The Wednesday Read

Posted on by

Hello! Here are the topics for today’s commentary:

  • Raising Legislator Salaries
  • MetraPark – Detention Camp (Update)
  • New Media
  • One More Thing

RAISING LEGISLATOR SALARIES:

The Daily Montanan reports that legislators in Montana’s House of Representatives passed a bill that would implement the state’s 2026-2027 employee pay plan, authorizing raises for the state workforce, increasing health insurance payments, adjusting per diem travel rates and raising legislator salaries. 

I am against the legislators getting a pay raise. I suspect that if Montanans voted on it, it would lose overwhelmingly.  

Some legislators believe they are worth a pay raise. For example, the Daily Montanan reported:

Rep. Sherry Essmann, R-Billings, who spent a career in finance, said that she had worked for every single raise she’d earned in her career, and believes this one is justified. 

“We bring a ton of expertise and experience to this body,” Essmann said. “I don’t know anyone who would take a responsible job in the private industry … for $33,000 a year.”

I think Essmann is full of it. It’s called serving your state. Public service. Legislators should do it for that reason and not for the pay. 

If this bill makes it to the Governor, I hope he vetoes it as he correctly did last time.   

METRAPARK – DETENTION CAMP (UPDATE):

On Friday I wrote about an MTN News report that said Yellowstone County commissioners (Billings) were offering the use of MetraPark to detain illegal immigrants caught in the region. 

The Daily Montanan has published a story about many in the community being outraged at the Commissioners for offering the facility. People spoke for more than an hour and only one person supported the idea. 

Check out the article HERE. Lee Newspapers covered the issue HERE. 

I have said before that I don’t have a problem picking up and deporting people who are here illegally. The Commissioners should have thought about this offer before sending the letter.

NEW MEDIA:

It’s great that the White House is going to allow “new media” in the White House briefing room. The Montana Legislature should take note of this change!  

The Hill is reporting:

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the move during her first briefing on Tuesday, saying President Trump is ready to retool the administration around “the new media landscape.” “We welcome independent journalists, podcasters, and social media influencers,” she said. “As long as you are creating news content of the day and are a legitimate independent journalist you are welcome to cover this White House,” she added.

As for the Montana Legislature, the media registration form for the State Senate states, “Credentials may not be issued to individuals for the purpose of writing an online blog.” (Source) 

The form for the state House says the same thing. (Source)

The Montana Legislature has always been a decade behind. I doubt it changes anytime soon. 

ONE MORE THING:

It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant. Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to the fear. Hold on to the truth and to hope. -Jim Acosta (Final address on CNN)

## END ##

7 thoughts on “The Wednesday Read”

  1. It seems some of Montana’s legislators feel they are superior to regular hard-working Montanans. Reference the quote from John Fitzpatrick near the end:

    “I’m kind of of the theory that folks that are sitting here and bring a wide variety of talent and expertise to craft public policy for the state of Montana deserve a better salary than those who put dope in plastic bags and hand it across the counter.”

    How about this for an alternative: Montana’s legislators get paid Montana’s absolute minimum wage so they can gain some appreciation of what it is like to have to try to get along on that, and maybe grab a little humility along the way?

    Buncha clowns “We’re better than Montana’s working people”.

    • I was a Fox News guy at one time. Not any more. I watch CNN and BBC some and when major news is breaking, I watch a quad box of news (Fox/CNN/MSNBC/BBC).

  3. On the criminal immigrant detention issue …

    So if it is just this easy as the administration’s daily news blats make it seem for Federal law enforcement to go out there and locate and grab up all the desperado murderers, drug pushers, father-rapers!, and other mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys of the undocumented immigrant community, why aren’t they also out there on a regular basis grabbing up and incarcerating all the home grown criminals, the type who used to (and still do) supply the drugs and commit the crimes before these immigrants came along? Why didn’t Trump simply go out and grab up all the bad guys during his first administration?

    • They should be doing that, but it does not garner the publicity like taking illegals off the streets. The U.S. Attorney’s offices do put out press releases on arrests and convictions.

  4. First it was the hunt for the elusive genitalia bill, a bill designed to go nowhere and do nothing except to rile up the MAGA base and work them into a righteous tizzy! And now, a similar bill related to actual hunting, designed to do nothing and go nowhere except to generate animosity among their racist base.

    The MAGA legislature is once again about ninety percent clown show and ten percent waste of time. Hard to believe their voters think that this is good governance and a good use of government funds. But hey, they’re Magas. Guess they like a good con job as long as it’s fun to watch! Clown shows usually are, and they got a world class cast of characters!

    Check out this monstrosity and affront to decency. Racism is alive and well in MAGA country.

    https://flatheadbeacon.com/2025/01/27/hunting-and-fishing-the-flathead-reservation-is-a-privilege-not-a-right/

Comments are closed.