You’re A Rich Girl

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 2

With so much recent talk about the rich, the poor, and fairness, maybe we should take a deeper look at wealth in America.

US_real_median_household_income_1967_-_2011 Real median household income in the US is about $50,000 per year. This includes wages, business income, and most forms of government assistance. Household income is roughly the same as it was in 1989, adjusted for inflation, after declining about 8 percent since President Obama took office.

There are many ways to categorize people by income. Location is one – Maryland residents top the list in per family income, largely because of the number of federal employees who work nearby in the nation’s capital. Montana ranks 44th.

One’s race, unfortunately, still affects income, with Asians doing the best and blacks worst. Education is also a factor, and the earnings curve between high-school dropouts and those with advanced college degrees is steep.

Statistics like these might suggest that we are doomed by our birth demographics. Not so. Consider that one of the biggest factors in one’s earning power is age. Younger people earn less – it’s just a fact of life. Younger people have less education. The average age of minorities is disproportionately younger. Age affects all the other classifications.

A recent shift in earnings and wealth is troubling – while the overall real median household income is somewhat stable, the income of workers has declined steadily as the income of those on government payments has increased. Some of this is the result of the graying of America, but government assistance programs have expanded significantly.

Still, whether an American household (the term ‘family’ has become obsolete with the demise of the institution of marriage) receives its income by redistribution from workers or directly from work, we live relatively well compared to the rest of the world. Comparison of real income is difficult because of currency exchange and other factors, and there are many ways to measure wealth. Only ten nations exceed our GDP per capita. While it is often said that most of the world’s citizens live on less than $2 per day, per capita GDP statistics indicates otherwise.

Our poorest citizens live like kings compared to the average Indian or African. We should ask why. What do we have that these other nations don’t? Many of them have tremendous natural resources – that’s not it. I will not accept that people from other parts of the world are just born inferior to Americans.

The answer, to me, is obvious. Our nation was built on the principles of free enterprise, unlimited opportunity, and limited government. We overlook this fact at our peril, and unless we restore the culture of productivity our grandparents championed, our grandchildren will pay a dear price.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

You’re a rich girl,
And you’ve gone too far
‘Cause you know it don’t matter anyway
You can rely on the old man’s money
You can rely on the old man honey

Rich Girl – Hall and Oates

Nancy Pelosi – Alzheimers Victim?

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 1

pelosi There she was, across from Chris Wallace. Her taught facial lines belied her 73 years, her posture was perfect, and her bright eyes and smile registered a ten on the energy scale.

It was when she opened her mouth that things went awry.

Early in the interview, she called Chris Wallace “Bill”. (It was removed from the Fox transcript to prevent embarrassment to Wallace – see this YouTube video and skip to the 4:00 mark.)

(Update – Fox transcript now says “Here’s the thing though . . .” On Sunday two of us thought we heard “Here’s the thing, Bill” independently — it appears we were both wrong. – Tom)

Wallace asked her why she can’t cut $85 billion (2%) out of the government’s $3.5 trillion budget. Her response: “Well, we have cut in terms of agriculture subsidies, there are tens of billions of dollars in cuts there and that should be balanced with eliminating subsidy for big oil. Why should we do — why should we lower Pell Grants instead of eliminating the subsidies for big oil?”

Huh?

Wallace pressed her again: “Why not just cut spending? Eighty-five billion dollars in a $3.5 trillion government.”

Her response: “The fact is that a lot of the spending increases came during the Bush administration. Two unpaid for wars we got ourselves engaged in. A prescription drug plan that added enormous amounts to our spending, and the tax cuts at the high end that did not create jobs and create revenue coming.”

What?

Why didn’t you move to end funding for the wars, repeal the prescription drug benefit plan, and reverse the tax cuts when you were Speaker of the House and your party also held the presidency and the Senate? And what does a former president, after four years of retirement, have to with the current federal budget (or lack thereof)?

When Wallace pointed out that the top 5% pay 59% of all federal taxes, Pelosi said she doesn’t want to raise taxes again on the wealthy. Then she blurted, “We also have the Buffett Rule which says all of the high income people would pay a minimum of — they would have to pay — ”

Wallace: “So, you’re raising tax on the wealthy.”

