Would it surprise you to find out that each of the five members of the Montana Public Service Commission makes more than the Lieutenant Governor, the Secretary of State and the State Auditor? These are the current salaries of Montana elected officials. Governor— $111,570 Lieutenant Governor—$86,362 Attorney General—$123,499 Secretary of State— $95,695 Superintendent of Public Read More…

The flames of the Ferguson Fire in California have become the latest symbols of a seemingly perennial challenge of fighting fires in the West. I just returned from the Ferguson Fire camp, where I met with firefighters who are working to combat the fire as it bears down on Yosemite National Park and its visitors, Read More…

Montana Governor Steve Bullock’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) took an unprecedented step last month in its efforts to block the opening of the Rock Creek and Montanore mines in Sanders and Lincoln counties, projects that would create hundreds of jobs for Montana workers. Bullock’s DEQ has opposed Hecla Mining Company’s attempt to open these Read More…

Direct primary care agreements are a fee-for-service contract between health care providers and patients, and are meant to cover preventive, routine or preliminary office visits. Primary care clinics are independent doctors’ offices that do not accept insurance or bill third parties. There have been several of these arrangements made available to consumers in Montana during Read More…

Our country has a great abundance of mineral resources used to manufacture goods of all kinds. For weapons systems and consumer electronics, the value alone is estimated at $6.2 trillion; however, because cumbersome regulations and permitting processes hamper mining, we now rely on foreign suppliers for more than half of our needs. The situation has Read More…

After reading David Brooks’ recent editorial, one thing is clear as a mountain stream: Propaganda will be the chosen vehicle in which Brooks and his supporters deliver Initiative 186 (I-186) to Montana in November. I suppose propaganda is expected in the support or opposition of any ballot initiative. However, the citizens of Montana deserve to Read More…

Montana governor Steve Bullock is the latest Democrat to demonstrate just how out of touch he is with the lives and values of hardworking, everyday Americans. Taking a page from the playbook of Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, Bullock has scoffed at the higher take-home pay, bonuses, benefit improvements and lower utility bills resulting from Read More…

When you stand alone, people can ascribe to you a range of qualities — brave, perceptive, crazy, or ignorant, among others. In the case of Sveen v. Melin, Justice Neil Gorsuch took on that role, acting as the lone dissenter in the 8-1 Supreme Court decision. In his lonely stand, Gorsuch sought to breathe life Read More…

President Trump is in no danger of being impeached and removed from office. I say this with confidence despite having no knowledge of what Special Counsel Mueller and his team may find. That’s because impeachment is a political process rather than a legal process. As a result, things that happen outside the world of government Read More…

For those of you who caught Monday’s “Montana Talks” radio show, you asked if we could post a link to the piece I was referring to that detailed the false allegations used by Democrat Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) to smear Navy Admiral Ronny Jackson. In this piece written by an Afghan war veteran for The Read More…

On the early morning of March 11 we lost an hour and gained more evening daylight — a fair trade and welcomed change to what has been an exceptionally gloomy winter. I love the snow, but I’m at once happy to see it melt away on the valley floor and to have more time to Read More…

A little more than decade ago, Michael Lange was a rising political star in Montana. He was the outspoken Republican House majority leader during a state Legislature marked by two parties bickering over how best to divvy out a state budget surplus to its constituents. It was a good problem to have, especially when compared Read More…

This is National School Choice Week, and there are only two charter schools in Montana, one in Bozeman and the other a partnership between the communities of Libby and Troy. Superintendent of Bozeman Public Schools, Dr. Robert Watson described the unique charter school that exists within the structure of Bozeman High School. “One of the Read More…

NBC Sports executive producer Fred Gaudelli says NBC’s cameras will show any players who chose to kneel during the “The Star-Spangled Banner” when the network airs Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4. “The Super Bowl is a live event, just like ‘Sunday Night Football.’ When you’re covering a live event, you’re covering what’s happening,” said Read More…

There is a lot to criticize about Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain: Brexit is a horrible idea. Her cabinet is a snake pit of personal and political scandal. Her foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, seems unhinged. But at least she knows how the leader of a democracy should respond to an egomaniacal, autocratic leader who Read More…

Guess which state has the highest poverty rate in the country? Not Mississippi, New Mexico, or West Virginia, but California, where nearly one out of five residents is poor. That’s according to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, which factors in the cost of housing, food, utilities and clothing, and which includes noncash government assistance Read More…

