The Western Word (TWW) waited for more facts to come out about the subpoena issued to the office of Congressman Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., before commenting. TWW is an old dog and realizes there’s usually more to a story than is initially reported.

So, I waited and did some research. I checked the congressional record and found the letter from Rehberg’s state director to Speaker Pelosi. It was dated in March. I checked the Montana Democratic Party’s website for the press release. I could not find it so TWW cannot tell what it said. Maybe someone can e-mail it to me at my e-mail address listed above. I read press accounts from many newspapers in the state and also watched it on video from Montana’s News Station.

So, this is what TWW pieced together…
The bottom line as TWW understands the deal with the subpoena is that sometimes when a citizen contacts their elected officials for assistance with the Government, this is their last hope. If the citizen cannot get help from their elected official, sometimes the courts are the next step. It appears the government in this case was pursuing court action against Rehberg’s constituent and wanted information. TWW commends Rehberg for not easily providing the information and making them use the power of the subpoena to get it. Nobody would like it if their personal letters or e-mails to Rehberg, Sen. Max Baucus or Sen. Jon Tester were easily obtained and made public.

The Montana Democratic Party seemed to want to “pounce” on the issue and probably fired off their press release to the Montana media, who in turn contacted Rehberg for a response. Pouncing happens a lot in politics from all sides sometimes making a mountain out of a molehill.

It is a method of operation for the Montana Democratic Party, but they are not alone. It worked for the democrats against former Sen. Burns, so why not start attacking Rep. Rehberg 18 months before the election to “soften him up” a little and put him on the defensive. Almost everything is fair in love, war and politics…until you get caught.

So now that this boat has left the dock what should happen…
Well, the chairman of the Montana Democrat Party won’t step down. TWW does not feel that he should. The releases from Rehberg and the Montana GOP calling for the Chairman of the Montana Democrats to step down were attention getters to get their point across and turn a negative into a positive – kind of a counter attack.

So, what should the Chairman do? In TWW’s humble opinion, he should publicly apologize to Rehberg’s state director and to Rehberg. Send it out via a press release. Will he? Nope. Hell has not frozen over yet. All is fair in politics…

The Montana Democrats were just fined $15,000 for a violation by the Federal Election Commission. They probably can’t afford too many more errors in judgment. They had the momentum coming out of the Montana legislature but these two errors (the fine and the subpoena issue) have hurt them.

And finally…
Politics can be a lot of fun. Stay tuned for more fun in the next 18 months. It should be a barn burner!