Pelosi: “No, you are saying they should pay their fair share, which is 30 percent, which is even lower than 39.6, which is the rate — the bracket they are in.”

Nancy was becoming more flustered and incoherent by the minute.

Then Wallace asked for her position on gun control. Her answer was beyond bizarre:

“No further sales of the increased capacity, 30 rounds in a gun. We are talking about background checks which is very popular, even among gun owners, and, hunters. We avow the First Amendment, we stand with that, and say that people have a right to have a gun to protect themselves in their homes and their jobs, whatever. And that they — and their workplace — and that they, for recreation and hunting and the rest.”

Is it possible she doesn’t know that the right to bear arms is granted in the Second Amendment? Or have all those years of “inside the Beltway” cocktail parties just made her “comfortably numb?”

I don’t wish to make light of senility. Alzheimer’s is a serious problem.

Maybe it should also be a disqualifier for a seat in Congress.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Bill! I love you so, I always will . . .

I was on your side Bill when you were losin’,
I’ll never scheme or lie Bill, there’s been no foolin’!

Wedding Bell Blues – Marilyn McCoo
the Fifth Dimension
written by Laura Nyro

Immigration and Cowboy Boots

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

boots Like all guys from Montana, I love my boots. When you get a pair of boots that fit just right, you want to keep them wearable as long as you can. I needed new soles and heels, and quickly – I was starting a new job in a couple of days.

I found Lee’s Shoe Repair on the web and called. In a deep Chinese accent, the shop owner said, “You bring them over, we take care of you.” I grabbed my old boots and took off.

Mr. Lee is getting on in years, and is probably a fairly recent immigrant to the United States. I don’t know that he is here illegally, but he sure could be. His English is passable, but broken – he had trouble understanding me, and I him. He said, “I have you boots on Saturday.”

“No, Mr. Lee,” I pleaded. “I need them by the end of business tomorrow. I’ll pay extra if you can help me.”

Overhearing the conversation, a husky young guy stuck his head through the doorway from the workroom and drawled, “Hey, no problem there, buddy. I know how important a man’s boots are. I’ll git ’em done for you by tomorrow.” He showed me a better kind of sole that would be more comfortable for long days on my feet. Relieved, I left my boots in his skilled Texan hands.

The next day I returned to the shoe repair shop and was greeted by Mrs. Lee, a gray-haired lady with bright eyes and a smile as big as China and Texas put together. The Texan cobbler came out to say hello, too, and I slipped him a ten-spot as a thank you for the rush job. Mrs. Lee said, “You need insoles so your feet don’t get tired. I won’t charge you for them.”

I thanked her, marveling at the extraordinary care and pride this couple and their happy Texan employee put into their work. Then she slipped into the back room, returning with a wrapped package of her special home-made fruit and cinnamon bread. “You take this,” she smiled. “Good luck with your new job!”

A week later, I stopped in to the neighborhood Bank of America across the street from Mr. Lee’s shoe repair shop to find out why I had not received my order of checks. I had been told ten days, and after three weeks they had not arrived. Annoyed at being bothered, the assistant manager checked his computer and said, “Looks like they were never ordered. I will put in a new order and you should get them in about ten days.”

I looked him in the eye and asked, “And the magic words when your company screws up are . . . ?”

He gave me a puzzled look.

“How about, ‘I’m sorry?‘” I said.

“Oh, um . . . of course. I’m, uhh . . . sorry.” He looked like he just ate a mouthful of worms.

I went across the street to thank Mrs. Lee and the Texan again for the great job they did on my very comfortable boots, and the delicious fruit bread. Her eyes twinkled, and there was that big smile. “You wait, I give you ‘Happy Candy’! You take it!” I left her shop, chewing her delicious Happy Candy, and reflecting on the difference between these two businesses a few hundred feet apart.

I’m still developing my thoughts on immigration. And on the Big Bank bailout.

Tom Balek – Rockin On the Right Side

These boots are made for walking
And that’s just what they’ll do
One of these days these boots are gonna
Walk all over you!

