Here at The Western Word, we champion the underdog.  We like to take up the cause for the people who are crapped on by those so-called “powerful” people in authority.

As you know by reading my commentary over the past five years, in the world of politics, just about anything goes.  We’ve seen it here in Montana over the last few elections and it appears nasty politics is here to stay – and that’s what turns a lot of people off these days.  Sadly, there’s not a lot of referees in the political game and sometimes the calls are made after the election is long over and decided for those who cheated to win – much too late.

So this week it was not hard for The Western Word to write about this issue that hit the newspapers:

The latest shenanigans in Montana politics is the charges filed against Congressman Denny Rehberg’s State Director, Randy Vogel, for illegally killing an elk.  Vogel claims his innocence and I believe him.

The incident supposedly happened in November 2009.  He received a ticket on March 3, 2010 – not exactly a speedy investigation.  He was appointed Rehberg’s state director on March 1, 2010.  Ironic.

Another “funny” thing was Rehberg’s possible opponent in the general election, Dennis McDonald, was caught on audio tape talking about the incident – before it became public according to Vogel, who was quoted in this story.

Another interesting twist is that McDonald was the head of the Montana Democratic Party before he decided to set sail on the Titanic and run against Rehberg.  His director at that time with the Montana Democratic Party was Art Noonan, who is now a deputy director of the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks – the agency who investigated the alleged incident – according to this story by the Associated Press.

This is not the first time that McDonald has tried to get to Rehberg through Vogel.  Readers may remember when the Montana Democratic Party fired off a press release about Vogel when he was working as Rehberg’s state director a few years ago.  Vogel had received a federal grand jury subpoena over an IRS issue one of Rehberg’s constituents was involved in.  It was much about nothing and McDonald was left with another strike-out.

The latest “get Denny” attempt by the Montana Democrats shows how sick and twisted politics has become.  So yes, this attempt does smell and when Vogel is cleared of this latest attempt to “get Denny” as I believe he will be, Dennis McDonald should just go away – maybe back to San Francisco.