A current state lawmaker forwarded me an e-mail from Roger Koopman, the former state representative who now heads the Montana Conservative Alliance and is on a mission to find candidates who will challenge “liberal” Republicans in the upcoming primaries.
Koopman sent out a conservative litmus test to every GOP candidate to help gauge who is worthy of his group’s support. So far, few are making the cut and even fewer are responding to the survey at all. The “urgent memorandum” titled “pro-freedom candidates needed!” finds something wrong with dozens of Republican candidates. A few statistics, based on statements in the e-mail:
GOP candidates who are too liberal: at least 23
GOP candidates who ignored the survey: at least 30
In Libby’s House District 2, the only Republican candidate to file, Mike Cuffie, scored a 24 percent on the MCA questionnaire.
In Kalispell’s House Districts 4 and 8, neither of the GOP candidates – Derek Skees and Carl Glimm – filled out the survey. “These people need to be carefully checked out,” the e-mail reads, “and possibly other candidates recruited.”
For the record, I’ve delved into this questionnaire and I don’t necessary think it is a good gauge of someone’s politics.
Here’s the e-mail in its entirety
With the filing deadline for legislative candidates less than three weeks away, the cause of freedom desperately needs your help! Voters are tired of being let down by phony politicians who say they want lower taxes, less government and more freedom, but then go to Helena and vote for the exact opposite!
This year, we need to make sure that we put true limited government conservatives on the ballot. That’s what Montana Conservative Alliance is striving to do – working with tea party activists and other conservative groups and leaders around the state.
Attached are two extremely important sets of information, included in the document entitled “LEGISLATIVE RACES,” which lists all currently filed legislative candidates across the state. (Note: only Republicans were included because it is only in Republican primaries where we have hopes of filling seats with conservatives.
The first column of numbers (green) are the just-released Montana Conservatives scorecard ratings on the voting records of all incumbent Republican legislators. No Democrat scored over 6%, so we saw no reason to include them. Separate attachments named “TAB RATINGS” and “TAB EXPLANATION” features all legislators.
This “TAB” rating system (Taxpayers’ Advisory Bulletin) was tabulated by Montana Conservatives, and is based on 90 recorded House votes and 70 recorded Senate votes, twice the number we used 2 years ago. It is an extremely reliable indicator of each legislator’s support for bigger versus smaller government.
The second column of numbers (blue) represents the scores of all those Republican candidates who returned our 50-question MCA “Principles Questionnaire.” The names in RED are those GOP candidates who, despite repeated reminders, refused to respond to our conservative survey. As they were warned, ignoring this important survey will be interpreted as (a) a desire to hide their liberal/big government views, or (b) a general disinterest in attracting conservative, pro-freedom support. We cannot recommend any of them at this time.
Please begin by looking at the legislative races in your area. Your immediate conclusion will be that – with notable exceptions – there is a HUGE shortage of conservative, limited government candidates filing for office. We who believe in liberty are facing a desperate situation. We must act now! After the March 15th deadline, we will have to “live with” whatever candidates are on the ballot.
MCA stands ready to help you in recruiting good candidates in your area – and assisting them later in getting elected. You can use our questionnaire to “vet” potential candidates if you’d like (send them to us and we’ll score them for you.) Or you can refer people to us who we can contact directly. Whatever it takes, we’re ready to help.
But we must find these candidates to run in Republican primaries, or after March 15, it will be too late, and we will have yet another state legislature that expands big government and destroys our freedoms. It really won’t matter which party is in charge.
I’ll be unavailable after March 5, but former state representative Scott Orr, who recently assumed the vice presidency of Montana Conservative Alliance, will continue to work on this project until the 15th. Scott is a terrific patriot and very savvy guy. I encourage you to contact him for help whenever we can assist you. His number is 406-388-1772; e-mail: [email protected].
