The Montana Democratic Party is saying Congressman Denny Rehberg violated Montana law when he held town hall meetings via telephone a few days ago.

Wrong. It was part of his official duties and not within the time frame of an election. I received the phone call and thought nothing about it, except that Rehberg was reaching out to his constituents, like we expect most elected officials to do in the performance of their duties.

News Channel 5 in Great Falls reported:

A spokesman for Rehberg’s office told News Channel 5 that the calls were not in violation of Montana law and were part of Rehberg’s official duties, not his re-election campaign. The office says the calls were Congressional calls, approved by the House Franking Committee.

The Montana Democrats could have looked it up on the House.Gov website:

A mass communication is an unsolicited communication initiated by a Member and distributed to 500 or more constituents, the content of which is substantially identical, and regardless of means of distribution, such as (radio advertisement, telephone town hall meeting, newspaper advertisement)

As I wrote back in March 2008:

These frivolous complaints seem to be the method of operation for the Montana Democrats and their supporters. They don’t seem to win many.

It’s too bad the Montana Democrats did not jump on Jon Tester and John Morrison when they made illegal pre-recorded phone calls back in 2005 to raise money for their campaigns. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported:

Both candidates admitted Thursday they were using message systems. And both said they were doing so because they believe the law banning them is unconstitutional.

Nothing was ever done about this actual violation of the law by the Montana Attorney General’s office. Of course, that office is controlled by the Democrats.

This is just another swing and a miss from Chairman McDonald and his folks. Just like we have seen from them in the past.