Free Republic

After his strange speech in Philadelphia, Gov. Brian Schweitzer may have just hand-delivered an issue, wrapped in red ribbon on a silver platter, to his Republican opponent and his critics. The Democratic governor has seemingly been coasting to an easy re-election victory over Republican Roy Brown ... Schweitzer's meteoric rise may have been slowed down a tad last week. That's when reports surfaced of his odd speech July 14 to a national trial lawyers' convention in Philadelphia in July. "And the advantage is, you know, when you've got a governor on your side, whoa!" Schweitzer says in the speech. "You...

Culture Of Corruption Firebrand Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer bragged to a convention of trial lawyers to have rigged the 2006 Montana’s elections in favor of the Democrat Party.

Well, it's no wonder Democrats didn't want former President Bill Clinton to speak on the economy. Some delegates might have had the temerity to wonder: Hey, why did we experience all that prosperity in the '90s? It certainly wasn't due to populism, or isolationism, or more government dependency, or any of the hard-left economic policies being preached nightly by speakers at the Democratic National Convention. No, it was capitalism — more of it, not less of it. Naturally, every political convention features its share of demagoguery. But buried beneath all the idealistic talk in Denver are some ugly details. Those...

State Sen. Roy Brown, R-Billings, said Monday he is a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor in 2008. He is the first GOP candidate to announce a challenge to Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who has announced a re-election bid next year. Brown will formally announce his candidacy on Thursday with a six-city fly-about and a 50-towns-in-10-days ground tour beginning Monday. Elected to the Montana Senate in 2006 after serving four, two-year terms in the Montana House, Brown has held several GOP legislative leadership posts. He said he was "compelled to run because state spending is completely out of control."...

State Sen. Mike Cooney, a well-known name in Montana Democratic politics, recently accepted an unadvertised $72,000-a-year job in state government. Cooney said the job had nothing to do with political patronage and ... Kelly also brushed aside the suggestion that Cooney got the job because he's a prominent Democrat. Cooney, who served as secretary of state for 12 years ending in 2000, will begin work as head of the Department of Labor's Business Standards Division on July 10, said Keith Kelly, the state labor commissioner who heads the department. Kelly, a Democrat appointed by Gov. Brian Schweitzer, said he approached...

HELENA — Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Thursday declared an emergency for wildfire danger because of current bone-dry conditions and forecasts for continued hot, dry weather, authorizing National Guard pilots to begin training to fight wildfires (Snip) Schweitzer warned of the possibility for a wildfire “blowup” earlier this year and in March asked the National Guard to return some of Montana’s 1,500 Guard troops and aircraft in Iraq and elsewhere for the wildfire season. He claims the Defense Department has turned a deaf ear to his request, although military officials say no state has been left with less than half of...

HELENA, Mont. - Gov. Brian Schweitzer, fearing a "public relations nightmare" for Montana, said Wednesday he wants to cancel a hunt for bison that wander outside Yellowstone National Park. The newly inaugurated Democrat said he hopes to find a way to postpone the season for a year — it's set to start Jan. 15 — by either ordering the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks not to issue licenses, or by filling the Fish and Game Commission with new members who would reverse the decision to approve the hunt. Schweitzer said he is not sure he can legally do the...

South Carolina's GOP Senate Primary Forces Beasley Into Runoff NewsMax.com Wires Wednesday, June 9, 2004 Hoping for a political comeback, former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley found himself unable to clinch a primary victory and was forced into a runoff in his bid to win the Republican nomination for one of the nation's most closely watched Senate seats. Tuesday's primary put Beasley up against three-term Rep. Jim DeMint in the GOP's effort to grab the longtime Democrat seat held by retiring Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings. Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum won the Democrats' nomination. Beasley got 37 percent of the vote,...

<p>HELENA -- Democrat Brian Schweitzer Monday reported raising another $106,000 the past three months for his 2004 gubernatorial campaign, continuing his record-setting pace for rolling up early cash in a Montana governor's race.</p> <p>This year, the Whitefish farmer/rancher has raised a total of $361,000 -- far more than a Montana gubernatorial candidate has ever raised at this point in the campaign.</p>