Are you ready boots?
Start walkin’!

These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ – Nancy Sinatra

Watch this video, if only to see the MINI-SKIRTS! Those were the good old days . . .

Bootlegging Guns and Ammo – Profit Opportunity!

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 3

GrannyClampett-729655 There has never been a time – in my lifetime at least – when there was so much BUZZ about guns.

Jon Stewart recently interviewed Bob Costas, TV sports announcer, on the Daily Show. Those of you who ‘Rock’ with me ‘On the Right Side’ may not know that comedian Jon Stewart’s ‘Daily Show’ on the Comedy Channel is the primary news source for the other (low-information) half of our population.

Did Stewart and Costas talk about sports? Not much. Mainly their conversation was about gun control. Costas was aghast that 75% of former NFL coach Tony Dungy’s players admitted they owned guns.

Yesterday I met a small-business owner who was alarmed that there is no ammunition available in the stores in his area. Even WalMart has bare shelves. His son asked him where he could get some .22 shells. “I told him to come on over,” he explained. “I have at least 25,000 rounds.”

Minutes later, I visited with a harmless-looking little old lady – an attorney, no less – who joked about being her husband’s “bodyguard”. I asked her if she was packing. “Every day!” she beamed. She explained that all of her female friends are either carrying guns now or working on getting their permits.

My employer’s personnel manual lays down the law: “Employees are not allowed to possess firearms on company property, and may not have firearms in their vehicles in company parking lots.” So I asked some other employees if this rule is actually enforced. “Oh, heck no,” one manager told me. “Even the CEO of our company carries a .45. Do you think we would work around here late at night with no protection?”

The Reverend Jesse Jackson (has anybody seen him in church lately?) beseeches President Obama to come “home” to Chicago and address the gun violence there, while the ruling party continues to talk-talk-talk about tougher gun laws.

It seems like the more the Democrats push gun control, the more guns and ammo are sold. Remember Prohibition? If you believe the old movies, when liquor was outlawed folks started spending every night in the “speakeasy” clubs getting blasted and doing that weird Charleston dance with the “flapper” girls.

Gun sales are skyrocketing now, when there is just a suggestion that they may soon be hard to get. If (when) our fearless leaders succeed at making the possession of firearms illegal, the gun business will really be booming. Those who have plenty of inventory to sell will be rolling in the dough. It’s supply and demand. People want to stay alive, and will spend their money to do so.

So if you are looking for the next big profit opportunity, you might consider being a firearms bootlegger in the coming Obama Gun Prohibition era.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Take you a glass of water,
Make it against the law,
See how good the water tastes
When you can’t have any at all!

Bootleg – John Fogerty
(Creedence Clearwater Revival)

Oath Keepers Defend the Second Amendment

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 2

Obama Meets With Law Enforcement Officials

photo by CNN

As President Obama stokes the fires of gun control in our nation’s capital, some law enforcement officers are beginning to push back.

Obama recently initiated 23 executive orders related to gun violence, and is pressing Congress to take additional action, much of which is viewed by gun advocates as a threat to the second amendment of the Constitution.

Seeking to build support for his gun control mission, this week Obama gathered police chiefs and sheriffs from across the nation to Washington, DC for discussion, and (primarily) a campaign-style photo opportunity. Many big-city police chiefs support Obama’s gun control measures, while the sheriffs are generally supporters of the second amendment.

Skeptics question whether the police chiefs back Obama because they believe in the effectiveness of taking weapons from citizens, or because he has promised to increase federal spending on local police departments, a move that delights the public-sector unions who were instrumental in his election.

In Montana, a number of local sheriffs have come out with public statements pledging their support for the Constitution. Sheriff Scott Howard of Powell County said he would not enforce any “unconstitutional gun regulations.”

Most vocal among them was Cascade County Sheriff Bob Edwards. In a Great Falls Tribune interview, Edwards said, “Everyone wants to wipe out guns. I’m pro-Second Amendment, and I believe the laws we have in place should curb a lot of this, but there have to be people that enforce them. A lot of the laws are not being enforced.”

