Welcome to Friday the 13th and another (almost) award-winning edition of “Caught My Eye!”

If you are a first-time visitor, “Caught My Eye” is posted right here every Friday morning! This is when I take a quick look at some of the stories I did not have time to write about during the week. I often throw in a touch of sarcasm to make you smile – or to irritate you just a little – or both.

Today I write about the Montana Senate poll, Saturday’s House/Senate debate in Butte, Cascade County & Lisa Bracco, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the VA scandal, Big Sky Sampler, plus we have a winner who is Making Montana Proud!

The MT Senate Poll:

Rasmussen was out with a new poll yesterday and if you don’t follow me on Twitter, you probably didn’t hear about until much later.

Representative Steve Daines leads Senator John Walsh 53% to 35%. There are 3% who like someone else and 9% are undecided. The poll was conducted June 9/10 with 750 Likely Voters.

The 18 point lead is larger than the last Rasmussen poll on this race in March, which showed Daines leading Walsh by 14 points.

I’ve probably used “It’s not the end of the world, but you can see it from here” before to get a point across, but this poll is bad news for Team Walsh. The good news for Walsh supporters is that it is a long time until we vote and there are debates and more commercials and, of course, a few haymakers to throw.

Team Walsh can look back and see that in May 2005 Mason-Dixon polling had Sen. Conrad Burns up by 24 on Jon Tester and Burns lost by 0.87% (3,562 votes) in November 2006. Walsh has a lot less time than Tester did to make this 2014 senate race competitive.

Walsh can always hope that Daines takes his eyes off the prize and starts looking toward what is probably another goal of his – being Montana Governor. Daines appears to be that type of person.

First Debates:

U.S. Senate and U.S. House candidates will be debating Saturday in Butte – all of the candidates – Libertarians included.

The campaign manager for Republican Steve Daines does not want Libertarian Roger Roots to participate. Brock Lowrance said Roots has made racist and offensive comments in the past telling Lee Newspapers, “There is no room for racism in civil dialogue, and it does not reflect who we are as Montanans.”

I like Lowrance – he’s one of the good guys and smart, but Republicans believe they have been harmed in the past two senate elections when Libertarians took a chunk of votes from Conrad Burns and Denny Rehberg, who both lost. That’s probably more of a reason for the Daines team to object to a Libertarian getting some of the spotlight than what he wrote 20 years ago – plus it’s a great reason for Team Walsh to want him there.

It is really up to the debate sponsor to decide who to invite – and the candidates to decide if they want to participate. I hope that Daines does not use Roger Roots as a way to dodge debates in the future and try to kill the clock since he is ahead in the polls.

A reminder to the candidates – Great Falls is home to Montana’s only active duty military base and the Montana Air National Guard, plus we are in the “Golden Triangle” where the greatest wheat in the world is grown. What about having a debate here? I promise I will attend!

Cascade County/Bracco Case:

The Great Falls Tribune reported Thursday “Cascade County commissioners voted 3-0 to OK a settlement with former Montana ExpoPark manager Lisa Bracco in which the county will withdraw its termination of her employment and allow her to resign. In return, Bracco will drop a wrongful termination lawsuit against the county.”

In my opinion and from what I read later in the day from a report posted on KRTV’s website, the Commissioners accused Bracco of several things from accepting gratuities to misusing funds.

Apparently the commissioners and their free county legal counsel must have felt it was a pretty weak case since they agreed to the settlement. Bracco called their bluff, and her attorney addressed each charge point by point and the commissioner’s house of cards came tumbling down.

Bracco’s action after the termination could also serve as a blueprint for other county employees who are terminated on a whim.

It looks like the Cascade County commissioners (and their legal counsel) were in way over their heads. They were probably wishing this would just go away. In fact, Commission Chairman Bill Salina told the Great Falls Tribune, “The county is very glad that this is behind us.”

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl:

The good news is that Bergdahl is now back in the United States to continue his recovery. He arrived at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio last night. Welcome home Bowe!

The bad news is that many on the right are still making accusations without any facts – some of it is fueled by right-wing radio. Most of it is because of politics. This has not been our best showing as Americans. Like I said before, “The circumstances surrounding his capture and his release deserve to be investigated.” We should wait for all the facts to come out before calling him a deserter or coward or anything.

The House Armed Services Committee held a hearing this week with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel testifying. It got testy at times, and when Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) had his turn in the spotlight one report said, “Chuck Hagel Bitchslaps Republican Congressman During Bergdahl Hearing.”

That’s exactly what it was. Miller, who never served in the military, deserved it. You can watch it HERE.

VA Scandal:

Gallup polling found that sixty-nine percent of Americans say they are following the Veterans Administration scandal “very” or “somewhat closely.” (Source)

As for solutions, 16% said provide better care in more timely manner and 11% said to fire all employees of VA, clean house, have better accountability.

I don’t think torture was one of the choices…

It’s actually good to see that so many people actually know about the scandal.

Making Montana Proud:

This section is where I mention people or groups whose actions embarrass Montana in some way.

-From the Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Sara Ann Bade, 24, is accused of hitting her boyfriend with a shotgun and then firing into his vehicle’s front tire when he attempted to get away.

The boyfriend told a deputy the two were sleeping and then Bade started kicking him and telling him he was talking bad about her in his sleep. He was not seriously injured.

I can only imagine what he talked about in his sleep the next night…

Big Sky Sampler:

Thanks to the folks at the Great Falls Tribune for running another “Big Sky Sampler” today! The Big Sky Sampler showcases a few blogs (GreaterFalls and The Western Word had part of their recent columns mentioned today) and other articles/opinions from around Montana on their opinion page.

One More Thing:

Don’t Forget to Stretch…

 

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