Montana Senate leadership in action -- part II

Montana Headlines recently criticized the Montana Senate for having already exceeded the executive branch's excessive proposed increases in state spending.

Apparently, we ain't seen nothin' yet, since the tab continues to rise and the education budget hasn't even had a chance to get inflated yet.

Montana Headlines isn't sure exactly how to take Sen. Rick Laible, R-Darby, whom the Gazette reports as saying that the proposed budget represents "the best compromise." I guess we clearly don't understand what the word "compromise" means.

We've always known that it means something different in the Democratic vocabulary than in the Republican vocabulary. Sort of like "independent streak," which in the Democratic vocabulary apparently means voting with one's party a mere 90% of the time. (Hat tip to 4&20BB for that link.) But it seems that a number of Montana's Senate Republicans are now reading from the same dictionary.

If there is one thing to be thankful for, it is that Montana's taxpayers are seeing the grand totals on their 2006 state income tax bills this same week. One hopes that taxpayers will take notes on who is voting how.

But we sure are grateful to the Senate for spending all of our money so peaceful-like, with the two parties sending each other orders of pizza and what-not to help each other through the hard work of writing amendments to spend more money. We dread writing "Montana Senate leadership in action -- part III," but we can see it coming.

Oh, one more thing -- Sen. John Cobb, R-Augusta tells us not to worry, since so much of the proposed spending is federal dollars rather than state dollars. Of course, everyone is seeing their federal income tax totals this week, too.