Many pro-Constitution law enforcement officials are members of the Oath Keepers, a growing organization made up of currently-serving military, veterans, peace officers, and firefighters who are sworn to protect the Constitution against all threats “foreign and domestic”. Their mission is summed up on their website:

Our oath is to the Constitution, not to the politicians, and we will not obey unconstitutional (and thus illegal) and immoral orders, such as orders to disarm the American people or to place them under martial law and deprive them of their ancient right to jury trial.

We Oath Keepers have drawn a line in the sand. We will not “just follow orders.”

Our motto is “Not on our watch!”

One of the Oath Keepers, a New Jersey police officer, calls on his fellow law enforcement officers to refuse any order to confiscate guns from law-abiding citizens.

It is reassuring to know that there are government and law-enforcement officials who recognize and will preserve the rights of US citizens, especially at a time when our most powerful national leaders usurp authority at a pace never seen before in our nation’s history.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I’m robbin’ people with a six-gun
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won

I Fought the Law and the Law Won
– Bobby Fuller Four

Here’s a great video of an original American rocker – Bobby Fuller. Bobby died young under very mysterious circumstances – was it suicide? Was it a mob hit? If interested, read the story here. And do watch the cool 2-minute video:

Here’s the video story of the Bobby Fuller mystery:

Even Liberal Musicians Rock On the Right Side Sometimes

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile my conservative viewpoints with my claim to be a classic rock guitar-slinger. Yes, I must sheepishly admit that I have sung John Lennon’s “Imagine” in public – to Montana cowboys, no less. And yes, my fellow rock songwriters came up with such mindless liberal claptrap as “Love the One You’re With” and “We Are the World, We Are the Children”.

Still, it’s surprising how often musicians and songwriters, who normally lurch leftward in lockstep, are caught “Rockin’ On the Right Side”.

Here are a few golden nuggets of conservative logic unexpectedly gleaned from the bottom of the old prospector’s pan:

• “I’m in trouble deep, but I’ve made up my mind – I’m keeping my baby!” – Madonna, ‘Papa Don’t Preach’
• “Tax the rich, feed the poor – until there ain’t no rich no more.” – Alvin Lee, ‘I’d Love to Save the World’
• “Let me tell you how it will be, there’s one for you, nineteen for me. ‘Cause I’m the taxman.” – George Harrison, ‘Taxman’
• “You say you’ll change the constitution. Well, you know – we all want to change your head.” – John Lennon, ‘Revolution’.
• “If ya can’t feed the baby, then don’t have a baby!” – Michael Jackson, ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Something’
• “I pay my money to the welfare line – I see you standing in it every time!” – War, ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends’
• “You can’t always get what you want.” – Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’
• “All the things that made us great got left so far behind.” – John Fogerty, ‘Gunslinger”

I love my rock and roll, in spite of the preponderance of underinformed knuckleheads in our fraternity. They mean well, they just don’t know any better. When one of them slips up and starts “Rockin’ On the Right Side”, I have to give a little cheer!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

How Do You Do It, Max Baucus?

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 5

baucus Max Baucus has represented Montana in the U.S. Senate since 1978, and has been re-elected six times. He plans to run again next year.

Baucus has overcome a slew of criticisms to maintain his grip on the biggest pot of money on planet Earth. Critics say Baucus has lost touch with Montana, doesn’t live there, and rarely visits the state he represents. I believe voters cut him some slack on that one. His work is in the nation’s capital, and it makes sense that he should have a home there. Still, many Montanans are concerned that 91% of his previous campaign funds came from out-of-state sources.

Max’s personal morals have also been called into question, including lurid stories in the national press of divorces and infidelity, jobs for girlfriends, and crony capitalism. The video of Baucus’ apparently-inebriated speech on the Senate floor has 2 million YouTube hits. Defenders say he was just “tired” – watch the video and judge for yourself. But Bill Clinton lowered the threshold of voter pain on skanky behavior, and Barack Obama has established crony paybacks as an acceptable primary fundraising strategy in the expensive world of national politics. The “Foster Brooks” impersonation was avoided by the mainstream media. Montanans might believe lapses in personal ethics can be overlooked if their congressman votes right.

