Welcome! Here are the topics for today’s column:

• Bobcats/Griz 2.0
• State Senator Jason Ellsworth
• Epstein Files Release
• One More Thing

BOBCATS/GRIZ 2.0:

On Saturday, the Montana State Bobcats whipped the Montana Grizzlies 48-23 in Bozeman in the FCS semifinal game. The attendance for the game was 25,437. (Source)

The Bobcats beat the Grizzlies earlier this year, 31-28. That game was more entertaining. 

Now the Bobcats (13-2) will play the Illinois State Redbirds (12-4) for the FCS National Championship in Nashville. The game will be played on Monday, January 5. It starts at 5:30 (Montana time). It will be televised on ESPN. 

Of course, it would not be the playoffs unless elected officials chimed in. According to a press release from U.S. Senator Steve Daines:

Senator Steve Daines led a letter with Senator Tim Sheehy and Representatives Ryan Zinke (MT-01) and Troy Downing (MT-02) to airline CEOs urging them to increase flight options from Montana to Nashville, Tennessee, in advance of the FCS National Championship Game. The letter was sent to the CEOs of Delta, American, Southwest, and United.

Sadly, many folks will be using their hard-earned money to pay for healthcare increases and not for plane/playoff tickets. 

The Redbirds have put together a string of impressive victories, including knocking off the top-seeded North Dakota State Bison 29-28. 

STATE SENATOR JASON ELLSWORTH:

The following is a press release from the Montana Department of Justice:

Prosecutors in the Montana Attorney General’s Office filed official misconduct charges against Senator Jason Ellsworth today for acting outside the scope of his lawful authority as a public servant and requested that the court suspend him from office pending final judgment.

The charges follow a Montana Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) investigation launched in February after a referral from Legislative Auditor Angus Maciver. Ultimately, DCI’s investigation concluded Ellsworth improperly submitted a $171,000 contract with Agile Analytics, owned by his longtime friend and business partner, for bill tracking services. Ellsworth violated the ethics rules governing the use of public funds by obtaining services over $100,000 with the State of Montana without advertising, entertaining open bids, and having it reviewed by the Department of Administration before the contract was secured.

Additionally, Ellsworth split the contracts into two invoices to avoid the $100,000 threshold in an attempt to avoid the proper procurement process for contracts with the State of Montana.

Official misconduct carries punishment of a fine of up to $500 and possible imprisonment in county jail for up to 6 months. If convicted, Ellsworth may also be required by a judge to permanently forfeit his office as a public servant. The charges were filed in the Montana First Judicial District Court. Assistant Attorneys General Daniel Guzynski and Stephanie Robles are prosecuting the case.

The Montana Free Press (MTFP) reported on the charges. They reported the following information:

According to the charging documents the DOJ filed in Lewis and Clark County District Court on Thursday, (State Senator Matt) Regier told investigators he learned in early January that Ellsworth had contracted with a friend to track proposed laws related to Republicans’ long-running efforts to address alleged bias in the state court system.

A March ethics investigation by the Senate revealed that Regier and legislative aide Rhonda Knudsen then submitted a tip to the government fraud hotline run by the state’s Legislative auditor.

Rhonda Knudsen is the mother of state Attorney General Austin Knudsen, who leads the DOJ.

Do I care about what happens to Ellsworth? Nope. He seems to have pissed off the Republican family, and now he is scorned. If they needed him or his vote, they would not be doing this. 

I concluded a long time ago that the Montana Legislature is nothing but a circus run by a bunch of clowns. 

EPSTEIN FILES RELEASE:

Some of the Epstein files were released on Friday afternoon, but not all of them that the law required. According to a report from PBS, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday defended the Justice Department’s decision to release just a fraction of the Jeffrey Epstein files by the congressionally mandated deadline as necessary to protect survivors of sexual abuse by the disgraced financier.

Do you believe that excuse, or are they trying to hide information?

The list can be accessed HERE. You can see if any of your friends or enemies are included in the files because you can search!  How cool is that? 

There were some issues with photos being taken down and later restored. Check out this report for more information. 

It was interesting to see all the news from the Administration around the time the partial list of files was released. It’s like they were trying to get the Epstein files off the front page or something. 

ONE MORE THING:

This Christmas, I’m giving my family members a card that says, “A donation has been made in your name to my therapist.” 

## HAVE A GREAT WEEK ##