Thursday Thoughts

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Greetings! Here are the topics for today’s independent commentary:

  • Montana Candidates
  • Emerson College Poll
  • Down Goes Jordan (Again)
  • Football Roundup

MONTANA CANDIDATES:

I saw that John Morrison, an attorney from Helena and former state auditor, announced this week that he is running for Supreme Court chief justice. Morrison told MTN News,“Our courts have been under attack, and I want to make sure that our courts remain fair and impartial and open for all Montanans. I think I can do that as chief justice.” (Source)

Although the seat is non-partisan, Morrison ran as a Democrat for state auditor. This was a big announcement for the left-leaning crowd. Visit his website HERE.

I also saw that former Montana Secretary of State and Public Service Commission chair Brad Johnson announced that he’s running on the Republican ticket for the U.S. Senate. Tim Sheehy is also running on the Republican ticket against Democratic incumbent U.S. Senator Jon Tester. (Source)

I imagine Johnson’s announcement pissed off Steve Daines, who recruited Sheehy. Daines is head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and had probably hoped there would not be a contested primary for Sheehy. People are still wondering if Matt Rosendale is running for Senate.

The deal with Johnson is he may have run for a lot of offices, but he has won a statewide race. He knows how to campaign, so Sheehy better take him seriously.

EMERSON COLLEGE POLL:

One other thing that caught my attention from this poll that featured Jon Tester and Tim Sheehy was that Montana Governor Greg Gianforte holds a 37% job approval among Montana residents, while 26% disapprove of the job he is doing. Thirty-seven percent are neutral toward the governor.

Nationally, President Joe Biden has an approval rating of around 40%. (Source)

So, I think there is a decent chance that someone could be very competitive against Gianforte and defeat him.

DOWN GOES JORDAN (AGAIN):

The Washington Post reported that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) failed to reach a majority on the House floor Wednesday, drawing one less vote for speaker than on the first ballot Tuesday. He told reporters late Wednesday afternoon that there would be no further votes Wednesday, but he plans to remain in the race for a third ballot Thursday.

To be quite honest, I did not care for Kevin McCarthy or Steve Scalise, but they would make a better Speaker of the House than Jordan, who is pretty much as big an asshole as one can be in Washington, D.C. So, any embarrassment that Jordan receives is fine with me.

FOOTBALL ROUNDUP:

Last week, I went 8-2 in the college pigskin pick contest and 10-5 in the NFL contest.

This week my Missouri Tigers take on South Carolina. The Montana State Bobcats are at Sacramento State and the Montana Grizzlies have a bye week. The Bobcats are in first place in the Big Sky Conference with a 3-0 record. Several teams, including the Griz, are right behind them with only one conference loss. (Source)

There are a few major college football games that have my attention this week. Penn State plays at Ohio State, and Tennessee plays at Alabama are two games that I will be watching.

There are no undefeated teams in the NFL. My Kansas City Chiefs are tied for the best record in the NFL, and they haven’t really played their best game yet. This week the Chiefs have a division game against the Chargers in KC. The Chargers have been very competitive against the Chiefs in recent years. I am looking forward to the Sunday Night Football game between Miami and Philadelphia.

I saw an article that announced flag football would be played in the 2028 Olympics, which will be held in Los Angeles. I wonder if they will have parents screaming at the officials from the sidelines to make it realistic…

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8 thoughts on “Thursday Thoughts”

  1. Nothing to do with today’s subjects but here is my exclusive report anyhow, on last night’s city commissioner forum hosted by Great Falls Rising.

    General notes:

    Incumbent candidate Rick Tryon did not deign to grace this liberal-sponsored event with his presence. Current commissioner McKenney showed up as audience and I believe Wolff also. Total non-participant/non-sponsor audience was ~35 or 36 by the end. Event was well run.

    All candidates but Cox plan to vote yes on safety levy. All candidates support TIF districts to spur growth or redevelopment. Most or all candidates favor the City expanding infrastructure out to new areas to support new development. (New areas which would all presumably be outside the 4 minute radius of existing fire stations thus requiring even more firemen and fire stations at current taxpayer expense. Not to mention the taxpayer cost of the infrastructure.)

    Other candidate highlights (my personal takeaways):

    Eric Hinebauch – Insurance salesman and incumbent commissioner.
    Proponent of word salad answers. City has no real role in affordable childcare, mental health and substance abuse issues, or commitment to ensuring people are sheltered/housed. But should advocate for the State to do more. Differing viewpoints are important on City boards even if the appointee is hostile to the institution the board oversees, but on the other hand there is no place for consideration of diversity in appointments to boards or in City hiring.

    Kendall Cox – Developer. Vietnam vet. Conservative. Christian. Socially traditional ideas.
    City should incentivize development by eliminating burdens on developers such as making them pay for storm water and wastewater infrastructure at their developments. (Presumably existing taxpayers should foot these bills.) City is hard to deal with for developers. The solution to childcare is increasing pay so one parent can stay at home. Unclear answer about the role of the City in dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues, but something about personal deficiencies. Answers to some other questions were REALLY unclear. The cost of land/lots is a barrier to affordable housing. Same sex marriage is unnatural.

    Micaela Stroop – Works in public service sector. Mom.
    City needs some late evening child care options for working parents in the service sector; maybe the City could make some building space available at low cost. The City does have a role in dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues especially since our police are overburdened in dealing with it. Maybe add some mental health and/or substance abuse positions to aid the police dept.

    Shannon Wilson – Former Army and engineer, government geek, current chair of city Park and Rec board, board member neighborhood council 9.
    The City should streamline the process to get small businesses started; too many hoops to jump through. The State controls the purse strings for mental health and substance abuse treatment. City needs more affordable housing options and should give even more support to the organizations working to supply it. Supports variety of opinions on City boards but not sure if appointing people with really hostile views to the institution is a good idea – would it lead to the Commission regularly overriding board decisions. Feels City should have a commitment to making sure everyone is housed/sheltered.

      • Larry

        The impression I got was that commissioner Hinebauch was definitely on the conservative side, way more so than I had originally gathered from the last election. I don’t think I would characterize him as a hardcore wingnut like Tryon though. A more traditional Republican. But a couple of his answers really turned me off.

        Cox says he is conservative but a member of no party, more of a libertarian. His ideas are pretty far right though and many seem rooted in a very strict and unforgiving type of Christianity, the kind where the hellfire and damnation of the Old Testament far outweighs Jesus’ actual message in the New. Some of his answers really turned me off too.

        Wilson and Stroup definitely leaned more liberal, especially as regards treating homeless and people with drug issues like human beings and engaging realistically with climate change. But they didn’t come off as the radical “defund the police” type of liberal. Both were pretty centrist about most things and strongly supported law enforcement. Unfortunately they may be be a bit too little c christian, in the sense of what Jesus actually taught about treating our fellow human beings, for modern MAGA Great Falls.

        If you feel like judging them for yourselves there is another live candidate forum next Thursday at the library 6:00 pm, courtesy of The Electric’s Jenn Powell and others.

        The Electric’s city candidate forum is Oct. 26

  2. Ready set go. National elections coming up and democrats begin to scare old folks. If nothing is done with social security there will be automatic cuts to benefits in 2032 or 33 of a reported 25%. Medicare fixes might be easily passed. Just raise the cap on earnings to fill the future hold in funding.

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