Montanans should be alarmed, however, when Baucus’ votes and considerable influence run counter to their principles. Responses from the last five years of Montana Chamber of Commerce surveys indicate:

64% (5-yr. avg.) of Montana voters say our national economy is on the ‘wrong track’, versus 23% ‘right track’, with chronic unemployment, anemic GDP growth, and irreparable debt and deficits. All that time Senator Baucus has been at the helm of Senate committees including Finance, Taxation, IRS Oversight, Long-term Growth, Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, and Deficit Reduction. The Senate has not passed a budget for four years, and looks as if they never will.

While Montanans’ top financial concern continues to be health care costs, Senator Baucus led the charge for ObamaCare, despite knowing it would raise taxes on Americans, damage Medicare, and add to the national debt and deficits. He has always been tight with “Big-Pharma” lobbyists, and remains one of the leading recipients of political contributions from health insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

A solid majority of Montanans have unfavorable opinions of environmental groups, labor unions, and trial lawyers. Baucus supported unpopular global warming legislation, the unions salivate over the millions of new members they will gain thanks to his health care reform plans, and trial lawyers shovel endless money to Baucus campaigns in exchange for avoiding tort reform in Max’s health care bills.

With all of this baggage, and Baucus’ apparent disdain for Montana voters, how does he keep getting re-elected?

Is it the huge sums of money required for an opponent to even consider going toe-to-toe with the well-connected incumbent Senator? (He has already amassed a $3 million war chest for the the next go-around.)

Is it the decades of pork he has funneled to his state? (Montana receives $1.47 back from the federal government for every dollar it pays in taxes.)

Is it his personal charm and boyish good looks? (Women do tend to vote for Democrats.)

It’s time for good conservatives (some of whom are Republicans) to start a serious search for a Senate contender who does not have personal baggage, who can win the hearts and minds of those with financial means, and who is serious about a calling higher than re-election.

Can anybody displace Max Baucus? It just doesn’t seem like it should be that hard.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

How do you do what you do to me?
I’m feeling blue.
Wish I knew how you do it to me,
But I haven’t a clue.

How Do You Do It? – Gerry and the Pacemakers
(also recorded by the Beatles)
Here’s a great video of one of the most under-rated musicians (Gerry Marsden) and bands (the Pacemakers) of the sixties and the British Invasion. Enjoy!

LNG – It’s a Gas, Gas, Gas!

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 3

You know all about natural gas. It has been a cheap, plentiful, relatively safe energy source in the US for a long time. Recent discoveries of huge natural gas reserves as a result of “fracking” indicate that we will have a more than plentiful North American supply far into the future.

Natural gas is typically delivered by pipelines which pump the product from wells to homes and businesses. If that were the only way to move natural gas, its utility would be limited. No pipeline, no natural gas.

But there’s another way. Natural gas can be liquefied by cooling it to -260°F. With impurities removed and at near atmospheric pressure, liquefied natural gas (LNG) takes up 99.84% less volume, making it easy to transport in tanks to areas without pipelines or a nearby natural gas supply (can you say China?) lng_ships_4

And the prospect of powering motor vehicles with LNG at lower costs and emissions than gasoline and diesel makes the world-wide move to LNG more than a temptation – it’s a no-brainer.

The tremendous promise of LNG would seem to put the United States, with our huge natural gas supply and technology advantage, in the global energy ‘catbird seat’. We should be gearing up to export LNG all over the world, getting the jump on Russia, Argentina and other gas-rich nations. Leading LNG companies like Excelerate Energy and Cheniere are chomping at the bit to build plants and start shipping.

So what’s the hold-up?

The Department of Energy is currently studying the national implications of exporting LNG and is taking comments from interested parties. Some US companies, like Dow Chemical and Alcoa, want to hold domestic natural gas prices down by keeping our excess supply within our borders. Their lobbyists, and some US congressmen, including Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), have expressed opposition to allowing LNG exports, claiming that sharing our surplus of natural gas may increase domestic gas prices.

