A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Sen. Jon Tester should stop talking about logging until he gets his fury over litigated timber sales under control. Talking to Montana Public Radio a few days ago, he wrongly alleged that every national forest timber sale in Montana was tied up in litigation. After he was called on that untruth, he tried to weasel with statistics instead of issuing a contrite, handsome, unqualified apology for getting it wrong.
That earned him a scathing column by George Ochenski, a 4-Pinocchio whopper of a mistruth certification from the Washington Post, and some wry poetry at 4and20Blackbirds.
This wasn’t the result of poor staff work, or having been misinformed by the agency. It was the result of Tester’s personality and natural resources philosophy.
Tester’s a farmer whose default position is that with few exceptions, lands not producing a harvestable crop are laying in waste. He’s not unsympathetic to conservation, but he’s inherently sympathetic to people who try to make a living by taking from the land. He’s deeply frustrated and embarrassed by not being able to move his collaborationist backed mandated logging legislation through Congress. And although he’s worked with conservationists to advance wilderness protection, he’s also shown a mean streak to environmentalists who refuse to embrace an idea that he sees as good.
On 17 December 2009, for example, sitting as a Senator in a public hearing, he scolded and belittled Missoula’s Matt Koehler, who was delivering testimony against legislation that Tester introduced. Koehler’s a passionate but respectful and professional advocate who exercised his constitutional right to petition his government — and for his trouble, returned to Missoula with Tester’s bootprints on his back. Now there’s bad blood between Tester and elements of Montana’s conservation community that won’t disappear until people die.
Tester’s stumbles in this situation have appalled Democrats and conservationists alike. Many, rightly fearing Tester could be replaced in 2018 by a tea partier, have kept their counsel, urging Tester’s critics to go easy on him and let his staff take the credit for his missteps. That’s sound tactical political advice. But how many times can — should — progressives forgive or forget sins such as this one?