While the temperatures in Montana are very mild, the temperature in Montana politics climbed today as the Montana Democratic Party (MDP) sent out an e-mail to their subscribers (I subscribe) attacking GOP Representative Denny Rehberg saying:

While the rest of us were celebrating Independence Day, Denny decided it was a good time to sue Montana firefighters. That’s right, firefighters.

Not to be outdone, Rehberg sent his subscribers (I subscribe) a couple e-mails explaining the reason why Rehberg Ranch LLC had filed a civil complaint against the City of Billings and Billings Fire Department. The first came from his attorney saying:

Contrary to the unfounded allegations circulating in the political spectrum, the claim focuses on the administrative and management decisions and actions which led to the withdrawal of firefighters from an existing fire scene during high temperature and high wind conditions.

Then Rehberg himself followed up with a statement of his own saying:

It’s unfortunate that some folks are mischaracterizing this situation for political gain. The appreciation I expressed to the front-line firefighters back in 2008 is the same appreciation I feel today. Jan and I have the deepest respect for firefighters and the dangerous work they do here in Billings. We continue to be very thankful for their bravery and skill.

At least one can say those running the MDP are opportunists. I’ve watched them in the past throw so much crap against the wall that some of it had to stick. On the other hand, I’ve also seen them embarrassed by making some false accusations, too. To hatch their plan, all the MDP has to do is get some of the inept and supportive members of the Montana media to buy off on their crap and soon they have a story puttering around the state getting noticed.

It’s politics as normal and it’s darn fun to observe and comment about.

So it was not too surprising that only a day or two after a story came out about Rehberg Ranch LLC filing a civil complaint against the City of Billings and the Billings Fire Department that the MDP hit the web with accusations. I imagine a web video is next in line and some robocalls. Then the MDP will top it all off with some fancy campaign mailers with a funny photo of Rehberg. All that will be possible if the Democratic National Committee believes McDonald can win and uses some money for the fight in Montana. Right now they don’t and they are correct.

It appears all that Rehberg Ranch LLC wanted was a report from the City of Billings about the July 2008 fire, but the city failed to provide it. Therefore, Rehberg Ranch LLC went to court to get the information as they were facing a 2 year statute of limitation for property damage in Montana.

I guess the Democrats think it is OK to sue Arizona over their immigration law, but it’s not OK to file a civil complaint to get information from a city.

In the MDP e-mail today, the Executive Director tried to use the same talking points they felt worked against Conrad Burns in 2006 saying he was against firefighters. While making stupid remarks probably had some impact on the Burns/Tester race, another conservative third party candidate taking over 10,000 votes probably had more to do with the loss by Burns than him passing on some angry comments from farmers and ranchers to a few firefighters. Today, I imagine many of the Tester voters would like a do-over and that’s why he’s campaigning now – over two years out from Election Day.

Of course, Dennis McDonald received the MDP talking points and inserted Burns name in his comments for this story.

I don’t think the same spin of 2006 used against Burns will work against Rehberg today. OK, maybe Rehberg will only beat Dennis McDonald by 25 points now, instead of 30. Montanans can’t take having the third member of our federal delegation dodging constituents like Senator Tester and Senator Max Baucus do on a regular basis.

As the temperatures rise in Montana, we’ll probably see more crap thrown against the Rehberg “wall” to see if any of it sticks. But McDonald and the MDP should watch out. Unlike most in his party, Rehberg knows how to fight back.

That’s politics in the 21st Century and we might as well get some popcorn and enjoy it.