There are some great candidates already filed that we will tell you about later. But below are some of the highest priority areas where we MUST still find pro-freedom candidates to file in the Republican primaries (or verify as conservative, those candidates who have already filed but ignored our questionnaire):
HELENA: Republican Senators Dave Lewis (SD 42) and Terry Murphy (SD 39) are complete disasters. They, of course, tossed the MCA questionnaire, but their TAB voting records show conservative ratings of 10% and 12% respectively. That means, on important bills, they vote with the liberal Democrats approx. 90 percent of the time. No conservative has filed against either of these big government liberals. We need candidates to step up immediately. In the very winnable HD 78, the two GOP candidates (Greenwood and Williams) are philosophical unknowns, having both ignored our survey. A third candidate, Steve Gibson, just filed Monday.
SHELBY/CONRAD/CHESTER/FORT BENTON: Llew Jones wages a personal war against Republican conservatives. His voting record is extremely liberal. Jones is now running for the Senate in SD 14. It is absolutely essential that we give the people of that district a conservative alternative in the Republican primary. Also, House District 28 is represented by liberal Republican Roy Hollandsworth (TAB score of 26). We need a primary candidate there as well. Jones’ vacated House seat (HD 27) has one Republican filed (Rob Cook) of unknown ideology. He would not return the MCA principles survey.
LEWISTOWN: This very conservative area has been “represented” by liberal Republican Jim Peterson (TAB score: 14%.) This rural district includes Judith Gap, Fergus, Petroleum, Garfield and McCone Counties. Hopefully, there is a conservative who will step up and run against Peterson. Once the voters are made aware of his voting record, we predict they will be champing at the bit for a change.
LIBBY: House District 2 is an open seat. The only Republican to file, Mike Cuffie, scored a 24% on his MCA candidate questionnaire.
KALISPELL: House District 4 has one Republican filed, Derek Skees, on whom we have no information because he ignored our principles survey. The same holds true for HD 8, where Carl Glimm is another non-responder. These people need to be carefully checked out, and possibly other candidates recruited.
GREAT FALLS: There are two very liberal Republicans here who need to be defeated in the GOP primary: Jesse O’Hara in HD 18 (his 6% TAB rating was the lowest among all House Republicans) and Brian Hovan, HD 24 (TAB rating of 19%) O’Hara is particularly inclined toward “making deals” with the Democrats. The Senate seat, SD 13, is open and is very winnable by a dynamic conservative. The same is true for HD 26. The two candidates in HD 20 have both discarded our questionnaire.
HAVRE: The vacated seat of Dem. Bob Bergren (HD 33) is a very winnable race for a conservative. Unfortunately, the only Republican candidate filed there (Kris Hansen) will not return our principles questionnaire, so we have no information to share. The same thing applies to SD 17, where GOP filer Rowlie Hutton has blown us off.
SCOBEY: With incumbent Dem. Julie French not seeking re-election, this is an excellent opportunity for a conservative pick-up. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the lone Republican filer (Austin Knudsen) because he will not return our MCA survey. He needs to be locally vetted, and possibly a more conservative candidate recruited for the race.
GLENDIVE/WIBAUX: Walter McNutt (HB 36) has consistently been one of the more liberal Republicans in the entire state legislature. His TAB ratings for ’07 and ’09 were 11% and 24%. He has gotten away with no GOP primary opposition. That must change.
BAKER/MILES CITY/BROADUS: Keith Bales term limited in SD 20, and there is apparently no conservative running for this vacant, very Republican seat. The one filed GOP candidate (Moore) we’ve been told is quite liberal, although this is not verified, since he refuses to return our candidate questionnaire.
HYSHAM/FORSYTH: Duane Ankney, a “Republican in name only,” has a voting record that has avoided notice in HD 43 for too long. His TAB conservative rating is an atrocious 14% (11% in ’07.) He is ripe for defeat if we can recruit a conservative challenger in the primary.
