Montana Green Party's predicament deepens &
Primary election write-in votes needed in MT House districts

Yesterday the Montana Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices alleging that a Las Vegas political firm helped collect signatures on the petitions that qualified the Green Party for the Montana ballot. Holly Michels has the story, and a copy of the complaint, at the Missoulian.

The Democrats allege that Advanced Micro Targeting failed to comply with two sections of Montana’s campaign finance reporting laws, but do not, reports Michels, accuse the Greens of wrongdoing:

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Assault on Montana’s Greens

Earlier this week, labor heavyweights Don Judge and Jim Larson, the latter a former chair of the Montana Democratic Party, obtained copies of the petitions that qualified the Montana Green Party for the 2018 ballot. Their mission? Protecting Jon Tester by challenging and disqualifying enough signatures to remove the Green Party from the ballot. Their concern is not without merit, but assuming that every vote cast for the Green Party candidate is a vote not cast for Tester would be unwise. After the Green Party qualified for the Montana ballot, I observed:

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The Ballad of Donald and Stormy

There’s never been a president quite like Donald, or a president’s paramour quite like Stormy — and if Divine Providence takes mercy on our republic, there never will be again. Let us pray that becomes so. In the meantime, let us sing.

…go to the ballad’s lyrics

Gunpowder Saturday

Against a backdrop of the Parkland, FL, school massacre and the fatal shooting at Great Mills High School in Maryland, firearms politics dominates the first weekend of Spring across the nation.

• Hundreds of thousands, many if not most of high school age, are gathering in Washington, D.C., to march for tougher gun control. Similar “sibling” March for Our Lives rallies are being held in cities across the nation; Missoula, Helena, Bozeman, and Billing, are the locations in Montana. President Trump flew to Florida, where he may get in a round of golf.


• March for Our Guns is rallying in Helena, where a featured speaker will be Rep. Seth Berglee (R-Joliet), whose bill to arm school staff, HB-385, was shot down 57–43 in the 2017 legislative session. Berglee is running for a third term in a heavily Republican district. Expect HB-383 or something similar to be introduced in the 2019 legislative session. Berglee’s bill, HB-494, to allow carrying “…a concealed weapon while patronizing a restaurant where alcoholic beverages are not the chief item of sale” was vetoed by Gov. Bullock. That, too, will return to the legislative menu next year.


• Long scheduled multi-day gun shows are being held in Kalispell and Missoula. (Trivia note. In the late ‘seventies, I was kicked out of the Kalispell gun show for taking photographs.)

I’m not optimistic that much will come of all this pro-stricter firearms control enthusiasm and activity. Marches and rallies energize people, but they don’t change laws and regulations. If the ralliers truly want to make a difference, they’ll donate to and work for political candidates who share their values and ideas for reducing firearms violence. But there are few quick fixes, and certainly no quick big fixes.

There’s no widespread agreement on how dangerous America is, or on how to define a safer American. Is a level of public safety that allows a unarmed husband and wife to take their family on a walk through their neighborhood without fear of being mugged best attained through professional law enforcement? Or is it best attained by equipping everyone with a sidearm to deter, and if necessary, shoot, a mugger? The answer differs from neighborhood to neighborhood, from neighbor to neighbor. Without a consensus on what constitutes safety, there cannot be agreement on the public policy that must be adopted to achieve that safety.

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Note to readers

Several readers have asked why Flathead Memo hasn’t published this week, and wondered whether FM’s editor and janitor is on spring break. Actually, he’s on chicken soup and acetaminophen, alive but not well, and and lacks the energy and will to publish. The next stages of treatment are (a) whiskey, and (b) reincarnation, but he expects to avoid those extremes. When he recovers, he’ll start posting again, wearied, perhaps, but not mellowed.

Cascade County has ≈ 6,800 fewer registered voters than in 2017

It’s by far the largest decrease in the number of registered voters in Montana’s most populous counties. More on this later.

Are right wing mischief makers trying to hijack MT’s Green Party?

Updated at 1936 MDT to include Danielle Breck’s 14 March email to Gibney.

It certainly seems so. Tim Adams, a former data analyst for the Montana Republican Party, filed for the Montana Green Party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate. So did Steve Kelly, whose Green bonafides are rock solid. If Adams has truly embraced the Green Party’s platform — a proposition that raises my eyebrows — he’s made a long and remarkable ideological journey. Thus far, the Green Party has not denounced Adams.

But yesterday the Green Party did denounce John Gibney of Hamilton, who filed for the Green Party’s nomination for House District 85, as a “fraudulent candidate.” Here’s the full statement:

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Montana presidential elections and 3rd parties 2000–2016

Third parties have not been a factor in the last five presidential elections in Montana. In 2000, Ralph Nader, running on the Green Party’s ticket, received six percent of the vote. In 2016, Green Party candidate Jill Stein received 1.6 percent of the vote. The Libertarian share was 0.4 percent in 2000, 2.9 percent in 2012, and 5.7 percent in 2016.

