MTGOP

Kennedy Chronicles TV

The Montana Republican Party unveiled a new feature for the Kennedy Chronicles - this time featuring web videos highlighting the escapades of Montana's Perennial Candidate Bill Kennedy.  Check out the latest edition of the kennedy chronicles by visiting the MT GOP website, or watch the video included below.

The Kennedy Chronicles

This week Bill Kennedy is in the spotlight again – this time it’s for his dismal campaign finance report.  In his October Quarterly report, Kennedy reported raising a paltry $63,742.  The total reflects a significant drop from his first quarter of reporting back in July,and even falls short of the mark set by Monica Lindeen in her unsuccessful bid to unseat Congressmen Denny Rehberg two years ago.  You may recall that Lindeen was soundly defeated by Rehberg by nearly 20 points – just over 80,000 votes – in the last election.

Falling short of that standard has to be a let down for the perennial candidate that should know the look and feel of a losing campaign when he sees one.  In a quarter where Baucus and Rehberg were raising funds at a record-setting pace, Kennedy’s steep drop spells trouble for the fledgling candidate, and shows that Montanans have grown tired of his endless personal quest for higher office, especially when he’s shown such quests come at the expense of his job as County Commissioner.  His perennial candidacy has become the stuff of urban legend in the Billings community, as he has now run for a different political office in each of the last four elections. In2002 it was a Yellowstone County Commission race, but then apparently holding a County-wide office wasn’t enough so in 2004 he ran for Secretary of State. After losing that race it was back to running again for Yellowstone County Commission in 2006 and now for the 2008 Election cycle he is running for the United State House of Representatives.

By now, Kennedy should know his candidacy is already in real trouble – not in trouble of falling short, but in trouble of never getting off the ground.  Unfortunately for Kennedy, Montanans aren’t interested in shameless self-promotion and political ambition, their interested in leaders who work on behalf of those who elect them.  Bill Kennedy continues to show that he’s only interested in working for his next big opportunity.

Truly Open Government

On September 24th, Secretary of State Brad Johnson became the first state-level official in Montana to begin posting his schedule online.

Following the lead of Montana’s Congressional Delegation, including Congressman Denny Rehberg, Johnson posts each day’s schedule for any member of the public to view.

When he began posting the schedule, Johnson called on all other state elected officials to do likewise.  So far, there has been no move from Governor Schweitzer, Attorney General McGrath, Auditor Morrison, or Superintendent McCulloch to follow suit.

This is just another example of Republicans leading the way on openness in state Government. On constituency funds, Johnson’s disclosure was also more complete than any other state official, and Senator Roy Brown’s bill to ban constituency funds went farther than the Democrat version. On July 27, GOP Chairman Erik Iverson called for greater financial disclosure from the Governor’s office – and still Governor Schweitzer has taken no action.