MTGOP

Chariman Iverson Proposes Presidential Caucus

Today Montana Republican Party Chairman Erik Iverson announced a new proposal to change the Montana Republican Party Rules to allow for a Presidential Caucus in February of 2008. The plan will be sent the Party’s Rules Committee this week, prior to a full hearing before the Montana Republican State Central Committee.

“There's a lot of excitement among grassroots Republicans for this new plan. It’s a positive change both for the Republican Party and for all Montanans,” said Iverson. “This will help ensure that issues important to Montana are a real part of the Presidential debate, instead of a footnote after the process is over.”

Under Iverson’s proposal, each County Republican Central Committee would hold a Presidential Caucus meeting on the designated day where Republicans would vote for their preferred candidate. The candidate with the most votes throughout the state would be declared the winner. An additional rule change would require that Montana’s 25 delegates to the Republican National Convention in 2008 be bound to vote for the winner of the caucus.

“Right now Montana is the second to last state in the nation to hold its Presidential Primary. With so many states moving up their primary elections, our vote in June is becoming more and more irrelevant. We want to make sure that Montana’s voice is heard at time that is relevant to the campaign,” Iverson added. “Montanans deserve to play a real role in the nomination of our next president.  We deserve better than to merely affirm the inevitable.”

Rehberg Stops Effort To Implement Schweitzer's Bison Plan

Montana's Congressman, Denny Rehberg, halted an effort in the House Appropriations Committee to implement a proposal based upon Governor Schweitzer's bison "buffer zone" plan.  "This amendment was not only bad policy, it was an abuse of the process," said Rehberg, a member of the House Appropriations Committee.  "That's why Republicans and Democrats joined together to reject it."

Last week the House Appropriations Committee passed the 2008 Agriculture Appropriations bill.  However, during the markup, Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) offered an amendment to provide $1.5 million for the purchase of grazing rights on the Royal Teton Ranch outside of Yellowstone National Park for the purpose of establishing a buffer zone and "brucellosis-free" subzones in parts of counties adjacent to the park.  Hinchey made repeated references to Governor Schweitzer's buffer zone proposal when offering the amendment.  Rehberg and other members of the Committee, including the Democrat leaders, were successful in voting the amendment down.

"We're disappointed by this back-door attempt to implement the buffer zone proposal," said Errol Rice, Executive Vice President of the Montana Stockgrowers Association.  "It's not a concept that was accepted or agreed upon by the Stockgrowers Association and we're pleased that Denny stood up for common sense and stopped this amendment from moving forward."

"We need to keep the problem of brucellosis inside the park and remain focused on eradicating the disease," Rehberg said during the hearing.  "This is an issue that, as recent events have demonstrated, is very serious for the Montana cattle industry and we need to take the time to build consensus and get it right. Governor Schweitzer is really the only policy maker advocating this plan.  That tells me we need to spend some more time working on the issue, and we need to involve all the stakeholders and do it in the light of day -- not through a rider to an appropriations bill."

The Daily Interlake carried a story on this last week with a bit more background on the other congressmen who became involved in this issue.  Click Here for the Interlake's story.

Tester’s Broken Promises Led to 46% Approval Rating

Latest Flip Flop:  Tester Opposed Earmarks Before He Supported Them

Montana Senator Jon Tester has left a trail of broken promises and campaign pledges in his wake since he arrived in Washington, and a recent Lee Newspapers poll shows Montanans are already weary of his lackluster job performance after just over six months in office.  The poll reports Tester’s job approval rating at a paltry 46%, double digits below the rest of Montana’s statewide elected officials (for the full story, click here).

Tester’s latest change of heart comes on earmarks.  In his 2006 campaign, he consistently hammered the need for earmark reform, going so far as to say “I don’t support earmarks, period,” in the October 9, 2006 debate.  However, a report recently released by the Los Angeles Times tells a different story.  The Times article states that Tester and other Senate Democrats “pressed agencies to grant their spending requests, according to correspondence obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Center for Investigative Reporting.”  After campaigning against earmarks in Montana, Tester is now sneaking around Washington trying to secure funding for earmarks behind closed doors.  (for the full LA Times article, click here).

Montanans are pretty tough to fool, and Tester has made it easy for Montanans to figure out that his word means nothing.  Whether it was the big party held in his honor by D.C. insider Patrick Murphy only a few short months after he promised he wouldn’t accept special favors from lobbyists; or his hiring of a lobbyist to work on his staff not long after promising to shut D.C.’s “revolving door”; or his two complaints to the FEC alleging misconduct, both of which were quickly dismissed; Senator Tester has clearly shown Montanans that what he says means nothing now that he’s in Washington.

Rehberg Scores Big Victory For Montana Gun Owners

Congressman Denny Rehberg scored a big victory for Montana gun owners when he halted new federal regulations that would have harmed firearms dealers and owners last week.  Since then, National media has picked up on the story:

Rehberg on the NRA Radio
http://www.nra.org/ 

On Rush Limbaugh
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_071707/content/01125110.guest.html

On Git-R-Slung
http://www.git-r-slung.com/blog/index.php?itemid=169

On Shotgun World
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=112625&sid=b3d8f3fdd577fb01e793534b8d425eb4