Not sure if this is something that is done commonly elsewhere around the country, but it was a first for Montana to have a candidate send a fundraising letter to supporters of his opponents, citing exactly what they had donated to Republican candidates in the last election cycle.
As we note in the Montana Headlines commentary, every Republican we know of who got one of these letters was ticked off about it.
And also, as we note in the MH commentary, the specific content of the reactions have been a sort of Rorschach test of how individual Republicans feel about the governor.
The governor was almost certainly doing this to provoke a reaction -- he certainly got one. The question is whether it will be to his long-term benefit or detriment.
I think people are overlooking the intimidate factor here. Suddenly you get mailings from the Govt showing how much you donated to his opponent and asking for a similar donation? I think this is a calculated move of political thuggery. People should be ringing their legislature phone off the hook demanding this be investigated. While it may be legal, it is certainly unethical
“Republicans are not amused.”
If the GOP were to offer meaningful choices, they would not have to worry about their base crossing over to Dems.
On the other hand, in the last cycle we had one Republican (INO) state Senate Candidate running against a popular Dem incumbent, who gathered support from many Democrats and the endorsement of usually faithful Democratic supporters, such as labor unions (including teachers unions) and still lost.
These examples are from the Eugene area, where weird stuff like that happens. During election cycles I see groups of lawn signs all the time touting the Republicans in most races alongside signs for Defazo (Rat) for the US House. Go figure.
It means that even dems are waking up to the fact that he’s a clinton-lite loser, he never was real governor material like Marc Roscoe. Montana’s economy is doing well now because of past republican fiscal restraint, which BS is squandering as fast as he can by paying off his teachers, union buddies.
But world wide financial storm clouds are gathering on the horizon, BS knows he’ll go under too if Montana’s economy tanks because of it. Thus he’s using police state tactics in finding how much money was given to Reps by Reps, using the velvet glove of intimidation(we know who you are). This violates the principle of the secret ballot, one of the foundation stones of our democracy. It was put in place so that there would be no retaliation for voting for an opponent. On that basis, could he be called to account in a court of law? At least it shows he’s already running scared, and a LOT can happen in the next 12 months.
If I lived in Montana and received that letter, I am pretty sure I’d be furious.
There seems to be an implied threat in this. It’s almost like a “protection” scheme.