Congratulations! You’ve made it through another week, not to mention St. Patrick’s Day and the start of March Madness. That aftertaste of green beer and corned beef will go away by late afternoon…so sit back and relax and enjoy another edition of Caught My Eye.

For the new visitors, Caught My Eye is where I take a look at some of the news that I did not have time to write about during the week – and sometimes I add a little sarcasm…

This week I take a look at the City of Great Falls and SME, Bullock, my political inbox, a caucus, a birthday invite, and lots more!

City of Great Falls:

The City of Great Falls filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking the return of a $792,411 security deposit from Southern Montana Electric Generation & Transmission Cooperative.

This is a freaking mess…just think how many more roads they could have plowed with that security deposit…

I just hope the city did not break anything…because it could hinder them getting back their security deposit…

Dot the I:

Current Montana Attorney General and probable governor candidate Steve Bullock supposedly failed to list which office he was raising funds for on his campaign finance forms filed with the state. He told the Associated Press that “he worked closely with the commissioner’s office in filling out his forms.”

Seriously? Is that all you’ve got to say, Bullock?

The Political Inbox:

Each week I take a look at some of the political e-mails I received from officeholders, candidates, political parties, and groups .  I share some of them with my readers and poke some fun at them, too –

The Montana GOP sent me one of their “GOP E-Brief” emails on St. Patrick’s Day saying “It’s a great time to be conservative in America and Montana! We’re holding Democrat officials accountable, we’re winning the campaign to defeat ObamaCare, and Republicans are fired up and ready to keep working.”

The Montana GOP has been ahead of the counterparts this year in using technology to get the word out…they just need to show little lightheartedness in some of their e-mails. Maybe by reading this blog they can use some of my material…or they could hire me for my levity…

The Rick Hill for Governor campaign sent an e-mail with the subject “A fresh new look” saying “When I last ran for public office over ten years ago, the Internet was still fairly new, and the social media revolution was in its infancy. But I’m excited to get to try new things with this campaign, and I’ve made it my goal to be on the cutting edge of technology this election cycle.”

They have these things called blogs, too…and the pony express has given way to FedEx…

The Montana Democratic Party sent an e-mail with the subject “Rehberg Plots to Deny Care for Asbestos Victims” in which they stated, “In case you missed it, Libby asbestos victims are speaking out against millionaire Congressman Dennis Rehberg’s attempt to defund their health coverage.”

Next week, the Montana Democrats will probably tell us that Rehberg shut the door on a little old lady who was trying to ask him about minimum wage…

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sent me an e-mail telling me “It’s a runoff election! Here’s your final chance to vote in the DSCC’s slogan contest.” The final two slogans are “GOP: Not My Cup of Tea” and “No Tea For Me, Thanks. I Prefer Progress.”

My favorite slogan…”If you can read this, thank a Teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a Veteran!”

Happy Birthday:

According to this story, “An Australian schoolgirl had to cancel her 16th birthday party after her Facebook invitation went viral and close to 200,000 people said they would turn up at her house, reports said Tuesday.”

New Site?

A new website called “The montana-capitol-reporters Daily” is up (their punctuation, not mine)

–I guess there really are some reporters covering the Montana Legislative session…

Sportsmen’s Caucus:

Senator Jon Tester is having a meeting of the Sports “men” in Great Falls on Saturday at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. The Interpretive Center is where Lewis and Clark stayed when they passed through Great Falls a few years ago, but that’s not important right now…

Maybe the Caucus “men” will talk about the mounting debt and out-of-control spending and having worthless meetings for publicity…

Twitter:

Since I don’t have a newspaper or television station to promote my website or to encourage people to follow me on Twitter, I use this spot to shamelessly plug them. Follow me on Twitter @TheWesternWord and bookmark this website! Thank you!

Ask Jack:

Readers can e-mail me their questions via the e-mail address on the upper right side of the screen or through Twitter. Be nice…

Favorite E-mail of the Week:

My mom e-mailed me the other day and said that my sister was pregnant. Mom wrote, “As soon as the baby is born, I’ll let you know if you are an aunt or an uncle…”

Mall Rat:

I used to be a gym rat, but now I am a mall rat (walker) while the weather is a little cool. Before I hit the mall or the trails, I remember one thing:

Don’t forget to stretch…