Thursday, November 01, 2012

Halloween



Things are getting real strange up there in Bozeman.  After a bunch of American Traditions Partnership papers show up in a meth lab, but the state committee administering election laws can't do anything about it cause, well, it was a meth lab, the ATP head honcho bleats that it belongs to him, which means the state committee can do anything about it, and then, well, there is a break in (thanks to ER's Montana correspondent, RN)
The basement is where the contested documents from American Tradition Partnership consultant Christian LeFer were held until recently, as had previously been reported in the news.
LeFer is seeking the return of the documents, claiming they were previously stolen before ending up at the political practices office.
Political practices program supervisor Mary Baker said the documents are secure, and previously had been moved off-site. The staff has not found anything missing.
"It is hard to tell for sure because there are so many documents here in the office," Baker said.
ATP is involved in several lawsuits with the state, which argues the group is engaged in illegal electioneering. The conservative group, actively attacking Attorney General Steve Bullock in a fake newspaper being distributed around the state, is also suing the state over campaign finance laws.

The tax-exempt social welfare group convinced federal courts earlier this month to suspend the state's campaign contribution limits, a decision reversed six days later as arguments continue in that case. That has led to turmoil in the governor's race over a disputed $500,000 donation to Republican candidate Rick Hill, who is running against Bullock.

12 comments:

Rattus Norvegicus said...

Eli, it's Bozeman, with an 'e'. Please have some respect for us residents...

Otherwise, yep, shit's getting weird.

Hank Roberts said...

David Brin has a message that should go up on a billboard in Bozeman:

http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/

Attention henchmen! Voting machines and other flawed conspiracies


------

Damn. ReCaptcha just presented me with a fragment of script that could be part of my handwritten name.

"... I am letting a cat out of the bag. (I have permission to say this much.) If we see a repeat of 2000, with an election -- even a local Congressional race -- stolen by weird electoral veers in suspicious precincts that stink to high heaven, those billionaires will go public with their offer! Millions in exchange for proof that is iron-clad and solid.

Now look at your co-henchmen in the conspiracy. Consider that they have already recorded you..... only the first one to blab will get the bonanza.

I'd get busy, if I were you...."
_____________

David B. Benson said...

Fake newspaper?

Anonymous said...

It's unfortunate that Bozemangate doesn't sound as catchy as Watergate.

--cynicus

Rattus Norvegicus said...

David,

The fake newspaper is called '"The Montana Statesman" (est. 1889)'. They run fake news stories based on snippets of truth. Sort of like Faux news, except less credible. ATP has been using it as an organ to give credibility to their charges than the Democratic candidate for governor is coddling sex offenders in his current job as AG. You can check out the website of "Montana's most trusted news source", if you dare...

coeruleus said...

Do we know who stole the Climategate e-mails yet?

Rattus Norvegicus said...

And stuff keeps getting weirder in Big Sky Country. These guys are going down!

David B. Benson said...

Rattus Norvegicus --- Thank you and I dare not dare.

THE CLIMATE WARS said...

For tradition's sake, they should stick to the steroids their meteorologists use.

EliRabett said...

and it's not even clear this is the meth lab stuff. This is two for John Mashey. Bet he is on the plane to Helena by Sunday:)

Ed Darrell said...

Do we know who stole the Climategate e-mails yet?

Christian LaFler is a leading suspect at the moment.

Rattus Norvegicus said...

Ed, Ed, Ed, it's Christian LaFer. I wouldn't want an innocent man accused of his crimes...