Initiating compromise in Helena

Yesterday, Montana Headlines asked again why Democrats in Helena seem to have taken an "all or nothing" approach rather than working toward some visible compromise.

Jeff Mangan makes a good point over at MOTTO when he says that MH is missing the "subtle point" that the onus for initiating compromise proposals is on the party not in power.

This is perhaps true, but it has seemed to us that Republicans have done more of that than they get credit for doing. Given their druthers, the GOP would have liked to eliminate the business equipment tax completely, but settled on a proposal to drop it a single percentage point from 3% to 2%.

They would have liked to hold the overall spending increase to more like 4 or 5%, but instead proposed 13%, which is about half-way between this and the executive branch's request for 23% (and given how the bartering process works, this means they understood that the final number would be somewhere between 13% and 23% -- which is meeting Democrats more than half-way.)

They would have liked to include everyone in property tax relief, but have recently said that they would be willing to exclude large corporations, since that seems to be a sticking point with many Democrats.

There are many other examples. The problem seems to be that many Democrats instantly label Republican proposals as "extreme." We don't doubt that they view them as such -- but then many Republicans view Democratic proposals as being extreme, even though more liberal proponents probably think they are acting with restraint.

We agree with MOTTO that we would like to see more from the Republican Senate leadership, but at the same time, given the fact that Senate Democrats have shown that they have the same ability to band together to pass bills on party-line votes that Republicans have shown in the House, we would imagine that any effective influence Republican Senators have is going to be quiet and behind the scenes.

Mike Lange is out of control again

As if the other stuff wasn't bad enough, now we have the following:

Mike Lange needed a crossover vote from the Democrats -- one would have done it -- to pass a piece of legislation near and dear to his heart. Of course, it was really one of his conservative compadres who was to blame, since the Republicans plus Jore make 51 -- but that didn't stop Lange from going ballistic on some Democrats.

Next thing you know, he was calling a radio station in the home town of a Democrat that he thought should have voted for his bill, criticizing said Democratic legislator. Reports of Lange's comments include words like "hopping mad," and "wrath."

Lange, known for using colorful analogies when criticizing his opponents, had this to say: "I didn't hear people in his district say, 'We're against that bill.' I heard, 'Giddyup.'" "But," Lange continued, "he instead pulled back on the reins and took the saddle off."

Lange went on to say that while he wasn't going to distribute attack fliers in the middle of a session to try to influence votes, he just couldn't remain silent about this: "You can't say one thing back home and then vote another way in Helena."

In other news, Governor Schweitzer, who has been known to reach into his pocket for a pen and come out with a rifle cartridge "by mistake," engaged in more explicitly threatening behavior when he went into Republican legislative offices, threatening legislators by making hand pistols and saying that "blood-letting" was going to begin if he didn't get the votes he wanted. He pretended to fire shots, but witnesses differed in their stories at this point.

Some said that he said "bang, bang!" Most, however, agreed that he used the more realistic and frightening sound of "pshew, pshew, pshew!" One witness said that the governor used a one-gun technique, using the palm of his other hand to rapidly brush the "thumb hammer" to quickly recock a hand-revolver.

Most observers, however, agreed that he was a "two-gun kid," rapidly firing off shots in multiple directions with each hand. "From the way he held his hands, I don't think this was an Old West kind of thing -- he seemed to be imagining that he had a semi-automatic Glock in each hand," a visibly shaken Scott Sales murmured.

Full stories here and here.

Things are getting rough up in Helena, and its about time we see some moderate leadership from the Senate -- both sides of the aisle.