voted the Senators, not a statewide popular vote.

When it hit the national media, he said, "I've never bought a politician who wasn't for sale."

Some might frown at the bold and unapologetic nature of that comment. To me, it is perfect wisdom and a line I use often. It is absolutely true, you cannot buy a politician unless he/she is for sale.

And that brings me to this article that is running in the largest statewide newspaper. Not because it is the state of Montana, rather because it is a perfect example of politicans being bought and paid for and how low the threshold to buy those politicians in low-population states like Montana.

If you are from Montana, you should be following this story. If you are from another low-population state with mostly conservative votes, you might want to read this story and associated details, as it could very well happen, or be happening in your state.

Link here - http://billingsgazette.com/news/opi...cle_46ea8e12-ff84-579f-9f47-95676ea08808.html

This article is written by a long-serving Republican from Montana, Jesse O'Hara, who was considered a party leader for much of his time in service to the state. He has written this letter very critical of the current leadership of the Republican Party and explains how disgusted he is with where this leadership has taken the Party and now the obvious corruption that is being made public.

O'Hara writes this of the new leadership of the party he once helped lead....

Wittich’s trial is not about suppressing free speech as those that step into the light and identify themselves retain every right to speak freely. This is about outside dark money committed to irreversibly changing our way of life. It is about individuals who are willing to covertly forsake their constituents in exchange for a pathway to power.

I am sure the current Republican leadership, a group planted firmly on the far edge of the fringe, will come out swinging against one of their former stalwarts. It is their default tactic, and unfortunately, in today's climate, an effective tactic.

In Montana, out of state money has been provided to fringe Republicans to target any Republican who does not follow the Party line as pronounced by the fringe leadership. In this instance, the fringe got caught. A Bozeman attorney who quickly rose to a leadership position and who I have jousted with on many occasion, got caught. In the process of investigating him, the covers have been rolled back and it is really get ugly for the fringe operators here in Montana.

For me, it shows a few things. A little money goes a long ways in rural states like Montana. That in a state with a large majority of voters leaning mostly the same political direction, the ship can get hijacked and party allegiance will cause some very good people to look the other way. Even when the party gets hijacked, there will always be a few bold souls who stand and speak against it from the inside, exposing themselves to direct artillery from their party members, but sleep much better at night.

As much as my beliefs would be categorized as right-of-center, maybe far right in some instances, I am not a Republican. For that matter, nor am I a Democrat. Rather, I am an American, a Montanan, and a citizen hoping for a serious judicial ass kicking for the folks behind this entire debacle that has sent a lot of Montana state policies into the ditch for the foreseeable future.
 
Citizen's United has got to be hands-down the worst thing that happened to this country in the last 10 years. I don't care if you are a Democrat or Republican-if money is all it takes to get your loyalty, you are less than nothing to me. I lean left in a lot of ways but I also don't claim D or R. The circle the wagons mentality of some of these people and their supporters is beyond dumb. People need to move beyond being on a team and just use damn common sense and call people on their bullchit, whether they are on your team or not. I hope Wittich goes down hard for this.
 
From the article:

•Wealthy, out-of-staters with vast Montana land holdings provided large sums of dark money to support the campaigns of judges and politicians who appeared aligned to undo Montana’s stream access laws. Apparently, these individuals want to remake the last best place by ensuring that the last best people no longer have the right to access our rivers and streams

I believe it is a lot harder to sell this garbage to Montanans in the age of the internet. We kicked Lawrence Vandyke to the curb and he tucked tail and ran off to Nevada a month later.

Most Montanans are not fringy left or righters, rather, they reside in the "middle". The same could be said for most Americans. Problem is the middle of the road representatives rarely make it through to the end. I believe strongly, that one path to better representation, better candidates, and better government is to reduce the influence of money on our politics from both sides. Citizens United exacerbates the problem.

If Jesse O'Hara is right when he says this in his OpEd, " these transgressions came within a hair’s breadth of wresting control of Montana from Montanans", we should be concerned.
 