Greg Kozera, president of the Virginia Oil and Gas Association, is taking the high road. He concedes that domestic prices may increase slightly, but that will be more than offset by other economic gains. In his letter to the DOE, he says it is the “right thing to do”:

We need the jobs and all of the economic benefits that come with them, not the least of which is tax revenue for the local and state government services we need, chief among them a high quality education. We also need to do the right thing by nations friendly to us that have been held hostage by OPEC. The Russians and OPEC nations with natural gas are already exporting it to Europe and other nations at their prices. We can change the world in a very positive way or we can choose to be selfish.

At a time when all Americans are concerned about our nation’s economic future, it is comforting to know that there are golden opportunities, if we are bold enough to seize them. We must let our congressmen know that we support the export of liquid natural gas, and we should question why Senator Wyden and others continue to fight prosperity.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

But it’s all right now, in fact, it’s a gas!
But it’s all right, I’m Jumpin’ Jack Flash,
It’s a Gas! Gas! Gas!

Jumpin’ Jack Flash – the Rolling Stones

Do Our Leaders Really Care?

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 3

Listening to the media and to our political leaders one would think it is impossible to straighten out our nation’s fiscal mess, and that we, our children, and our grandchildren are doomed to mediocrity for decades to come. Oh, they want to help us, they “feel our pain”, but the task is just too difficult.

Hogwash.

If our federal government really wanted to cut spending and reduce the debt and deficits, they would immediately:

Sell all of the excess, obsolete and unused federal property, including land, buildings, military bases and equipment. Where does our constitution authorize the federal government to buy up all this private land, anyway?
Compensate federal employees similarly to comparable private sector employees – reasonable pay rates, raise the retirement age, replace defined benefit pensions with 401(k) plans, require full forty-hour weeks, and implement the same social security and health care treatment as taxpayers have. Government-sector unions must be eliminated because the pay-for-play election scam is irretrievably corrupt and imperils democracy.
Pay senators and representatives each $1 million per year, and make them responsible for all of their own costs – staffing, transportation, office expenses, mailing, etc. If they want to take a “fact-finding” junket to Tahiti, have a girlfriend in Brazil, or travel home every weekend, they can pay for it themselves. Term limits might not hurt either.
Outsource most of the costs of government to co-ops made up of top private companies. Social security and welfare fraud would be zero if administered by IBM and Visa. Defense contractors have proved they work better together than they do in competition. With co-ops, the winning private companies will regulate each other.
Establish a real, non-partisan budget and cost management department, led by private-sector experts and technicians instead of political lackeys and cronies. Pay commissions to those who find corruption, and prosecute the offenders.
Implement zero-based or priority-based budgeting. Start every department and program at zero and require true cost justification for all expenditures every annual or bi-annual cycle. Same process for entitlements – disability and unemployment must be verified. Eliminate unnecessary, duplicative and obsolete departments.
Replace unemployment compensation and most direct welfare payments with honest work projects. No work, no money.
Tie all foreign aid and investment to our own national interests. Not one dollar to nations or despots whose actions are damaging to the US. That includes the United Nations.
Simplify the tax code and work with businesses instead of against them.
Eliminate the EPA and make the United States the energy provider to the world – aggressively develop natural gas and liquefied natural gas as an alternative to oil. Abandon the infaturation with ridiculously inefficient wind and solar energy and pour our efforts and investments into the efficient use of proven energy sources.

I could go on. Maybe some of these ideas have holes, or need development. Surely there are many more opportunities – bigger and better ones. But if you and I can discuss many methods of improving our government’s performance, why can’t our leaders talk about it?

Do they really want to solve the problem? Are they actually interested in reducing the drag of bloated government on our economy? Obviously, no. Otherwise they would be doing it.

So the only remaining solution is to replace all the self-serving charlatans with motivated leaders who ARE interested. And the only way that will happen is if we can educate and win the majority of Americans who currently don’t get it or don’t care – our neighbors, our friends, and any stranger on the street whom we can engage.

