by Ken Toole | Apr 12, 2024 | Elections
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy has a bullet in his arm. The Washington Post broke a convoluted and confusing news story about how it got there. The story is convoluted and confusing, because Tim Sheehy has been telling a couple of different stories about how it got there.
Story number 1 according to Tim Sheehy- In 2015 he was in the parking lot at Logan Pass in Glacier Park. While putting things in his car, his Colt .45 pistol slipped and fell to the ground, causing it to discharge and hit him in the arm. He was ticketed by the Park Service and paid a fine. Now Sheehy says this story was a lie.
Story number 2 according to Tim Sheehy- In 2012 while serving in Afghanistan, he was hit by a bullet in the arm. He says that he doesn’t know where it came from. He says that he did not report the wound, as is presumably required by the military, because he did not want to prompt an investigation which could have drug his platoon mates through the mud. Tim Sheehy says this is the real story.
Jackie Brown over at the Western Word Blog here in Great Falls put it this way when calling on Sheehy to withdraw from the Senate Race: “As I said yesterday, Sheehy should do the honorable thing and drop out of the U.S. Senate race this week. These are not the actions one would expect from a Naval Officer and Navy SEAL. These are not the actions Montanans would expect from a U.S. Senator. To say the least, it’s dishonorable.”
We can’t say it any better than conservative lawyer and Never Trumper, George Conway, “Let those among you who have not lied about lying about shooting yourselves in the arm in a national park in order to cover up not faking a combat wound—or something like that, I can’t quite figure it out—cast the first stone.”
by Ken Toole | Apr 12, 2024 | Elections
U.S. Senate candidate, Tim Sheehy, touts his experience as an entrepreneur as one of the major things that qualifies him for a seat in the Senate. We’ve already pointed out the irony of the fact that his business, Bridger Aerospace, makes the vast majority of its money on government firefighting contracts. Now The Montana Free Press is reporting that Bridger Aerospace is “deeply in the red” in a thorough story using Security Exchange Commission (SEC) reports. https://montanafreepress.org/2024/04/09/u-s-senate-hopefuls-company-reported-losses-of-more-than-77-million-in-2023/
Sheehy Wearing Rose-Colored Glasses While Pulling Wool Over Investors’ Eyes
While the filings with the SEC clearly show a company in deep financial trouble, with losses of $77 million last year, Bridger Aerospace Investor Relations issued a glowing report announcing record earnings of $67 million in 2023 (while bemoaning the lack of wildfires last year). The report went on to say it had received record contract awards in 2023, including a $60 million exclusive contract with the Department of Interior. The report also asserts that the company is poised to grow over 80% in 2024.
However, the disclaimer in the Investor Relations Report says in pertinent part, “Certain statements included in this press release are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements, including for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.” We’ll save you reading the whole thing because it is quite long containing lots of wiggle words. Feel free to read it yourself at https://ir.bridgeraerospace.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/37/bridger-aerospace-announces-record-2023-results-provides
Sheehy’s Filing With the SEC Tells a Different Story
The SEC filing begins with a note from the Bridger Aerospace’s own auditors which states, “As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company has suffered recurring losses from operations, operating cash flow deficits, debt covenant violations, and insufficient liquidity to fund its operations that raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”
Montana Free Press quoted University of Montana accounting professor Terri Herron who examined the financial reports as saying, “Management concluded that they may not be around in a year.”
So Who Is On The Hook if Sheehy Goes Under? You are!
Well, actually people who live in Gallatin County. Of course stockholders stand to lose their investment but Sheehy is at risk of violating financial agreements resulting from a $160 million municipal bond agreement with Gallatin County which brought Bridger Aerospace’s long-term debt to $204.6 million. The bond came with covenants that Bridger Aerospace must have the ability to cover debt with cash in the amount of at least $8 million. If Sheehy defaults on the bond requirements, it appears Gallatin County could be on the hook.
Bridger Aerospace said in the annual filing that it is out of compliance with the required debt service amount, and that it likely won’t be in compliance in the next 12 months. At the time of the report, the company apparently had the $8 million in cash but the report stated that it probably won’t in the future, because interest payments of $18.4 million are coming due soon.
So, What Does It All Mean?
Of course all of this is complicated and confusing, so let us just boil it down a little for you. Sheehy has a business in which 88% of his total income comes from the government in the form of firefighting contracts. A big part of the way he has financed his operation comes from a Gallatin County bond offering. We assume that means a lower interest rate, because they are government issued bonds. Welcome to “entrepreneurship” Tim Sheehy style. Step right up to the public trough and proclaim your commitment to private enterprise.
Final Notes
In the short time the public microscope has been on Tim Sheehy, he has not measured up. In the last week he has admitted lying to law enforcement about an old bullet wound, and we have been treated to an inside glimpse of his business ethics. Unfortunately Montana voters don’t seem to care much about ethics, electing Ryan Zinke, Greg Gianforte, Matt Rosendale and Steve Daines, all coming from the cesspool the Republican Party has become.
This post has been written largely with the information uncovered by the Montana Free Press and reporter Arren Kimbel-Sannit. Though we did go through the SEC reports and Bridger Aerospace Investor Relations Report, the truth is we wouldn’t have understood most of it without Kimbel-Sannit’s reporting.
by Ken Toole | Jan 23, 2024 | Elections
Responding to Tim Sheehy’s Editorial Rhetoric
U.S. Senate Candidate Tim Sheehy has a semi-autobiographical editorial circulating around the state. Like most puff pieces from politicians, it begins by saying, “I never thought of getting into politics until . . .fill in the blank here.” In Sheehy’s case it’s Afghanistan. It also gives him a chance to highlight his military service while condemning President Biden.
He must have forgotten that Donald Trump had reduced U.S. troops in Afghanistan by 13,100. In November 2020, he ordered that all troops would be evacuated by January 2021. Typical of Trump, he changed his mind and ordered withdrawal of more troops, instead leaving a total U.S. military force of 2,500 facing the Taliban in the strongest military position it had been in since 2001. The truth is U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan was plagued with problems for the 20 years we were there, just like the Russians before us. Pinning it on Joe Biden ignores facts and history. But hey, this is politics.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/US-Withdrawal-from-Afghanistan.pdf
But back to Sheehy’s editorial. He then goes on to frame his decision to run for Senate in a “call to duty” format with a dollop of family values and business experience. You may have noticed that we didn’t say “private sector” experience. That’s because earnings from his company, Bridger Aerospace, which generates about $5 million a year for Sheehy, is mostly working on government contracts fighting forest fires. He also owns luxury houses in Big Sky, Polson, and Bozeman, in addition to a share of a large ranch outside Martinsdale.
And like most rich people, he has lots of investments. He says his net worth is between $74 and $200 million. (A complaint has been filed against Sheehy for the lack of specific information in his disclosure forms by a group called End Citizens United.) While he is condemning China, he’s investing in Chinese companies. While attacking environmental investment strategies, he is investing in “sustainable” software products to manage carbon emissions. He even removed the words “fighting on the front lines of climate change” from the Bridger Aerospace website after announcing he was running for Senate. https://montanafreepress.org/2023/11/03/taking-a-look-at-tim-sheehys-finances/
Like most rich people, Sheehy had considerable advantages provided by his family. He grew up in a multi-million dollar lake house in Shoreview, Minnesota, a wealthy suburb of St. Paul. He attended a private high school before being accepted to the Naval Academy. It’s hard to say when he became a resident of Montana. In 2016 Sheehy reported the Shoreview house as his residence in campaign reports of his donations to Greg Gianforte.
But probably the most disturbing thing about Sheehy’s editorial is his parroting of Trump’s dark conspiratorial view of America. He writes. “. . .the alternative is to leave these Marxists who weaponize cancerous ideologies like DEI and ESG and don’t represent our values in control—and to me, that’s unacceptable.” Most of us have no idea what DEI and ESG means (DEI- Diversity Equity and Inclusion/ ESG- Environmental, Social, Governance). His demonization and use of the term Marxist to describe his political opponents is straight out of Senator Joe McCarthy’s playbook. Ironically, this kind of red-baiting is fundamentally anti-American.
