This photo of how the sausage is made comes courtesy of Art Wittich’s Facebook page, in which he complains that his fellow Republican voted to “emasculate” his party’s leadership by supporting Medicaid expansion. That bill finally passed, but not before 49 Republicans voted to adjourn the entire 2015 session of the Montana legislature rather than see it debated on the House floor. Later that night, after moderates in the GOP joined Democrats to pass a bill central to his legislative agenda, Governor Bullock vetoed a modest Republican tax cut. With only a few weeks to go in our 90-day session, comity has disintegrated in Helena. You can read about it in this week’s column in the Missoula Independent, which also contains this wonderful quote by Rep. Randy Pinocci (R-Sun River):

“The majority of my constituents want smaller government. What does the taxpayer want? I hear every excuse, but we spend money on [expletive] that’s ridiculous. I want to go to the Deaf and Blind School and see if they’re struggling.”

I also apologize for erroneously claiming that Senator Steve Daines nourishes himself by lassoing rainbows and drinking their pigment. So it’s a lot of fun. We’ll be back tomorrow with Friday links!