Time is of the essence.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Whatever happened
To all the good times we used to have
The times we cried and laughed
I wanna know, I wanna know

Don’t You Care? – the Buckinhams

Corruption In Big Sky Country – the COPP

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Tom Balek Aside 4

Only in Montana could the incumbent ruling party be judge, jury and executioner of any candidate from the other side who dares to run against them.

The Montana Commission of Political Practices – COPP (or as I call them, the Corrupt Office of Partisan Politics) must be blown up and redesigned. The first step is to approve House Bill HJ1, which calls for “an interim study of the structure and duties of the office of the Commission Of Political Practices.” Failing a reorganization, the legislature must refuse to re-confirm political hack Jim Murry as commissioner.

The COPP is charged with administering Montana’s laws and regulations pertaining to ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance. That sounds like a noble and necessary function. The problem is, the commissioner is appointed by, and serves at the behest of, the incumbent governor. Current commissioner Jim Murry was appointed by Governor Brian Schweitzer. Murry, the former head of the Montana AFL/CIO, Schweitzer campaign finance chairman, and a long-time leading Democrat apparatchik, was touted by Schweitzer as having “years of labor management and bipartisan experience”.

AFL/CIO head and Schweitzer money man – that’s about as bipartisan as you can get. What do you think are the chances any Republican accused of any transgression will get a fair shake before the COPP?

The sponsor of HJ1, JoAnne Blyton (R-HD59), expressed concern that the small COPP staff is overworked, citing the “lengthy backlogs of complaints that don’t get resolved.”

One of those many backlogged complaints was the trumped-up case against Ken Miller, 2012 Republican candidate for governor – a case study of the grotesque and transparently political antics of the COPP.

Miller is a no-nonsense guy who ran a no-frills campaign. Unlike most candidates for the governor’s chair, Miller did not have deep-pocket political connections, or much in the way of financial support from his party. He invested his family’s savings and put 100,000 miles on the family sedan, criss-crossing the state, shaking hands, and picking up small contributions from working-class Montanans who shared his conservative values. His grass-roots message resonated and if he won the nomination, he would have been a serious threat to the Democrats’ gubernatorial hopes.

Early in Miller’s campaign, an ambitious political wannabe, Kelly Bishop, sought to be his running mate. Unqualified for that position, she accepted a commissioned fund-raising job, but that, too, was beyond her ability, and she was released. Her parting shot at Miller was a call to the COPP office to see if there was any way she could squeeze some money from the campaign on her way out. Commissioner Murry smelled blood and invited Bishop to “file a complaint”, even though she had no specific allegations.

Murry then launched his attack on Miller, alleging violations that were all either disproved or corrected. All were inconsequential and would serve no purpose to Miller, even if true.

Four days before the primary election the COPP released its “findings” of unreported contributions to the press only hours after e-mailing them to Miller, who was on the road campaigning. Before Miller even knew what happened, news outlets all over the state had reported that he was found guilty of a number of violations.

The Miller camp compared their records with the COPP’s and were shocked to find that the “missing” records were clearly displayed on the COPP’s own website. The charges were blatantly false.

Miller held a press conference at the state Capitol, refuting every charge,and pointing to the COPP’s own website data as proof that the allegedly missing contributions were clearly reported. The media was largely disinterested, and only one correspondent mentioned the event. Murry’s tactic had succeeded – the damage was done.

The next day Murry said that if the Miller campaign could prove their defense, he would retract the charges. Miller threatened legal action, but nothing could restore the voters’ confidence only one day before the primary. It was the old “October surprise” trick.

In the aftermath, Murry retracted all of his first findings, and issued a new set of allegations, equally untrue and/or insignificant. He did not question or sanction any other candidates, although their reports contained errors and violations, according to the COPP’s website. Murry made a half-hearted offer of settlement, but the amount of the fine was so unaffordable, and the stench of the corruption so pungent, that Miller found no alternative to filing suit against the COPP and Murry.

41 states currently have political practices commissions which are operated in non-partisan fashion. Let’s hope 2013 is the year that Montana joins them.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Liar, Liar
Pants on fire!
Your nose is longer than
A telephone wire!

Garage band classic – Liar, Liar by the Castaways