With Jake Out, Who's Minding the Store?

Slow day.

So slow, I visited the Montana Republican Party website.

http://staging.gop.com/MTGOP

By the looks of it, there’s not much going on with the Grand Old Party.

Under the Events Calendar,” the next event is Mineral County Lincoln Reagan Day Dinner, on May 1, 2009. Better get in line now for tickets - - - only 6 months away.

The last GOP News posts are July 21, 2008. The staff, you see, was busy cross-checking Big Brown’s change-of-delivery addresses with the voter registrations in Missoula, Hill and Glacier Counties and then conjuring up challenges to some 3,000 Montanans right to vote.

That didn't work out too well. Ask Jake Eaton.

Now, when a fine young lad who has served the R's so well resigns, you'd expect a "Thanks for the Memories, Jake" post, right? [You don't suppose 'dem buggers had a secret, surprise going-away dinner for him and didn't tell us, do you?] Family secrets.

A fellow named Larry Grinde replaced Jake. No "Welcome aboard, Larry," story.

Larry is not new to Montana politics. He served 14 years in the Legislature and, according to a recent AP story “helped run Mike Taylor's unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign in 2002 and Pat Davison's unsuccessful primary race for governor in 2004. Two years later, Grinde supervised the Montana Republican Party's get-out-the-the-vote operation."

Evidently, in 2006, the GOP actually wanted people to vote. Oh, that’s right, it only pestered Republicans to vote.

In 2008, it tried to obstruct the right of 3,000+ Montanans to vote.

So, what do they have in store for 2010? Larry has presided over "unsuccessful" political ventures in the past. Montanans can only hope his string of luck continues.


Speaking of Pat Davison, the man who would be (or, more correctly, could have been) governor, he’s doing time in a white-collar federal penitentiary in Oregon.

“A former Montana gubernatorial candidate and investment adviser was sentenced Friday to 10 years in federal prison for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme authorities say bilked investors out of $6.8 million.

Patrick Davison, 50, also was ordered to pay $5.6 million in restitution to victims including family members, friends and former colleagues. He pleaded guilty in November [2006]to two counts of securities fraud.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-13-865317168_x.htm


The judge threw the book at Pat all right. He was ordered to pay back $5.6 million of the $6.8 million he bilked. Question for Bill Mercer, the US attorney [with his own problems] who prosecuted the case: What about the other $1.2 million?

As the story says, Larry Grinde ran Davison’s campaign and may have taught Pat a thing or two about big-money penalties.

In an earlier career, you see, Larry was a rancher in central Montana, with a ranch just north and a tad bit to the east of Lewistown (Hilger, Montana, actually). After logging a portion of the estate (I’m sure he followed forestry practices what was later made famous by the "Healthy Forests" doctrine - - - "Don't worry. We're just thinning."), the Grinde family set a fire to piles of slash and walked away. Seems the fire got away, burned across the Grinde place and got onto BLM land and kept going, burning other private, as well as public, land until extinguished. The price tag for fighting the fire ran into the millions. Larry, of course, said it wasn’t his fault and the matter went to court. (And, here I thought Republicans were all about personal responsibility.)

So, Larry, did you pay us back in full? Or, did you, too, receive a deep discount?


But, I digress. Back to the GOP website.


No mention of John McCain and Sarah Palin anywhere, even under Candidates.


MT GOP Blog. Won't open.

Multimedia. Governor Huckabee was in Billings That was back in July or August, right? [As the header says, "Visit this page regularly . . ."]

Register to Vote. This is my favorite page. Now that the deadline to register to vote has passed, perhaps 3,000+ new wanna be Republicans can register to offset the 3,000+ voters whose right to vote was upheld in federal court.

Volunteer. For what? " . . . to be a part of the largest grassroots army Montana has ever seen." [Memo to Larry: There's this guy named Obama running for President and he has hundreds of organizers in . . . .]

Donate. To help burn down Schweitzer in something called Schweitzer Gate. Nice bit on candidate Grimes. The website promotes the fact that Duane holds a "theology" degree from Bob Jones University, whose founder once said, "God is the author of [racial] segregation . . . and, that if you are against it, "then you are against God Almighty." [4/17/60 radio address, Is Segregation Scriptural?]

A few more news clips. Larry, you're posting them in the wrong place! See GOP News above. Didn't Jake leave you the memo?

For those of you in the Garden City, don't miss Steve Dagiokos at the Pachyderm Club on November 7. Steve, in case you don't know, is a mostly no-show R candidate for the Legislature in the University area. Can't wait to hear from friends in Missoula what he has to say.

Photo Gallery. Lot's of white folks a dinin' and a carryin' on with good ol' Conrad.

Contact Us. 'nuff said.