A famous line of Montana politics came from former Senator William Clark who was exposed for paying state legislators huge amounts of sums to vote for him as Montana's Senator. This was back in the time when state legislatures voted the Senators, not a statewide popular vote.

When it hit the national media, he said, "I've never bought a politician who wasn't for sale."

Some might frown at the bold and unapologetic nature of that comment. To me, it is perfect wisdom and a line I use often. It is absolutely true, you cannot buy a politician unless he/she is for sale.

And that brings me to this article that is running in the largest statewide newspaper. Not because it is the state of Montana, rather because it is a perfect example of politicans being bought and paid for and how low the threshold to buy those politicians in low-population states like Montana.

If you are from Montana, you should be following this story. If you are from another low-population state with mostly conservative votes, you might want to read this story and associated details, as it could very well happen, or be happening in your state.

Link here - http://billingsgazette.com/news/opi...cle_46ea8e12-ff84-579f-9f47-95676ea08808.html

This article is written by a long-serving Republican from Montana, Jesse O'Hara, who was considered a party leader for much of his time in service to the state. He has written this letter very critical of the current leadership of the Republican Party and explains how disgusted he is with where this leadership has taken the Party and now the obvious corruption that is being made public.

O'Hara writes this of the new leadership of the party he once helped lead....



I am sure the current Republican leadership, a group planted firmly on the far edge of the fringe, will come out swinging against one of their former stalwarts. It is their default tactic, and unfortunately, in today's climate, an effective tactic.

In Montana, out of state money has been provided to fringe Republicans to target any Republican who does not follow the Party line as pronounced by the fringe leadership. In this instance, the fringe got caught. A Bozeman attorney who quickly rose to a leadership position and who I have jousted with on many occasion, got caught. In the process of investigating him, the covers have been rolled back and it is really get ugly for the fringe operators here in Montana.

For me, it shows a few things. A little money goes a long ways in rural states like Montana. That in a state with a large majority of voters leaning mostly the same political direction, the ship can get hijacked and party allegiance will cause some very good people to look the other way. Even when the party gets hijacked, there will always be a few bold souls who stand and speak against it from the inside, exposing themselves to direct artillery from their party members, but sleep much better at night.

As much as my beliefs would be categorized as right-of-center, maybe far right in some instances, I am not a Republican. For that matter, nor am I a Democrat. Rather, I am an American, a Montanan, and a citizen hoping for a serious judicial ass kicking for the folks behind this entire debacle that has sent a lot of Montana state policies into the ditch for the foreseeable future.
I think allpolotitions are for sale! :-(
 
Both sides are stupid out of control in the country , common sense has flown the coop . Politics for entertainment is all the rage and people let their affiliation define who they are as a person .
I am a registered Independent , but am very conservative , just cannot get onboard with the false patriotism or the feel good politics .
Not sure what the answer is , but we are in a bad place right now , IMO .
 
So how much do MT constituents cost? Hopefully more than $1250 . . .

I was listening to a recent Valuetainment segment and they stated you can buy a U.S. Senator for $10k. I was extremely surprised the number was this low, I would have guessed 10x this. I’m sure the taller the task to vote the more but their point was how easy (and cheap relatively) these politicians can be paid off. I think it’s so rampant that there is little risk of consequence and if everyone is doing it then both of those keep the cost down?
 
$10k is chump change for their lackies.
Any and all are on the take.
Get rid of Citizens, and fund public financing. $1200 personal donation.
Public airwaves, are publicly owned.
 
So how much do MT constituents cost? Hopefully more than $1250 . . .

I was listening to a recent Valuetainment segment and they stated you can buy a U.S. Senator for $10k. I was extremely surprised the number was this low, I would have guessed 10x this. I’m sure the taller the task to vote the more but their point was how easy (and cheap relatively) these politicians can be paid off. I think it’s so rampant that there is little risk of consequence and if everyone is doing it then both of those keep the cost down?
I already spent that money and lost more in the tax assessment.
 
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