State Senator and Republican Majority Leader, Steve Fitzpatrick, wants the personal financial information of his political opponents in the legislature. In a statement given to Lee Papers on Monday, October 2, Fitzaptrick said he was filing an “information request” with the Department of Revenue requesting confidential information on Democratic legislators’ taxes.
Fitzpatrick’s request is apparently motivated by the fact that opponents of the Republicans’ big residential tax increase held a rally at the Capitol featuring Jane Weber, former Cascade County Commissioner and current legislative candidate and former Governor Brian Schweitzer. The rally was organized by Big Sky 55+ a group dedicated to economic security for older Montanans. The event attracted an estimated 200 people and garnered state-wide press coverage. https://helenair.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/rally-in-capitol-rotunda-calls-for-special-session-over-property-tax-hike/article_26fc829e-6165-11ee-aa98-63e547ef326e.html
On its merit’s Fitzpatrick has to know that there is virtually no way his request will be enforced by the courts in Montana. So put this one in the “political stunt” category. But maybe making tax information for legislators public isn’t such a bad idea. We’d sure like to be able to see Fitzpatrick’s tax returns and other personal documents. Maybe then we could have a clear picture of who his legal clients are and how much they pay him. And why stop at his personal records. It would be nice to see who the clients of his law firm are and if the client list overlaps the topic of legislation Fitzpatrick introduces.
Consider this reported by the Missoula Current last March. “Republican Senator Steve Fitzpatrick of Great Falls is the sponsor of three bills which would greatly increase the utility costs of NorthWestern Energy’s customers. The three bills are SB 265, SB 266 and SB 379. Fitzpatrick is also the son of the former NorthWestern Director of Government Affairs.” Hmmmm.
With each E City Beat installment we’ll recommend a song for your Protest Playlist and a complimentary pairing. Think of us as your community activism sommelier.
For our first pairing we offer the Rage Against The Machine classic “Renegades of Funk.”
Pairs well with:
Registering to vote! Because the best way to fight back against corrupt politicians is to vote them out of office.
Learn how to register to vote here: https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote
A new web-based calculator lets you figure out how much your property tax is going up and how much the property tax for big corporations are going down thanks to the Republican Legislature and the Gianforte administration.
There is lots of misinformation floating around about what is happening to residential property tax bills. Most of it is coming from Republicans in the legislature and the Gianforte Administration trying to shift the blame for what happened during the last legislative session. Here is an editorial we ran explaining what happened and why our property taxes are going up.
Now you can see exactly how much your property taxes are going up and, even more important, how much the taxes for other classes of property are going down. Below is an example of a house in Anaconda. You can get the same information about your home by going to www.taxshiftmt.com Check it out!
Last September, Public Service Commissioner Randy Pinocci said that Misssoula should be targeted for “brownouts”. In a speech calling for Republican elected officials to “flex their political muscle,” Pinocci requested that PSC staff figure out if reductions of power in the grid could be targeted to specific communities. Apparently, Pinocci was responding to citizen protests against NorthWestern Energy.
Last August, Pinocci issued a bogus blackout warning. Pinocci and one other Public Service Commissioner issued a statement which said, “the probable lack of energy leading to ‘rolling blackouts’ in eastern Montana this summer as well as frighteningly real possibilities of hugely inadequate shortages in Montana in winter.” Turned out the whole thing was bogus. The PSC staff was forced to point out that the full Public Service Commission did not support Pinocci’s statement.
In 2020, Pinocci went on the far-right Northwest Liberty Newswebcast and said he was concerned about fellow Public Service Commissioner Roger Koopman bringing a gun to the office. Koopman denied the allegation.
Also in 2020, Pinocci apparently hacked into a fellow PSC commissioner’s e-mail account and put together a story which he then shopped to media outlets. When The Billings Gazette refused to publish the story, Pinoccci went to Northwest Liberty News which published a story under the headline, “Terror in Helena! ‘I’m afraid that Roger Koopman will bring a gun to work and shoot me. . . .”
At a speech in Havre In March 2022, Pinocci called for regulation of social media to control “anti-conservative” bias. He went on to compare the supposed oppression of conservatives to the oppression of Black Americans under Jim Crow.
In 2016, when he was a legislator, Pinocci called for the jailing of journalists after the Fairfield Sun Times refused to publish an editorial he wrote on gun rights saying, “. . .maybe after we put a few of these idiots in jail we can get better reporting.” https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R1IpUvxSB7Ac08EtiYWSJKk2X-EUVk_j4Q20Je5HUQE/edit
Pinocci has quite a record of expressing extreme views, and there is a lot more than we have listed above. But perhaps the most disconcerting thing about Pinocci and the Cascade County Republicans is their corruption. It is worth noting that two of Pinocci’s family members were recently hired by the new Clerk and Recorder and election denier Sandra Merchant.
Other elected Republicans are also involved in suspect situations. Legislators Steven and Lola Galloway are leasing a big building they own to the state Motor Vehicle Division whose budget they oversee as legislators. (WTF406 filed an information request with the state asking for information on the bidding process for the lease more than two months ago). Speaking of the Galloways, many of Steven Galloway’s bills at the legislature promoted his business interests as a landlord in Great Falls. Then there is the whole saga of Senator Jeremy Trebas’ attempt to change state law to enrich his real estate deals. https://wtf406.com/2023/07/senator-trebas-tax-scam-turns-into-an-albatross-around-his-neck/
On Wednesday,Sept 6th, Public Service Commissioner Randy Pinocci was arrested on a warrant for failing to appear in court to respond to a ticket for disorderly conduct he received in an incident on July 5.
Pinocci was issued the citation for “quarreling, challenging to fight, or fighting, namely by getting in (alleged victim’s) face and bumping chests during an argument and yelling.” In typical Pinocci style, he said he was unfairly accused and pointed out that he is too fat to bump chests with anyone, because his belly is too big. (Really! Can’t wait to see if he does a reenactment if he goes to trial.)
Not surprisingly, Pinocci says he did nothing wrong and the whole thing is a big mistake. His lawyer, Ben Reed of Helena, explained that Pinocci failed to appear in court, as requested twice, because he was at scheduled meetings with constituents. KT
For the full story: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/09/12/pinocci-arrested-released-on-misdemeanor-disputes-validity-of-court-warrant/
Randy would like us all to think that he was so busy doing his job that he couldn’t make a court appearance. WTF406.com is well acquainted with how hard Pinocci works. We published this photo of him “representing his constituents” in a hearing before the PSC back in April 2022.
