by Ken Toole | Aug 29, 2026 | Money, Politics, Vote
If you are a voter in Montana’s Eastern Congressional District, you may have noticed that you are seeing those glossy, oversized postcards candidates send out this time of year. Some of those are from Troy Downing. He is currently running for re-election to Montana’s Eastern Congressional District seat.
You may have also seen brief video ads from Troy Downing while watching your favorite programs. You may not have noticed that you are helping to pay for those ads.
It’s called “franking.” It allows members of Congress to send communications to their constituents, paid for by taxpayers. The program is funded through each congressional office’s Member’s Representational Allowance. The amount varies, but generally runs between $1.8 and $2 million.
The allowance breaks down into three categories: personnel and staffing, official office expenses, and official mail expenses. Since 2023, Downing’s allowance has averaged $1,928,107.
It is no secret that incumbents often increase their use of franked mail during campaign season. And based on our mailboxes and video screens, Downing appears to be taking full advantage of this federal largesse.
Of course, this is in addition to Downing’s campaign fundraising and the personal money he has “loaned” to his campaign. Downing is a very wealthy man.
Federal Election Commission reports filed through June 30, 2026, show that Downing has received total campaign receipts of a little over $2 million. He has spent about $1.5 million so far. In addition, he has loaned his campaign committee a little over $2 million.
For comparison, retired cardiologist Michael Eisenhauer who is running as an independent has received just under $300,000, but only about $50,000 came from contributors. The rest was a loan of approximately $250,000 from himself.
Brian Miller, the Democrat in the race, is running an aggressive, issue-based campaign focused heavily on concerns about data centers. He has raised just under $20,000, with no personal loans.
The golden rule in politics is: “The one who has the money makes the rules.”
Clearly, Troy Downing has the money in this race. Too bad he also has his hands in taxpayers’ pockets to help pay for his campaign.
Our democracy has been stolen by big money. We desperately need campaign finance reform.
Vote for Initiative 194 — The Montana Plan.
by Helena Lovick | Feb 3, 2026 | Money, Republicans, Taxpayers, Vote
A couple of weeks ago, Montana’s Republican Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen sent out a mailer with a picture of herself standing next to a constipated-looking, photoshopped image of dTrump. I was an unlucky recipient of said postcard along with about 467,000 other Montana households.
$200,000 Price Tag for Taxpayers
The postcard bragged about how the Secretary of State office is using a program to verify that only U.S. citizens are voting. It has come to light, thanks to Democratic Representative Kelly Kortum (D-Bozeman), that it cost taxpayers around $200,000 dollars to mail that dumbassery.
Privacy Violating Voter Program
The program SoS Jacobsen was bragging about is the “SAVE tool” and comes “free” from the MAGA Administration. In an underwhelming rollout, the SAVE tool managed to flag 23 potential non-citizen voters in all of Montana. Wow…..23! That’s….not a lot. But remember, we must threaten you with the terrifying possibility that a couple non-citizens voted out of 785,000+ total Montana voters. That sounds terrifying.
As more icing on the cake, the privacy violating SAVE tool may also erroneously flag voters and disenfranchise eligible voters.
Partisan Shmartisan
Aside from its naked partisanship, the postcard clearly served a political purpose. But the Gianforte-appointed Commissioner of Political Practices, Chris Gallus, disagreed and found that the postcard did not serve a political purpose in a complaint dismissal.
In response to the complaint dismissal by the CoPP, Christi Jacobsen posted a Facebook post on January 21st saying, “The lyrics that come to mind are: “You’re mad, I’m back, big mad. He’s mad, she’s mad, big sad – Haha, don’t care, stay mad” – 6ix9ine.”
Aside from the complete detachment from professional norms and civility, the quoting of 6ix9ine was quite the choice. If you’re going to quote a person as a public official, wouldn’t you want to do some minimal vetting so you don’t accidently quote a criminal? 6ix9ine is a felon with multiple felonies, including use of a child in a sexual performance, racketeering, gun charges, and drug offenses. But I guess Republicans have become more and more comfortable with felons thanks to felon-in-chief dTrump.
Hey! What About Our Money?
There remain unanswered questions about the postcard costs ($200,000+!?) and if the SoS office has turned over voter records to the federal government.
These shady actions are unsurprising from SoS Jacobsen. She has a long history of ignoring norms and illegal actions. Some of her greatest hits also include:
