Quote for the Day…

The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

Caught My Eye (CME) is the once-a-week column posted every Friday morning. This is when I look at some of the stories I did not have time to write about during the week.

Here are a few things that “Caught My Eye” this week:

• Cascade County Clerk & Recorder
• Montana Legislature
• Jeopardy & KRTV
• Nancy Pelosi

CASCADE COUNTY CLERK AND RECORDER:

There’s going to be a recount in the Cascade County Clerk and Recorder (Elections) race as the two candidates are only separated by 31 votes.

While that is exciting, what caught my eye is the following part reported by The Electric:

County Commissioner Joe Briggs attended the provisional vote count on Nov. 14 and said that he’s planning to propose an ordinance change to move county elections under the commission.
He said that an elected official shouldn’t be in control of ballot counts.

So, it looks like Briggs wants an elected official to oversee a person the elected County commissioners select to count ballots.

Alrighty then. So, if one party controls the commission, how would that be spun?

Isn’t the chief elections officer (Montana Secretary of State) in the state elected?

Although the person I voted for was not elected, I still trust the office to follow the rules, and if they don’t, the voters will get rid of them. They won’t be canned because they pissed off two of the three commissioners.

We’ve seen how great a job the county commissioners have done running the fair, so what could go wrong?

Check out the full story from The Electric HERE.

MONTANA LEGISLATURE:

I read this week that the Montana Legislature elected their new leadership for the upcoming session that starts on Jan. 2.

My first thought was, “Please don’t embarrass Montana.”

Lee Newspapers reported that this year will be the first time a party — Republicans in this case— hold a supermajority in the modern configuration of the Legislature. Republicans won 68 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 seats in the state Senate in the Nov. 8 election.

The Republicans can do basically what they want, but moderates and Democrats have an ace in the hole – the Montana Supreme Court will sort out the silly shit and make sure it’s constitutional. That’s a good thing.

Read the Lee Newspapers report to see who the leadership is, HERE.

As the new legislative session approaches, The Western Word will continue to provide commentary about the clowns who are to the left of me and the jokers who are to the right.

If you are a reporter covering this circus, be reporters, not supporters.

JEOPARDY & KRTV:

The highly watched Jeopardy Tournament of Champions is going on this week (and last week) and the three finalists must win three games to be the winner.

Spoiler Alert: two of the finalists have two wins going into tonight’s match (Friday).

I happened to notice this programming note from KRTV:

And before the game, watch our special Big Sky Showdown on Friday, November 18, at 6 pm, or on Saturday morning at 11 am right before the game.

Jeopardy airs at 6:00 pm. I don’t see another time Friday night when KRTV will air Jeopardy.

Let me just say this as this is a blog and I will be brutally honest: This is bullshit. No wonder you can’t get advertisers. I won’t be watching your little “Big Sky Showdown” show at 6:00, and I plan to start watching other local news. I am fed up.

I sincerely hope ABC or FOX picks up Jeopardy next season.

Note: After this post, KRTV issued the following statement about Jeopardy:

Game 5 of the “Jeopardy!” Tournament Of Champions will air on KRTV at 6 p.m. on Saturday, November 19, 2022, immediately followed by a new “Wheel Of Fortune” episode.

I still don’t agree with the decision to pre-empt Jeopardy. By the time the show airs on Saturday evening, everyone will know who won. I’m sure the Jeopardy TOC will garner more viewers than a Friday evening “Big Sky Showdown.” Shame on MTN.

NANCY PELOSI:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced that she was not going to run for a leadership position in the new Congress. That ends a remarkable run by Pelosi and opens the door for fresh leadership in the House for Democrats.

That is a good thing.

Pelosi will still be around as she was reelected, and this will give the new people a chance to pick her brain during the new congress.

Pelosi is the only woman to serve as Speaker. She has served as Speaker since 2019, and from 2007 to 2011.

CNN reports that House Democrats appear likely to choose New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to succeed Pelosi, though Democrats won’t vote until Nov. 30.

## HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ##