it's been a while

Yes, it's been a while since our last post. The absence is due to various reasons -- being busy on a number of other projects, not a great deal of Governor Schweitzer news and certainly that he will not be leading a presidential campaign in 2008.

So, our posting will be slow here but we will continue to add items that catch our eye.

Great Falls Tribune editorial
May 17, 2007

'Square Deal' trumps 'Handshake'

There will be plenty of detailed analysis in the coming days and weeks on what the 60th Montana Legislature has wrought.

But one of the first things that strikes you as you look at the big picture is that the governor's Square Deal with Montana fared better than the Republicans' Handshake with Montana.

In fact, things went just about the way Gov. Brian Schweitzer predicted in a meeting with the Tribune editorial board four months ago.

At the time he said that lawmakers would engage in fiery rhetoric for 85 days and use tactics that would make everything look to be in jeopardy, but that in the last five days they'd come together and pass a budget, tax plans and programs to move the state forward.

We doubt if he expected the level of rhetoric ­ the gutter level in some cases ­ and some of the tactics that actually occurred, but he wasn't too far off.

Also, he didn't anticipate that those last five days would be days 91 through 95, a special session.

But in the final analysis the pieces that came together last Friday, Monday and Tuesday bore a striking resemblance to what the governor proposed back in December.

A few components were missing ­ special pursuit of out-of-state tax cheats died, for example, as did setting up a reserve fund to compensate counties with large amounts of protested taxes and a reduction in business equipment taxes ­ but the majority of his program made it through in some form.

Go here for the remainder.