First up is the Going to the Sun Road, but first a little history…

In a July 2005 PRESS RELEASE, Montana Senator Max Baucus touted his work on the highway bill and at that time said it “…will help create and keep more than 18,000 good-paying jobs per year in the state.”

Included in that bill was a cool $50 million for the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park.

Then, in May 2006 we found out there was a problem with the language in the bill regarding the Going to the Sun Road. Basically, the language authorized the money, but did not appropriate the money. Appropriators basically write the checks from the House and Senate. If I remember correctly, Rep. Denny Rehberg and former Sen. Conrad Burns, both members of the Appropriations committee, rode in on their white horses to the rescue. This Missoulian ARTICLE from May 24, 2006, explains what happened.

Today on the net and tonight on the news, there’s a STORY about another problem concerning the construction on the Going to the Sun Road. This one hits Montanans really hard as the Feds have written the language so restrictive that Montana companies cannot compete for the job as prime contractors. They can only pick up slivers of the multi-million contract as subcontractors.

You would think that the Chairman of the “Powerful” Senate Finance Committee could do something. But, maybe he’s not powerful enough? His people did say the senator would work to make sure Montana’s contractors are “treated more fairly” in the future.

Meanwhile, hundreds of jobs for Montanans are lost over the next 10 years because of the “more powerful” Federal Highway Administration.

Second up is the need for campaign money….
Needing campaign money can lead to problems in the political gotcha game and that leads me to remember these lyrics by AC DC…

You hustle, you deal, you steal from us all…
Come on, Come on, love me for the money…
Come on, Come on, listen to the moneytalk…
Come on, Come on, love me for the money…
Come on, Come on, listen to the moneytalk…

Which also leads me to THIS STORY from The Hill…
Supposedly Sen. Max Baucus cancelled a fundraiser because the people holding it were lobbying him on legislation he is considering.
He might as well cancel all fundraisers because the holders of fundraisers want something.
But, it does not look like the Baucus folks had all their ducks in a row on it because they were supposedly still sending out invitations June 18, but a spokesman for the Senator said he cancelled it last week.
Someone needs to get their ducks in a row. Some races were lost in 2006 because the officeholder did not explain things very well.
Anyway, read THE STORY….