by Ken Toole | Aug 16, 2024 | Elections
According to media reports, anti-Semitic memes have been circulated in Montana communities once again. This time it appears that Tim Sheehy’s campaign circulated a meme featuring a darkened photo of Chuck Schumer (who is Jewish) superimposed over a puppet master’s hands manipulating radio, TV and a bag of money.
In May, several national news outlets covering the Schumer meme reported that the Sheehy campaign also employed a 21-year-old man named Caleb Oriet. Oriet has a history of placing bigoted posts on social media. The Daily Beast reported it this way, “The account belonging to the 21-year-old Montanan and self-proclaimed ‘Anglo-Saxon Protestant’ and ‘menace to society’ liked, for instance, a tweet that refers to Black Americans as ‘the most criminal, dependent, and socially destructive part of the population,’ and attacks GOP efforts to connect with Black voters.”
Oriet previously worked for Republican eastern district Congressman Matt Rosendale and gave speeches promoting Christian Nationalism. In 2022 Oriet was the director of a far right organization called The American Populist Union. In an interview with Great Falls Tribune he said, “You look at today’s population, 20.5% of Gen-Z says they’re gay. The political implications of this are disastrous. As people my age start taking power it’s just not going to be a good thing. Our main goal is the replacement of this very elitist American establishment with one that is willing to put America, her citizens and interests over that of foreign interests or international finance.”
The Sheehy campaign refused to respond to requests for information about the incident, instead going on the attack. The campaign said that the Daily Beast was a “trash New York tabloid,” and accused it of “tearing down a 21 year old man.” But after the article appeared, most of Oriet’s social media accounts were closed and his name no longer appeared on the campaign’s website. The Sheehy campaign continues to refuse to respond to questions about his employment status with the campaign.
Gallatin Republican Central Committee
In the middle of June, the Gallatin County Republican Central Committee circulated a similar meme featuring financier George Soros (who is also Jewish) controlling Obama, Biden and Harris. The meme featured a caption saying, “Our situation explained.” Both of these are tropes for anti-Semites promoting conspiracy theories that Jews control the media, banking industry and politics.
Perhaps more troubling is the fact that neither Sheehy’s campaign nor the Republican Central Committee have responded to leaders in the Montana Jewish community when they expressed concern about use of these memes. Nor did either respond to requests for interviews with the media.
Sheehy Has Plenty Of Company In The Republican Party
In the last legislative session, Gallatin County Democratic Legislator Ed Staffman, who is also a Rabbi, was scheduled to give the daily invocation in the Montana House of Representatives. At the last minute, he was informed that his invocation was being canceled by Republican Speaker of the House Matt Regier. Staffman said that he felt he was being shut down because he was not offering a Christian prayer. Another leader in the Jewish community said “The legislature is very single-minded right now. It’s focused on a white, male, Christian agenda.” https://wtf406.com/2023/12/the-oldest-hatred-antisemitism-visits-the-montana-legislature/
Just prior to the last legislative session, Cascade County Senator Jeremy Trebas retweeted a meme about Jewish people conducting child sacrifice. After being confronted about his tweet, Trebas took it down but refused to apologize. https://wtf406.com/2023/12/trebas-fails-to-apologize-for-anti-semitic-tweet/
There is a lot to be concerned about in all of these incidents. First, one has to wonder what kinds of things are being said about Jewish people outside the public eye and what are the beliefs of the officials who apparently tolerate and even defend these actions. The refusal of the officials in these incidents to respond to the leaders of the Jewish community who are rightfully concerned about anti-Semitism in our state and the impact it has on our Jewish citizens. Finally, ignoring inquiries from the media has become the campaign strategy of far too many politicians in our state. A functioning democracy requires an informed citizenry and denying access to public officials is fundamentally anti-democratic.
For more on this https://dailymontanan.com/2024/08/07/jewish-leaders-in-montana-concerned-about-sheehy-gallatin-co-republicans-posting
by Ken Toole | Aug 3, 2024 | Energy/Utilities
A Little Background
Until the early 2000s Montana Power Company had very low rates and a reliable system. In the mid-1990s they began to promote “deregulation” which allowed them to sell all of their generation facilities. With an intense lobbying effort, and over the objections of consumer advocates, in 1997 the Republican legislature passed a bill which allowed Montana Power to sell. Pennsylvania Power bought the hydro system and the coal plants, while a small South Dakota company, NorthWestern Energy, purchased the lines and wires in Montana. Chaos ensued. Rates climbed rapidly, businesses closed, and Montana ended up paying the highest electric rates in the Northwest.
