The Western Word’s (TWW) Commentary and Opinion on the current issues:

Come Home Bill…Jon says so…
Yesterday U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., called on Montana’s U.S. Attorney Bill Mercer to resign saying Mercer was “operating outside federal law” when he was tapped for the number three position as the Associate Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice.
Since the U.S. Senate has never gotten off their duffs and held a hearing or vote about his nomination as an Associate Attorney General, Mercer is in limbo, holding two positions – one in Montana and one in Washington, D.C. It looks like Mercer may never get the chance to be confirmed as Associate Attorney General.
Ironically, the law that Mercer was supposedly violating was changed by Congress in 2006. One newspaper said Mercer worked to alter the law. I imagine he did, as many officials in Government meet with members of the House and Senate when they feel that a law needs changing. It appears the House and the Senate felt that way too, as they approved the change in 2006.
But TWW contends that it is Attorney General Gonzales made a mistake by assuring a federal judge in Montana that Mercer was in compliance with federal law. That was way back in 2005 before the law was changed. Will this be the straw that breaks Gonzales’ back? TWW doubts it as Bush is entrenched in a battle with the democrats and his stubbornness will not let him make the change.
Bill Mercer should not resign. Either give Mercer a confirmation hearing or send him back to Montana to do his U.S. Attorney duties.

A small fine for a big win…
I guess the Federal Election Commission (FEC) fined the Montana State Democratic Central Committee $15,000 for not fully disclosing money it spent on a 2005 attack ad against former Republican Sen. Conrad Burns.
The Montana Democrats paid more than $106,000 in advertising between August and November 2005 for a television advertisement trying to tie Burns to lobbyist Jack Abramoff. They did.
Why not fine them $106,000 to send a real clear message?
As readers may remember the Democrats started running ads attacking Burns 12-15 months before the November 2006 election. It was unprecedented but it worked and it only cost $15,000. A small price to pay for having your man win the seat.
By the way, TWW has not read anything about Burns being indicted or charged with any crimes since the ads first run in lates 2005.
TWW wonders what effect this fine would have had if the FEC would have gotten on the ball and made a decision about this complaint in October or early November 2006. It’s really too bad the FEC cannot make decisions on these complaints more quickly. By not acting quickly, just about anything goes in a political campaign.