WEEK 3

I have COMMITTED to writing a little bit each day of what I’ve been doing here in Helena Montana since I got my new job representing District #38.
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1-16-23 Day 11 (Monday, week 3)
Reported to Judiciary Committee meeting at 8 a.m. and heard 2 bills.
1st one was brought by Representative Bob Phalen and was designed to allow adultery in marriage to be used as cause for a divorce. Asset’s are usually split, but adultery, by either party, could effect the division of assets, depending on how the case is presented to the Judge. I am planning on supporting this bill.
2nd Bill brought before the committee was brought by 23 year old Representative Braxton Mitchell. It’s so good to see these younger Republicans involved in making Montana a great place to live. This bill would make it possible for parents to get a death certificate for what’s called a “non-viable birth”, to help with closure. I thought it was an excellent bill as ¼ of all pregnancies end with a non-viable birth and it’s entirely optional on the parents part. This bill fits my view that life begins the moment the sperm touches the egg.
I got out of committee and found out my Dad had passed away. Dad was 97 years old and living in Holy Rosary Extended Care in Miles City. I had said my goodbye’s before I moved to Helena, so it was no surprise but I still find myself very emotional as I try to write this. He was such a great Dad! I’d like to share a couple of stories.
My mom had 6 late term miscarriages, and couldn’t carry a baby full term. They eventually saw a doctor in Denver and Mom finally had a successful pregnancy with my birth. Dad hadn’t gotten a bill from this Doctor, and started making calls. Now, I need to backup on this story a few years. Dad had lost his mother when a surgeon left an instrument inside her during a surgery. She got gangrene and passed. Dad was only 9. Now, here he is on the phone with their Denver Doctor, questioning why they had not received a bill. It got very quiet, and the Doctor said that there will be no bill. He relayed to dad that HE was the young doctor that had left the instrument inside my Dads mom. This was his way of trying to “make it right”
One more quick story … Dad was on a submarine in WW2, and he was a forward torpedo man. His sub sank the largest tonnage ship in WW2, a Japanese troop transport called the Shinano. 10,000 Japanese troops were on board. What an amazing part of our US history and my dad was right there!!! I’ll miss my Dad …
This is a great time to discuss something on my heart right now. I know this Journal is to keep everyone in touch with what is going on with my activities in Helena, but this is something that touches every minute of my life, no matter where I am. We will all die at some point and the questions many people ask are, ” What happens … is it all over? Do I just cease to exist? Where will I spend forever? I would like to share my story …
When I married Alice, she insisted we go to church. I didn’t share her enthusiasm because in 1979, coyotes were each worth $100 +, so on a good weekend, I could make more money doing this, than I could working all week for L.P. Anderson. Church was not even an option. Looking back, I really had no idea Who I was dealing with, but a seed had been planted. Alice told me that this church had a midweek service. I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed but I did understand that you could win all the battles and still loose the war, so with reluctance, I consented to go the Wednesday night church service and was totally shocked. People were very friendly and Pastor Jerry & Becky Coon preached out of the Bible … like it might be factual!!! We were asked to a Couple’s Bible Study and given workbooks. So, for the first time in my life, I had to read the Bible to get my homework done and I found I had many questions. Right here, I am reminded of a quote by Mark Twain when he was asked about the parts of the Bible he didn’t understand … He said he wasn’t bothered by the parts he couldn’t understand but was bothered by the parts that he DID understand. I made an appointment with pastor and I shared with him that I had been educated my whole life, that evolution was a fact and I shared with him that I thought a person could not believe the New Testament unless the Old Testament was true … it was all or none. He agreed, so I asked his position on evolution and he told me this story …
Pastor said, let’s assume there is an air force bomber flying over Miles City and the plane drops a 500 lb bomb in the junk yard. The bomb explodes and when the smoke clears, down in the crater sits a brand new corvette with the keys in it. You could open the door, have a seat, start the engine and drive off. I told him that could never happen. Pastor agreed but said, evolution never happened, either. I thanked him and left, but my brain was spinning as I re-evaluated my entire world views. We kept going to Bible Study and things made more and more sense and found I could trust His Book. Thru this process, I made an educated decision to trust Jesus Christ as my Savior and started attending Church on Sundays. Pastors Jerry and Becky have played a huge role in our lives thru all these years … they told us about Jesus!!! When we accept Jesus Christ’s payment on the Cross for our sins, our sins are forgiven. Maybe not in mans eyes, but in God’s eyes, we are totally forgiven … we are perfect in God’s eyes. Our sins are forgiven and forgotten … the best deal on the planet.!!!