By 2007 Republicans in the Legislature finally admitted that the “deregulation experiment” was a dismal failure and passed a law allowing Northwestern to own generation assets. Northwestern began buying back the plants that Pennsylvania Power purchased, paying premium prices, which of course, were added to their rates and into our electric bills.
Recently NorthWestern Energy announced several moves that are part of the continuing trend of rebuilding a corporate and regulatory structure that existed before deregulation. Unfortunately, NorthWestern is forgoing the opportunity to remake the utility with modern clean resources, choosing instead to bet the farm on antiquated fossil fuel technology which is both dirty and expensive.
Betting on Dirty, Expensive Coal
Last week NorthWestern announced that it is going to buy out a 370 megawatt share of the Colstrip complex from Puget Sound Energy. NorthWestern says they will get the plant at “no cost.” Of course they don’t mention the plant is in dire need of expensive upgrades which customers will pay for. Nor do they mention that they will be assuming significant liability for environmental clean up and compliance which customers will also pay for. Two and one half years ago, NorthWestern reached a similar deal with Avista for a 222 megawatt share.
NorthWestern and Republican politicians say that coal provides a stable, reliable source of power for Montana. The truth is they are far from stable or reliable. During the cold snap of January 2024, Colstrip went down. In July when the heat wave hit Montana, Colstrip went down again. The truth is these are antiquated plants and keeping them online is both challenging and expensive. Of course ratepayers assume those costs in the end.
The Laurel Gas Plant
Following years of opposition and litigation, a new natural gas plant along the Yellowstone River came online in March. This is a very large (175 megawatts) plant designed to come online to meet periods of peak demand. That means the rest of the time it sits idle, not producing any revenue. The cost of the plant is estimated to be over $250 million which again will go into customer rates and generate a generous rate of return (profit) for NorthWestern stockholders.
Purchasing Energy West
NorthWest Energy announced that it is purchasing Energy West, Great Falls’ local natural gas distribution company for $39 million. The transaction will have to be approved by the Montana Public Service Commission. NorthWestern expects completion of the deal in early 2025. In a press release, NorthWestern said they do not plan on raising customer rates as part of the deal.
Energy West currently has about 33,000 customers in the Great Falls area, Cut Bank and West Yellowstone. It is owned by Hope Utilities of West Virginia. Hope Utilities is a holding company that owns utilities in nine states, including Montana. They have a total of 227,000 customers (which includes a couple of small water and wastewater utilities). NorthWestern has about 212,000 customers in Montana. Energy West rates are currently lower than NorthWestern’s.
NorthWestern Energy Rate Impacts on Customers
All of this buying and building is expensive. . .and it is showing up in our rates. In October of last year, the Republican Public Service Commission approved a 28% increase to residential customer rates (large customers did not have as large an increase). Last month NorthWestern said it is filing another request with the Public Service Commission to increase rates. This time around they are proposing to increase rates by another $21.9 million or 8.28%. In this case, Northwestern is proposing a “balancing account” which allows them to collect money from ratepayers for expenses which have not been incurred yet. Estimates of those expenses run as high as $2 billion (that’s with a B).
How All Of This Makes Money for NorthWestern Energy
Utilities make money in two ways. First is by increasing sales or customer base which gives them an incentive to purchase Energy West. The other is by making capital investments like building and upgrading plants. Once accepted by the PSC, the utility receives a guaranteed “rate of return” of somewhere around 10% for the life of the plant.
And speaking of making money, here are the top three NorthWestern executive salaries per year reported at the end of 2022.
Bob Rowe, CEO (Retired at the end of 2022) $3,375,572
Brian Bird,COO (Replaced Bob Rowe) $2,674,811
Heather Graham, Chief Legal counsel $1,264,471
Thank you to The Daily Montanan, Montana Free Press and The Electric for their reporting on these issues.
by Ken Toole | Jul 30, 2024 | Guest Articles
This editorial was published in the Missoula Current.
The American Prairie recently announced two property acquisitions in Phillips County, one of the seven counties in which we own property. Chuck Denowh, policy director for United Property Owners of Montana, used this announcement to question our presence in Central Montana.
