One third of Daines’ $5 million is from MT

By Dan Brooks in Montana Politics 1 Comment
"Hadouken," Daines retorts

“Hadouken,” retorted Daines

The Democratic Party of Montana has found a replacement for lurching plagiarist John Walsh: Amanda Curtis, high school math teacher and Butte resident, presumed plucky. And she is getting the full disbursement of leftover Walsh funding allowed by law: two thousand dollars. Meanwhile, an entity called the Lee Newspapers State Bureau reports that about one third of Republican Steve Daines’s $5 million in campaign funds came from within the state. That’s actually a lot for a small-population Senate race.

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Opponents of nude bike ride address council for 90 min., revealing flaw in democracy

By Dan Brooks in Montana Politics 2 Comments
"Bare As You Dare" ride organizer Nita Maddux. Photo by Michael Gallacher of the Missoulian

“Bare As You Dare” ride organizer Nita Maddux. Photo by Michael Gallacher of the Missoulian

When I heard that Nita Maddux had organized a clothing-optional bike ride in Missoula “as a way for people to demonstrate acceptance of their bodies and express their inner child,” I did nothing. I have no opinion on this issue, partly because I have the internet and can see as many naked people as I want, and partly because I burn easily. Also I will be out of town. Apart from reading about it in the Missoulian, my experience is exactly as if the naked bike ride were not happening at all. I consider that relevant, since a bunch of people are having the same experience and freaking out.

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On last adult night of summer, city rents Splash Montana to private party

By Dan Brooks in Montana Politics 1 Comment
Some water slides and a lazy river I didn't get to go on last night.

Some water slides and a lazy river I didn’t get to go on last night.

If you saw me last week, you already knew I was going to Adult Night at Splash Montana water park. It was the last Adult Night of the summer, and my friend Kelly organized an outing. “I’m going to Splash Montana,” I told several disinterested people in my yoga class. “I’m going to eat pizza.” I also planned to walk on those logs that are soft and inflatable but still easy to fall off of. I would of course go down the water slides, and probably I would take a turn around the lazy river. It was a whole experience I had laid out in my head, and as the weather got hotter and Sunday night drew nearer, I began to think of it as the centerpiece of my week. Which is too bad, since when I got there I joined another 35 people who were denied admission because the park had been rented to a private party.

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Times finds that Walsh plagiarized large portions of War College thesis

By Dan Brooks in Montana Politics 1 Comment
Senator John Walsh (D–MT) wears a facial expression he plagiarized from a box of Lemonheads.

Senator John Walsh (D–MT) wears a facial expression he plagiarized from a box of Lemonheads.

It is extremely generous of the New York Times to say that Montana Senator John Walsh “confronts questions of plagiarism,” given that the last 800 words of his master’s thesis are taken verbatim from a paper published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The document that Walsh turned in to get his degree from the US Army War College in 2007 contains several uncited passages from related papers on the internet, along with several passages that are footnoted but not quoted, despite being copied from the original sources word-for-word. I encourage you to read the Times article, if only to get a sense of what a mash-up Walsh’s thesis appears to be. There’s also a rad denial from the Senator himself, but you’ll have to click on the jump to read that.

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Ravalli GOP demands that candidates sign party platform to get funding

By Dan Brooks in Montana Politics 1 Comment
Ravalli Co. commissioner Suzy Foss, in t-shirt form, at a gun raffle

Ravalli Co. commissioner Suzy Foss, in t-shirt form, at a gun raffle

The Montana Cowgirl Blog has linked to this image of an email exchange between Ravalli County Republican Central Committee secretary Sue Pyron and various GOP candidates, in which she notes that the committee has unanimously voted “to fund only candidates who agree to sign to support the Republican platform.” That dissenting voice at the top is Pat Connell (R–Hamilton.) He does not believe that signing a kind of ideological loyalty oath should be a condition for reimbursement of his travel expenses and describes the demand as “a rather unseemly quid pro quo.” I bet Rep. Connell and I disagree about a few things, but I’m right with him on that one. Also—and this may shock you—the Montana Republican Party Platform is a little kooky.

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