I hope everyone will take me up on my 30 second challenge … read the Bible for 30 seconds a day and never miss. The catch? You just might read it a little longer … THANKS for letting me share my testimony with you.
1-17-23 Day 12 (Tuesday week 3)
8 a.m. and starting my day on the Judiciary Committee. 19 members total with 13 Republicans and 6 Democrats. This count is reflective of the 68-32 split in the House Caucus.
The Democrats have loaded this committee with members that reflect their party values. Zoey Zephyr is the 1st transgender elected to the Montana Legislature and SJ Howell is the first non-binary elected to the Legislature. Laura Smith & Tom France are very intelligent, well-spoken attorneys, so this group is very reflective of the modern Democrat party. On the Republican side of the Judiciary Committee is Chairwoman, Amy Regier, who is also a practicing nurse. Amy’s dad is a Senator (Keith Reiger) and her brother Matt is Speaker of the House. An impressive family! Vice Chair is Brandon Ler, who is a farmer, rancher and fencing contractor from Sidney. Amy & Brandon are some of the awesome younger Republicians involved in our state politics and do a great job running this contentious committee. Another member is Braxton Mitchell ( I mentioned him above) His family owns Montana Jerky Company. He is no stranger to hard work, plus very bold and outspoken in his conservative values. I really enjoy the challenges of being on this committee. I will introduce you to more members of this committee as we move forward.
Today was a slow legislative day … some executive action on bills we have previously listened to. If we vote “yes” in committee, the bill moves on to the house floor, where all 100 representatives vote on the bill.
Attended a wonderful gathering last night at the Great Northern Hotel. They called it the “Colstrip Community Legislative Reception” and there was a huge announcement … Northwest Power will be the sole owner of all power generation in Colstrip. This will ensure baseload power for Montana for many years to come. I’m thinking we owe this to Governor G … it’s HUGE!
Representative Flament’s position was vacated, as he became very ill. Former Legislator, Ed Butcher, was selected to fill his seat. This is great news as Ed is as conservative as it gets & maybe just a little outspoken. LOL!!!
Off to the Windsor Steak House in Boulder for rib eye and a gathering for Freshman Legislators. Back home by 10:30pm.
1-18-23 Wednesday (Day 13 week 3)
Judiciary Committee meeting … 8 a.m. We heard Representative Kari Seekins Crow present an interesting bill dealing with county jails daily reimbursement for keeping State Prision inmates, MSP (Montana State Prison). Current reimbursement is slightly under $70 per day and does not cover actual costs. Many county jails keep MSP inmates & loose money every day, on every inmate and this needs to be fixed. Representitive Neal Duram, a fellow Republican and recent retiree from the Highway Patrol, is one of our best questioner on our committee. He called on the informational witness from the MSP (Montana State Prison) and questioned her from every angle. He could not get a “cost per day” out of this witness. It shocked me that she couldn’t or wouldn’t answer that question. Sherriff Linder from Billings said his jail is rated for 460 inmates, but the count currently was over 600. Testimony closed and we will vote in a couple of days. I will vote “yes” for more money for the counties.
At 1 p.m. each day, all 100 Representatives meet in the House Chamber to vote. Right now, it goes quite fast as the majority of the bills are agency bills & not contentious as of yet.
3 p.m. and I report to the Energy Committee. We have an informational meeting by the electrical co-op’s that supply electricity to 400,000 Montanans. The electric meter count is Northwest Power 380,000, Co-op’s 179,381 and MDU 26,000. Alice and I leave at 4:30 p.m. and head to Bozeman to get her on the plane. She has a 2 day meeting in Nashville. During the drive, my phone rang and it was DEQ Director Dorrington (Department of Environmental Quality) He asked if I would like to go on a state mine tour. I have met Director Dorrington several times and enjoyed our visits. I told him that I just couldn’t be gone all day. He assured me it wouldn’t take all day. I questioned his answer and he relayed to me that we would be going via helicopter. I texted Chairwoman Amy Rieger and got an “OK” for the day off of Committee. It’s action-packed every day but I have enjoyed every minute of it!