Mr. Denowh lists a “parade of horribles” regarding American Prairie, accusing us of hastening the decline of central Montana’s agricultural economy and communities and threatening Montana’s general fund revenues by our non-profit status. He even holds us responsible for increases in food prices.
Mark Twain quipped, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” Here’s what we know:
Around 62 percent of Montana’s land is dedicated to agriculture with more than 58 million acres of farms and ranches. A recent article about American Prairie in Gun Dog Magazine noted, “If American Prairie is afflicting the local economy, it hasn’t shown up in the data. In fact, unemployment in the region has gradually fallen since American Prairie was established, and population is up slightly. The agricultural sector is currently at a ten year high.”
In 2023, 89% of our total land base was leased to local cattle ranchers supporting more than seven thousand head of cattle. On lands where our herd of 900 bison graze, American Prairie pays a per capita tax 2.7 times higher than those fees charged for cattle.
American Prairie pays property taxes for land, vehicles, and equipment, just like every other rancher. Staff and lessees living on American Prairie land or in nearby communities pay into their local tax bases. American Prairie contributes to increased revenue from lodging taxes as we continue to promote visitation in the region. In the last four years, American Prairie has paid more than $573,000 in taxes (real, personal, use, etc.) to the counties where we own property.
America’s farmers, the world’s most productive, annually produce food surpluses that last year supported exports worth $175 billion. The recent increases in the cost of food are an inflationary phenomenon driven by a massive injection of federal money into the nation’s economy.
Land prices are increasing across the United States, including ranch and farmland in Montana. The 2022 USDA Land Values Summary found the value of pasture land in the state rose by 10.7 percent per acre between 2021 and 2022, a little less than the nationwide average increase of 11.5 percent. Data like this indicates that American Prairie is not driving the cost of land.
The growth of American Prairie has little influence on the long-term demographic and economic trends in Central Montana. Extended drought, market fluctuations, international trade policies, personal family decisions, and global integrated agricultural markets have much larger impacts.
We buy land from willing sellers and are but one player in the marketplace. We pay market rates and are limited by IRS regulations from paying more than 10 percent above appraised value. Having an additional buyer in the market place is surely a benefit, and we are helping families secure their futures.
American Prairie is organized in section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. As such we are exempt from business income tax and our donors receive a tax benefit. It is interesting to note that Montana’s property tax system annually exempts over $50 million of property taxes for tax-exempt organizations and certain tax-exempt types of property.
Montana’s non-profits play important and often vital roles in our communities. They provide support for cultural and religious institutions, fill gaps in health care, and offer enhanced educational opportunities. Instilled during our nation’s founding, our deeply ingrained culture of philanthropy is the envy of the world. If Mr. Denowh wishes to campaign to change this situation, I wish him well.
A final note: Mr. Denowh represents an organization allegedly supporting property rights and limited government. Yet he is the ringleader of efforts to use the power of the State to attack the legitimate business practices of American Prairie. Isn’t it ironic that a property rights group seeks to use the cohesive force of government to intervene in the peaceful and voluntary transactions of consenting parties?
Pete Geddes is American Prairie’s Vice President and Chief External Relations Officer. He has been with the organization since 2011.
by Ken Toole | Jul 22, 2024 | City
Following the City Commission’s vote to approve the city budget, Commissioner Rick Tryon posted a tax plan of sorts on his Facebook page outlining his ideas to solve the City’s financial woes. He did not explain in his post that the fundamental problem facing Great Falls, and all other municipalities in Montana, is the hostility of the State Legislature and the numerous statutes they have passed making it difficult for cities to govern themselves. Probably most important among those is capping increases to city budgets at one half the rate of inflation. In the interests of space, we won’t go into that here and focus instead on Tryon’s specific proposals. Below are WTF406’s responses to his specific proposals
Tryon’s Recommendation For State Government:
Exempt all homeowners 65 or older from residential property tax. This one sounds nice, because we have visions of little old grannies who can’t afford their property tax being kicked out of their family home. The reality is this would essentially let the super-wealthy off the hook for the property tax on their multi-million dollar homes. Many, if not most people, who own McMansions are also older.
Allow city/county governments to pass tourism/local option tax. Rick dropped a word in proposing this one. He should have said local option SALES tax. People like this one, because they think they will be able to tax people from out of town. Problem is you can’t really construct a sales tax like this so it doesn’t also hit local residents. And the local residents it hits the hardest are the people who can least afford it.