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is absolutely not running for the U.S. Senate in 2018. When persistent rumors suggesting he was interested in federal office this cycle kept popping up last year, I actually checked in with him about them. He told me in September there was “no truth whatsoever” to the rumors. Still, Burgum Read More…

I took a rare shift as news editor last Saturday, which gave me an unexpected chance to put my finger in the dike holding back the flood of fake news caused by those afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome. As I was sifting through the Associated Press news report looking for wire stories worth putting into Read More…

Lost in the Democratic, media driven catharsis of what happened in state legislative races in Virginia this week, and last November, is the series of recent Republican victories in places as cobalt blue as Massachusetts in recent weeks. Even this week, Republicans won a special election outside Tampa, where Democrats hold a higher registration advantage. Read More…

U.S. Sen. Al Franken broke his self-imposed silence over the weekend, submitting to a series of media interviews on the sexual misconduct allegations against him, professing his shame and embarrassment. That was a necessary move — Minnesotans and the country at large deserved to hear from him. But his apology falls lamentably short in several Read More…

It has been 30 years since the last time our nation’s tax code has been overhauled. In that time, the tax rate we levy on businesses has become one of the highest in the world, the tax code itself has become an incomprehensible mess, and special interests have drilled it full of loopholes that benefit Read More…

Steve Bannon, the failed presidential adviser and alt-right sympathizer, has declared war on incumbent Republicans, particularly Sen. Mitch McConnell. From his perch at Breitbart, Mr. Bannon is vowing to defeat officeholders who back Mr. McConnell as majority leader or who won’t sign onto Mr. Bannon’s populist agenda. So what kind of challengers is Mr. Bannon Read More…

One irony of Washington these days is that a press corps that claims to loathe right-wing political operative Steve Bannon can’t get enough of him. The media broadcast his every utterance, cheering on his declaration of “civil war” against Republicans in Congress. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (S.C.) captured that reality on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Read More…

The New York Times last week broke the story of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s long record of sexual harassment. Actresses including Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd came forward to detail Weinstein’s depredations, and so did former employees of the man who founded one of the most important independent film companies of the last 30 years, Read More…

The Democrats Take Their Political Problems to Court The Democrats have a political problem and a geographic problem. This problem goes beyond the number of seats Democrats must gain to control the U.S. House or many statehouses, and surpasses the unfavorable map Democrats face in the Senate. The problem facing the Democrats nationally is that Read More…

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke’s leaked report on President Trump’s ordered review of 27 national monument designations or expansions of the last 21 years was trebly disappointing. He failed to recommend revocation of any Clinton and Obama decrees, despite finding that many failed to satisfy the requirements of the Antiquities Act of 1906. He Read More…

Healthy democracies have ample room for politics but leave a larger space for civil society and culture that unites more than divides. With the politicization of the National Football League and the national anthem, the Divided States of America are exhibiting a very unhealthy level of polarization and mistrust. The progressive forces of identity politics Read More…

For years I’ve had a game pass package with NFL.com. Since we don’t have an NFL team in Montana, I found that I could watch games of all the teams this way. NFL players have decided that disrespecting the flag by kneeling or sitting during the playing of the national anthem before games is a Read More…

Connecticut may be too rich for its own good. Long blessed with a disproportionate number of high-income residents, the state has entertained lavish spending habits for decades. Lawmakers have acted as if they were on a shopping spree at Christmas, confident that the money to pay off the credit cards would somehow be found in Read More…

It’s become difficult to decipher between reality and alarmism these days. To add insult to injury, President Trump can’t seem to take two steps without being ridiculed from every direction. The latest point of contention has been his decision to disengage from the Paris Climate Accord (PCA). But is all the noise justified? Perhaps not, Read More…

In April Senator Jon Tester joined an unsuccessful partisan effort to filibuster Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court. To justify his actions, Tester said at the time, “With Judge Gorsuch on the bench, I am deeply concerned that dark money will continue to drown out the voices and votes of citizens.” It seems Read More…

As the 2017 legislative session has come to an end, we want to make sure that Montanans have a clear view of what’s happened the past few months in Helena. The mission of the Senate and House Republicans from Day One has been to help create more opportunities for all Montanans by making our state Read More…

The special election to select a new congressman for Montana is less than 80 days away and the process for conducting the election has been turned into a political football.   First, Gov. Steve Bullock scheduled the election at the earliest possible time, 85 days after Ryan Zinke resigned to serve as President Trump’s secretary Read More…