There were a lot of things that caught my eye this week. Here we go:
- Public Safety Town Hall
- Voting in Cascade County
- Debt Ceiling Vote
- Down Goes Biden
- One More Thing
PUBLIC SAFETY TOWN HALL:
Get ready for the selling and politicking to start, Great Falls!
The City of Great Falls announced that in anticipation of the upcoming Public Safety Levy, the City of Great Falls invites the community to get their questions answered at a Public Safety Town Hall meeting on June 14 at 6 p.m. in the Mansfield Theater. This city-wide event will be the first of two town halls and is free and open to the public. (Source)
Since the city commission voted to use up to $150,000 in taxpayer funds to promote the levy, it better be free. Heck, they could even supply some drinks, snacks, and trinkets to those attending. I think if they have an extra $150k to use for this, they don’t need to increase my taxes. Some folks say using our taxpayer money to campaign for this might even be illegal.
Those bitching about the Library Levy should be more concerned about this safety levy. While the library levy will cost residents about $20 annually on a $100k home, the people promoting the safety levy said, “Hold my beer!” The safety levy increase would be about $140 annually on a $100k home.
Officials will spin the need for more money a lot this summer, so watch out. Every crime will be highlighted and sensationalized to try and show they need more money. Don’t be fooled. Pay particular attention to the commissioners trying to sell it.
I will be voting NO on the Great Falls Public Safety Levy.
VOTING IN CASCADE COUNTY:
I did not attend, nor did I check in on Zoom, but according to reporting from The Electric, State District Court Judge Brenda Gilbert called a hearing on June 1 in the library board’s lawsuit against Sandra Merchant, Cascade County clerk and recorder, over their upcoming levy election.
As far as I can tell, there was an objection from the Merchant’s attorney and that was shot down by the judge. The objection was a nothingburger about an email sent from the library board’s attorneys to the court-appointed election monitor.
After reading several accounts, I thought if only Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant would do a decent job this would not even be an issue. Her poor performance so far is costing the county valuable dollars and causing the voters to not have faith in her leadership and the process.
Also, Merchant conducted a test of the vote counting machines yesterday. Depending on who you ask, some say it was a mess.
For more information, check out a report from The Electric HERE. KRTV has a report HERE. The Election Protection Committee has a report up on their Facebook page HERE.
DEBT CEILING VOTE:
The U.S. Senate passed the debt ceiling bill (Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023) by a vote of 63-36. As I expected, U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) voted for the bill and U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) voted against the bill. (Source)
Daines joins Montana’s two Republican members of the U.S. House, Matt Rosendale and Ryan Zinke who also voted against the bill, in trying to wreck the U.S. and global economy and defaulting on our debt. They voted against what Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy called, “the biggest cut in savings this Congress has ever voted for.” (Source)
The three stooges (Daines, Rosendale, and Zinke) were out and about spinning the reason for their votes. The bottom line is that if a Republican was in the White House, they would have voted for it. They always put their political party before our country. We need leaders who will do the right thing even if it goes against their political party.
Shame on Daines, Rosendale and Zinke.
DOWN GOES BIDEN:
Currently, President Joe Biden leads me in falling down 3-2 this year. You probably heard (and saw) that the President fell on stage during the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation yesterday. He supposedly tripped over a sandbag.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis “used the opportunity to take a political shot at Biden” saying, “We hope and wish Joe Biden a swift recovery from any injuries he may have sustained,” he said, “but we also wish the United States of America a swift recovery from the injuries it has sustained because of Joe Biden and his policies.”
What an ass. Even former President Donald Trump was nicer when he heard about it.
What ever happened to people just being nice when something like this happens?
You can check out the AP story HERE.
ONE MORE THING:
School’s out for summer….
Today is the last day of school for Great Falls Public Schools and other schools are already done or soon will be for the summer.
That means little critters will be out and about throughout the day, so please be alert while driving.
The Western Word 
Using public (nonpolitical) money to advocate for a policy position on a ballot should be illegal. We want free and fair elections. Not slanted by the government elections.
I agree! Thanks, JmB
Would be nice if the GF public safety levy advocates could tell us exactly what results we might expect to see for our money if the vote is yes, aside from “80% increase to City general fund” and “a bigger more bloated public payroll”.
How many fewer homicides and drug overdoses would there be? How many fewer people blowing through red lights with impunity on 10th Ave S? In terms commissioner Tryon can relate to, how many fewer garages broken into? How much less stolen property? How many fewer assaults? How many more backlogged case reports handled? Etc. And for the extra firefighters, how much would our homeowner insurance decrease?
And where are the written benchmarks to measure all this by, and hold people accountable down the line? Of course, targets like those would really be most useful if it was easy to find existing baseline numbers. The police department prepares an annual report but you the public can’t find it there on the GFPD website. You have to call the PIO and ask. As for a daily or weekly crime blotter, forget it.
So it’s simply “Take our word for it, it’s bad out there, give us this big gob of money and that will fix it”. That’s how all the big companies justify and approve huge monster budget increases for a department, isn’t it.
With that much money, they could certainly nail a few more cell phone violators!
Here’s something that caught my eye. Why? Just why? Do we really need another monster flag in Great Falls? Do folks really need to be endlessly reminded of what country they live in by being overwhelmed with flags? I’m as patriotic as the next guy, but junking up natural wonders with a monster flag is totally inappropriate. Whose brilliant idea was this? And who’s paying for it? We’re Great Falls, Mt., not great big flags, mt.
The guys who built the dams purposely set them back above the falls so we could enjoy them. And they purposely didn’t junk them up with flags that serve no purpose but to distract from the natural beauty of the falls. Guess they understood what country we live in. This was a really stupid idea. Have a look.
https://scontent-den4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/350843635_550367497258419_4651254169950207724_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_s160x160&_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=0d5531&_nc_ohc=VU1g6OHDXvYAX80nl80&_nc_ht=scontent-den4-1.xx&oh=00_AfAAesw80QJ9IL-wqFCHqIa_v8P6TE5if_zN1NCCxNzHNA&oe=647F6883
The American flag has become simply decoration now, Larry. And another money making opportunity for the people who put them up.
Remember when we were kids it was enough to have an American flag on one side of the stage and a Montana flag on the other, just hanging limp like flags will do when left to their own devices indoors?
But now politicians like Trump gotta have 40 flags on stage all spread out wide with wires to make a big stars and stripes background for the cameras, with maybe a stray on the side of the stage for Trump to grab and dry hump on his way to the microphone.
It’s like some people believe if you wave the flag hard enough somehow everything will be better.
But it’s the same flag and the same country that perfectly well off when we were kids and a single flag on the side of the stage was good enough.