Cowboy humor

There is humor in today's Billings Gazette as well. A number of state senators have requested a confirmation hearing for Stan Boone, citing a 1996 incident where he threatened a brand inspector (his defense is that no charges were filed against him.)

Montana Headlines would like to make the helpful suggestion that there are a few ranchers in Montana other than Boone. One of them might be willing to serve on the Montana Board of Livestock. The administration might even consider asking the Montana Stockgrowers Association for some names, since last we heard, they had more than one member.

The humor here is that Boone indignantly says that all of this is politically motivated. Well, yes it is -- mainly because his appointment was politically motivated. Boone gives the evidence for the political motivation when he told reporters that the governor's staff asked him no questions about the 1996 incident.

We know nothing about Boone or his politics, but if the administration's main concern was having a good representative of the ranching industry on the board, they would have asked basic questions like: "Is there anything in your past that might be an embarrassment or that might hamper your ability to be a good liaison with the cattle-producing industry in Montana?" Or, "have you ever been cited for a violation of laws relating to the cattle industry?" (He was cited 4 times, demanding that he appear before a justice of the peace.)

Democrats know that there are a lot of ranchers in Montana. Their problem is the shortage of Democratic partisans amongst their ranks. But that's really their problem, isn't it?

Perhaps some of the bipartisanship that Democrats are always demanding could come into play here, and a representative Republican rancher (with a clean record -- we are told by Democrats that they want clean government) could be appointed.