Reduce the residential property tax rate across the board. This is a good idea that has been done in the past to address rising property values. The legislature declined to do it in the last session, and the result is a property tax crisis across the state. Rick might want to ask the Republican legislators from Great Falls why they didn’t do this when they had a chance.
Eliminate the property tax exemption for large nonprofits that benefit from public safety services without contributing. We also think this is a good idea, particularly since it would apply to churches.
Tryon’s Recommendations for City Government
Don’t renew TIF districts that are due to expire. Tax Increment Finance Districts are a mechanism originally intended to combat urban blight and stimulate economic development. As properties in these districts are either constructed or improved, the taxes on the increased value assist with further development of needed infrastructure in those areas for the life of the district. The City gets the tax money on the additional value; it’s just that the monies must be spent on the district until the time period for the district ends, usually after 15 years. Once the district expires, all of the property taxes collected go to the general fund. Only one of the current districts will expire in the next few years, and so the prospect of getting new funding from these districts is a long way off. Tryon should know that.
Fold the 7 mil by the 1993 agreement of library funding back into the general fund for other priorities. This is nothing more than Tryon grinding his personal pet peeve. He never liked the fact that the voters passed the Library Levy. Now he sees a way to get at his political opponents through the back door.
Curtail general fund subsidies to non-performing City department enterprise funds, which would probably result in the elimination of some current city services/programs. Who could disagree with eliminating “non-performing” enterprise funds? The whole idea is that enterprise funds should be self-sustaining. The devil is in the details. Tryon provides none.
While we appreciate Tryon’s effort to stimulate discussion, the truth is he leaves the biggest issue in Montana’s tax system completely off the table. That is the consistent erosion of the income tax base by large corporations.
*Ken Toole served in the Montana Senate and was Vice Chair of the Tax Committee. He also served on the Interim Transportation and Revenue Committee. He was also the President of the Policy Institute, a Montana organization dedicated to fair taxation and reasonable energy policy
by Ken Toole | Jul 13, 2024 | Energy/Utilities
Public Service Commissioner Randy Pinocci has had a lien filed on his property by the Braden Tract Sewer Association and Braden Tract Water Fund for non-payment of bills in the amount of $1,720. In addition, the districts are claiming Pinocci is responsible for moving a fence which is encroaching on its property at an estimated cost of $5,500.
Perhaps the greatest irony in this chapter of the long, sad saga of Pinocci’s behavior in public office is that, as a Public Service Commissioner, Pinocci is responsible for regulating public utilities similar to these two small local utilities. One of the biggest problems these businesses face is deadbeats not paying their bills. When that happens, other ratepayers pick up the tab. Pinocci either doesn’t understand that or he doesn’t care. Probably a bit of both.
As the Public Service Commissioner representing PSC District #1, which includes Cascade County, Pinocci earns an annual salary of $111,179. That does not include benefits like state retirement and health insurance. His wife, Svetlana, works in the elections office. She gets a good salary and county benefits. In addition, Pinocci has real estate appraised at a total value of $1,006,303. You would think he can afford to pay his water and sewer bills. . . like the rest of us. But Randy isn’t like the rest of us.
Pinocci seems to want to play politics more than do his job with the PSC. In the last election, he ran for Lieutenant Governor drawing his big paycheck from you and me the whole time. Then there is the fact that he was prosecuted for intimidating witnesses in a dispute over one of his rental properties last October. https://wtf406.com/2023/10/more-republican-police-blotter-pinocci-arrested-again/
A few weeks before that, he was arrested on a warrant for failure to appear. When he is not being arrested or prosecuted, he is galavanting around the state promoting bizarre conspiracy theories.
Thanks, in part, to an organized effort to get Democrats to “cross over” and vote in the Republican Primary here in Cascade County, voters got rid of some of the far right leaders in their party. Legislators Steven Galloway and Lola Sheldon-Galloway lost. County Commissioner Rae Grulkowski also was turned away by the voters (though the rumor mill is predicting she will be hired by Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant). Both Pinocci and Merchant also lost their bids to be elected as Republican Party precinct people. Maybe there’s some hope for sanity in the local Republican Party.
Pinocci’s term on the Public Service Commission ends in 2026. Who knows what he will run for next. Whatever it is, we can only hope he is defeated.