1-19-23 Thursday (Day 14 week 3)
Got to the Capitol at 6:30 a.m. this morning as people began to gather in the capitol Rotunda for a big start to the day … the Governor’s Prayer Breakfast. At 8 a.m. I was picked up from the parking lot for my mine tour with Director Dorrington. 3 white DNRC Suburbans are waiting for us. Our group arrives at the DNRC helicopter hanger at the Helena airport. This got very interesting as we toured the facility. DNRC is a state agency that fights wild land fires on state land. I had no idea that they built their own helicopters in this facility. These copters carry 8 people but when they are out on a fire, they have a 300 gallon dip bucket they carry along. The DNRC obtains old “Huey” helicopters and cobra engines from the military for free. They retro-fit the engines to the Huey’s, do all the welding, wiring, painting and total overhaul. Somewhere between 500 & 1000 hours later, they have a functioning helicopter. I had no idea about this and I bet you didn’t either. This allows for a very fast response time to fires because they are not as incumbered by rules as the BLM. After the facilities tour, we load up in the helicopters and off we go. We toured many mine sights all around Helena, where some present a clean up and monitoring challenge for the DEQ. It’s easy to see why Montana is called the “Treasure State”, with all of these amazing natural resources around.
We got back to the Capitol at 12:15 p.m. and I grabbed some lunch in the Rotunda. I got to my seat in the house floor, as session starts at 1 p.m. Agriculture Committee at 3 p.m. for a couple of agency bills and some executive action on previous bills. We are done at 4:30 p.m. but can’t really leave as the kickoff for the Montana Freedom Caucus starts @ 6:30 p.m. This is a group that I wholeheartedly support, and the reason Miles City sent me to Helena … to defend our freedom and constitution. I’ve always said that our freedom is horribly expensive to gain and hard to keep. Back home for the evening … what a fun and exciting day!
1-20-23 Friday (Day 15 week 3)
Pulled into the Capitol parking lot at 6:15 a.m. I have a habit from years of self-employment … go early and stay late. Judiciary starts at 8 a.m. and apparently I missed a big one yesterday while on helicopter tour. Representative Bob Phalen presented a bill on keeping porn out of school libraries. I guess the committee session went till 12:30 p.m. and was very contentious on both sides. By proxy I supported the bill.
We listened to a bill presented by Representative Terry Moore. Terry is a former CEO of 1st Interstate Bank and is my whip leader. I have absolute respect for the man. This was a governing bill for the Board of Investments. This board manages over $20 billion dollars, so this is a big deal. Terry’s bill basically said that they need to keep politics out of the board … don’t incumber them with political rhetoric. A very good bill by Representive Moore. This will be a “yes” vote from HD38.
Chairwoman Reiger started something new this year. When our Judiciary Committee adjourns we can head to the “Bull Pen”, which is a large room in capitol basement given to the Republican caucus, to meet. Totally optional attendance, but I try to never miss it.
Later, I was cornered by an ACLU lobbyist, (A lobbyist for the students at U of M), & a bill sponsor. This was about landlords, mainly in Bozeman & Missoula, that charge fee’s to simply apply for a rental. $150 is typical. Many times the fee is paid by the renters and they never hear back from anyone. Such a rip-off!!! I promised a “yes” vote in committee, but then learned later many of the restrictions in the bill make it much harder to actually manage property. We voted in committee and I was the only Republican that votes “yes” … but, I kept my word. The bill failed in committee. This was a very good, inexpensive lesson for me.
I head up stairs and there is a “Save the Planet” rally in the Rotunda put on by Advocates for Climate Action. I couldn’t even get to the stairs but one of the Sergeant of Arm’s (Security) who I see and speak to daily, sees me and clears the crowd so I can get to the third floor where the House session meets. The “Convention of States” group is hosting a lunch. I grabbed a sack and head for the floor chamber to eat my lunch in quiet.
Will close this week out with this note. Representative Phalen presented his bill in Judiciary on porn in school libraries. People that care about this, or any other issue, can call or email their Representives or Senators and their concerns are recorded on what is called a “blue sheet”. These sheets are transported to the Representative’s desk via a House Page (volunteer high schoolers from around the state, a great program!) I found, on my desk,
1 ½” thick of these “blue sheets”, with both pros and cons pertaining to this issue. Good reading for a bit, and happy people are paying attention. Its definately hard to fall asleep in the Judiciary Committee!!