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Did a Libertarian help Lamb defeat Saccone in PA-18?
What impact will third party candidates have in Montana?

That’s possible, but probably not provable. With approximately 500 ballots (military and provisional) left to be counted, Democrat Conor Lamb is leading Republican Rick Saccone by 627 votes in the special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district, an open seat. Libertarian Drew Miller has 1,379 votes.

Source: NY Times

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Parkland solidarity student walkouts

Tomorrow, 14 March, students at many high school across the nation will walk out of their classes to assemble outdoors in remembrance of the 17 students and adults murdered by Nikolas Cruz at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentines Day.

In the Flathead, 17-minute-long walkouts are expected in Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Bigfork, and at Glacier and Flathead Highs in Kalispell.

At Columbia Falls, the students who walk out will split into two groups, one calling attention to the deaths at Parkland, the other also expressing support for “…responsible gun owners around the U.S. and NRA [National Rifle Association].” There probably will be more police present at Columbia Falls than at the other Flathead high schools.

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Note on filings for political office

Filing for political office in Montana ends today at 1700 MDT. I’ll have a wrap-up and analysis late this evening. There are numerous last minute filings for office. And the Green Party qualified for the ballot, good news for Republicans, but not for Democrats.

A note of caution on the MT SecST’s online list of filings. It’s a hectic day in Helena and there likely will be some mistakes in the list. These can be clerical errors at the SecST’s office, or errors by the candidates, or both. Corrections may not be made for a couple of day.

My thanks to all who throw their hats into the ring.

Early Friday political wrap-up

Legislative filings. In the Flathead, Shawn Guymon filed in House District 3 (Columbia Falls) as a Libertarian. Democratic Rep. Zac Perry has filed for a third term. Thus far, no Republican has filed in the district … but you can bet one will.

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Democrat Cossitt challenges incumbent Republican Garner in HD-7

Jim Cossitt, a Kalispell attorney, filed today for the Democratic primary for House District 7 (old downtown Kalispell; map). The district’s incumbent is Republican Frank Garner, a former Kalispell police chief who’s seeking a third term.

Gov. Steve Bullock carried HD-7 by a plurality in 2016. Rob Quist carried the district by a plurality in the May, 2017, special congressional election won by Republican Greg Gianforte.

The last Democrat to win the district was Cheryl Steenson, who beat incumbent Republican Craig Witte by 14 votes in 2008. Republican Steve Lavin won the district in 2010 and 2012, then ran and won in current HD-8 in 2014 and 2016.

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Rep. Manzella thinks Tim Fox was endorsed by socialists and communists

Rep. Theresa Manzella (R-Hamilton) (Facebook) represents House District 85, the doughtnut district surrounding Hamilton in the increasingly conservative Bitterroot Valley. Now seeking a third term, she’s known for not hesitating to speak her mind — and also known for sometimes not fully engaging her brain before opening her mouth.

Earlier this week, commenting on a possible student walkout in support of gun control, she succumbed to her speak first, think later, weakness. According to the Missoulian:

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Democrats’ caving to Republicans is not bipartisanship

It’s just a cave-in to the Republican position, camouflaged in the rhetoric of pious centrists for whom compromise, or the mirage of compromise, is an intrinsic, not an instrumental, good. In the classic sense:

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The Way I Am on Monday Morning

Merle Haggard recorded The Way I Am, by Sonny Throckmorton, in 1980. Thirty-six years later, Kristine and Janis Oliver, their voices still sweet, performed it on what appears to be a rainy evening in Norway.

Note to readers. Due to a full morning away from FM’s headquarters, I’ll be posting later today.

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Old time music for a sunny Sunday morning

Here’s the Portland, Oregon, based Foghorn String Band with an upbeat, not too twangy, performance of the old time gospel favorite, Outshine the Sun.

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Two-party competition comes to Flathead county commissioner election

A Democrat — Tom Clark, of Kalispell — plans to throw his hat in the county commissioner race on Monday. On Thursday he announced on Facebook he would file yesterday, but decided Friday to wait until Monday. It’s an awkward start, but not an election-losing contretemps. I’ve added Clark to Flathead Memo’s chart of Flathead legislative and local candidates.

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Confirmed: Tom Clark running for Flathead County Commissioner as a Democrat

Update. Clark confirmed, in a Facebook comment late Friday, that he’s running for commissioner as a Democrat:

Earlier. There’s evidence that he will. There’s a Tom Clark for Commissioner Facebook page on which he said, on 1 March, that he would be announcing his candidacy for Commissioner District 3 “on Friday.” He did not say which Friday. A number of known Democrats have liked his page.

The Flathead Election Department’s end of today’s roster of local candidates does not include Clark. Filing closes at 1700 MDT on Monday, 12 March.

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Frequency of large mass shooting in America

The following graphs were constructed from data assembled by Mother Jones Magazine. There is no national governmental registry of shooting. Nor is there a national registry of firearms, although we do have registries of automobiles, medications, and marriages. I’ll expand this page with links and commentary later today.

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