25 April 2019 — 0927 mdt

Old Joe, The Last Hurrah, and Frankenstein legislation

Old Joe Biden announced — to no one’s surprise — that he’s running for President. Again. It will be his last hurrah.

Read and/or watch the Last Hurrah. While ambassador to India during Kennedy’s administration, John K. Galbraith gave the Last Hurrah to Jawaharlal Nehru, who hugely enjoyed Edwin O’Connor’s account of Boston’s political folkways that was based in part on Big Jim Curley’s last campaign. Two movies of the book were made, the first, in black-and-white, starred Spencer Tracy. The second, a Hallmark Hall of Fame color production, starred Carroll O’Connor. Both films are good and you’ll prefer watching them to listening to Biden.

Montana’s legislature is winding down — it could adjourn this week — but attempts to revive dead bills are still alive. To stay abreast of the festivities, I recommend monitoring the #mtpol and #mtleg hashtags at Twitter. Duane Ankney and Tom Richmond are still trying to resurrect SB-331, Richmond’s sweetheart bill for Northwestern Energy. The current strategy is to exhume sections of SB-331 and stuff them into HB-597 as conference committee amendments. There was no deal at yesterday’s end, but the mischief started anew this morning and could succeed if Democrats unhinged by Colstrip Derangement Syndrome take leave of their senses and decide to sell Northwestern’s ratepayers down the river in exchange for some kind of a pre-kindergarten bill. Until the gavel bangs down on Sine Die adjournment, there remains a danger that legislators desperate for a compromise could cobble together a bill that would make Victor Frankenstein recoil in horror.

After the session concludes, I’ll post a wrap-up, which probably will be depressing as not much good came out of this legislature.