22 October 2016

Judge McKeon, trapping ban initiative, voter registration update

Five years ago, Judge McKeon rejected a plea bargain for being too lenient. Montana District Court Judge John McKeon is catching almighty hell for not jailing a man convicted of incest with his daughter. If McKeon’s name sounds familiar to Flathead residents, it should. McKeon was the judge who rejected the plea bargain former State Senator Greg Barkus (R-Kalispell) negotiated with the prosecution. Barkus, readers will remember, crashed his speedboat into the rocks south of Bigfork late at night after a spirited dinner with Rep. Denny Rehberg, badly injuring, indeed almost killing, many on board. Barkus pleaded no contest to a charge of criminal endangerment in exchange for no jail time. At the sentencing hearing McKeon rejected the deal, saying Barkus needed a harder slap on the wrist. Barkus, on track to run for governor, accepted the harder slap, derailing his political career. Now, McKeon may have derailed his own judicial career.

Initiative to ban trapping on public land appears doomed. According to the Mason-Dixon poll conducted 10–12 October, I-177 is losing badly. Only 24 percent support the initiative, while 63 percent oppose it, and 13 percent are undecided. Be sure to read the story in the Missoulian.

In an effort to gain support, the authors of the initiative chose not to ban trapping on private land, but that gambit clearly failed. The fundamental case against trapping is moral: it’s a cruel practice that inflicts needless and terrible pain on animals, and leads to human depravity. If trapping is immoral on public lands, it’s also immoral on private lands. Trying to buy off the opposition by limiting the ban to public lands was a moral compromise, although I-177’s authors did not (and do not) so regard it.

The pro-trapping argument is cultural. Trapping is a way of life dating back to the days of Jim Bridger. To this day, some associate it with the romance of the old west and consider trappers some of the last truly free men in Montana. As long as that mythology endures, attempts to ban trapping will fail.

Voter registration update. At the close of business yesterday, 679,344 Montanans had registered to vote. That 2,274 fewer than in 2012. Absentee ballots were sent to 313,284 voters, 46.1 percent of the total registered.

Registration drives in Cascade, Flathead, Gallatin, Missoula, and Yellowstone Counties have added thousands to the registration rolls since the 2016 primary election in June. The Bullock and (probably) the Gianforte campaigns have, or should have, detailed, geo-referenced, data on the new registrees, and a clear sense of whether the new registrees lean Democratic or Republican. You can download my working spreadsheet for 2016 registration. It includes general election registration numbers for 2004–2014.