15 February 2016

Presidents Day briefs

Legislators stretch per diem and ethics by dining on lobbyists’ dime. It’s legal, reports Rep. Andrew Person (D-Missoula) in an oped in today’s Missoulian (thanks, Bob W., for calling this to my attention). The most innocent explanation is that it helps cash strapped legislators stretch their per diem and reduce out-of-pocket cost. But at heart, it’s a bribe and a corrupt practice. Person would prohibit all “gifts” from lobbyists to legislators. He’s right.

Updated at 18:42:36 MST. Not performing an autopsy on Scalia was a mistake. The official cause of death is natural causes. That was determined by official proclamation, not by scientific investigation, and accords with his family’s wishes. But he died unattended, was a sitting justice on the Supreme Court, a figure of enormous importance, and the public’s need to know for certain what caused his death far outweighs the wishes of his family. There is already speculation that his family is covering up evidence of dementia. And at some point, right wing nutcases will allege he was murdered by unknown persons loyal to President Obama — and without an autopsy, there won’t be solid fact to refute such accusations.

Update. Some people vehemently disagree with my position, and have let me know in the kind of clear language Scalia would applaud. They see it as an issue of personal privacy, which is their right. But as the Washington Post notes tonight, authorities in Texas already are coming under fire for their incurious conduct and embrace of diagnosis by telephone. Justice, and the justice, are not being served well.

Identity politics and Obama’s next nomination to the Supreme Court. There are reports aplenty that the leading candidates are mostly women and racial and ethnic minorities. There are disproportionately few white men on these lists. I know some will think it racist of me to say so, but I think Obama should select the best person for the job on the basis of legal knowledge, intelligence, an appreciation of, and compassion for, the human predicament, and judicial temperament. Race, ethnicity, and gender, should neither matter nor be selection criteria.

Montana’s Democrats, as usual, are slow to file for statewide partisan office. So far, only candidate for auditor Jesse Laslovich has filed. Gubernatorial candidate Steve Bullock has not filed. Neither has secretary of state candidate Monica Lindeen nor superintendent of public instruction candidate Melissa Romano-Lehman. All have filed C-1s, which allows them to raise money. And, of course, no Democrat has filed for, or filed a C-1 for, or even announced for, attorney general because the MT AFL-CIO and MEA-MFT have endorsed Republican incumbent Tim Fox for the office. Fox filed while the unions were defiling their reputations.

Statewide Democrats like to wait as long as possible before filing, perhaps to collect interest on the filing fee, then hold a series of filing rallies on the steps of the capitol. The rallies are good for a news story, but mainly serve to inspirit the campaign’s staff and volunteers. I think it’s best to file and rally on the first of filing, then from the gitgo run as though one were being chased by the sheriff.

LaVoy Finicum’s death has temporarily deranged Oregon’s legislature. Finicum was killed — and instantly transformed into a martyr — by Oregon’s state police. Exactly how his shooting went down now is being investigated by the Deschutes County (Bend) sheriff’s office. I have questions, but I’m waiting for the report. Meanwhile, the state police, having received threats against the yet unnamed officer who killed Finicum, have asked Oregon’s legislature for a law authorizing police to withhold the officer’s name for three months (the police asked for six months). That bill is being whooped through the legislature as quickly as the Patriot Act was whooped through Congress. I used to live in Oregon, but I don’t remember such reckless behavior by the legislature. Perhaps I just wasn’t paying close enough attention.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown, incidentally, has not earned accolades of glory for her conduct during the Malheur affair. She never did visit Burns to let its residents know they were just as important to her as the liberals in the Willamette Valley. Then she started screaming for action, which I think could have been a factor in the hastily planned ambush that captured Bundy and killed Finicum.

Ammon Bundy used the occupation as a soapbox for his off the bell curve views, which was his intent, but the occupation also called attention to the right wing land use thugs who have been harassing government workers for decades, which was not his intent. I suspect Bundy and others will be convicted of conspiracy and do hard time, but it would not surprise me if some of the small fry occupiers wangle plea bargains to lesser offenses or even have the charges against them dropped. That’s because it would surprise me if all of the occupiers were found to have the mental capacity to knowingly engage in a conspiracy.

Kudus to Bernie Sanders’ Montana supporters for gathering enough signatures to qualify him for the Montana primary in June. Hillary Clinton’s filing for the primary is still pending. She’ll make the ballot, eventually.

Should Donald Trump have been arrested for disorderly conduct at the Republican debate on Saturday? Or should he just have been sent to sit on a stool in the time-out corner until he improved his manners? And why was Dr. Ben Carson invited to the debate? He received less than three percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary. His answer to the two o’clock phone call question — basically, “take two aspirin and see me in the morning after I learn something about the subject” — was embarrassingly naive even for a 13-year-old.