The Montana Legislature meets for ninety days every two years. Please, oh please, Representative Dude and Senator Dudette, don’t make us wish it was two days every ninety years. Be civil. Be sensible. Don’t put your party or your own political ambitions above doing what’s right. The efficacy of your work won’t be judged by…
With Ryan Zinke expected to sail through Senate confirmation hearings to become Donald Trump’s Secretary of the Interior, Montana politicians are rapidly angling to replace him in the U.S. House. The very good Mike Dennison has a piece profiling six sitting legislators and how their Congressional aspirations might affect the 2017 session. For Republicans, Sen. Ed Buttrey, a…
As the 2017 legislature session kicks off tomorrow in Helena, the prospect of declining revenue and a leaner budget looms over everything. From the Helena IR: After leaving a $300 million rainy day fund at the end of the 2015 Legislature, the state was looking at a roughly $225 million hole if it didn’t make…