Furey said he didn't get hired because of political connections and that he had applied for numerous other state jobs before getting this one. "This was the only one that I was even offered," he said.
In the very next sentence, the last of the article, Dennison does what a good reporter does -- just tells the facts:
Furey is married to Sarah Elliott, who is communications director for Gov. Brian Schweitzer.
We have part of the new Democratic guard, such as Sen. Jon Tester, claiming to take ethical standards to new heights in Montana. And then we have old-fashioned political back-scratching using government jobs.
Democrats across the state who want government jobs in Helena should be beating down the doors to run for the legislature -- its the new revolving door.
The sad part of it is that Furey's job is to be an "energy development officer." Missoula, as everyone knows, is a real hotbed of energy development.
Perhaps we're missing something here, but wouldn't a good energy development officer be someone with experience in energy development? Maybe Furey has such experience, but if so, it's a well-kept secret. We find it hard to believe that Furey is the most qualified person for such a task that the executive branch could find.
But then, given that virtually nothing has been done by this executive branch to promote energy development in Montana over the last 4 years, Furey will fit right in.
Oh, yes, a little wind energy development has happened (with interesting ownership connections, it seems,) and that's great. If only we could set up some thermo-sensitive turbines just outside of Helena to harness all the hot air being expended, talking about energy development -- now then we'd maybe be getting somewhere.
We will have to wait for a Gov. Roy Brown before Montana can start to realize some of our energy revenue potential that has the coffers of states like North Dakota and Wyoming over-flowing.