ROUNDUP: In the Senate race (SD 23), only one of the four Republican candidates returned our survey (Galbreath.) Two of the others are known, by their past records, to be very liberal (Noennig and Olson.) Noennig is also “pro-choice.” Prouse is anyone’s guess (ignored survey.) In the House race (HD 45), freshman incumbent Tom Berry has a very poor TAB rating of 26%. He needs to be replaced, but no primary opponent has yet emerged.
COLUMBUS/RED LODGE: So far, the open Senate seat (SD 30) features former Rep. Scott Boggio and newcomer Jason Priest. Priest would not return his survey, so his ideology is questionable. Boggio also did not return the MCA questionnaire, but did at least call me, and expressed his desire for our support. His TAB rating from the 2007 session was 41%. (He claims to have become “more conservative” since then.) The House seat (HD 59) has one GOP filer so far, Joanne Blyton, who is another unknown, having refused the survey.
BILLINGS: Rep. Bill Glaser has not yet re-filed in HD 44, but his TAB rating is a horrible 11%. Likewise, GOP Reps. Elsie Artzen (HD 53) and Don Roberts (HD 56) have low TAB ratings of 18% and 28% respectively. Open House seat HD 57 has two filed GOP candidates, but apparently no conservatives. Bonogofsky, we’re told, is a “pro-choice” liberal; Kennedy had the lowest questionnaire score of any candidate responding (15%.) We have no information on the filed GOP candidates in HD 49 (Olson), HD 52 (Reierson) and HD 54 (Lenz), as none of these people felt a duty to return our survey. We encourage area activists to contact them directly, and determine where they stand on key issues. We suspect that some of these races still need a conservative on the ballot.
BOZEMAN: With the withdrawal of Billie Orr, we desperately need a conservative to file in HD 63 against incumbent Dem,. JP Pomnichowski. This is normally a Republican seat. In HD 69 (one the state’s most conservative districts) Ted Washburn has done a terrible job of representing conservative/Republican principles. His TAB record was an extremely disappointing 28%. The other Republican filed there (Murray) won’t return the survey or my calls. Clearly, a serious conservative needs to file in this primary contest, and would have an excellent chance of winning the seat.
DILLON: This is another very conservative area (HD 72) “represented” by a liberal Republican. Freshman Jeff Welborn has a TAB conservative rating of a pathetic 31%. In recent years, Beaverhead County has elected a number of liberal and liberal-leaning Republicans, primarily because so few true conservatives have stepped up to the plate. It’s time for that tradition to change!
BOULDER/WHITEHALL: This open seat (HD 77) had been very ably represented by Scott Mendenhall, who is term limited. Neither of the two filed Republicans have returned the MCA questionnaire, and both appear to be of the liberal stripe. A good and trusted candidate must be found here. The Senate seat of Terry Murphy (TAB rating of 12) also extends through Jefferson County to Whitehall.
WHITE SULPHUR/HARLOWTON/RYEGATE: Liberal Republican Harry Klock has been skating through in this conservative district with no primary opposition. His TAB conservative rating is a terrible 13%, and he has a very poor record in representing the agricultural community. We must find a challenger for his primary. He is definitely beatable. Note: this district also includes part of Townsend.
HAMILTON/VICTOR: Incumbent Republican Gary MacLaren in HD 89 has a TAB score of 21%, meaning he votes with the Dems 79% of the time on key issues. He needs to be challenged, and his liberal voting record exposed. HD 87 has two unknowns running for this open seat, who will not return our survey. In HD 88, the only Republican filed (Ehli) has a low MCA questionnaire score (39.) HD 90, ably represented by the now term limited Ray Hawk, has one Republican filed (Greef) who ignored the survey, which leads us to conclude that he probably isn’t a reliable conservative.
MISSOULA: Although few Republicans get elected in this ultra-liberal town, two seats are winnable by the GOP: HD 91, where no Republican has yet filed, and HD 100, where GOP incumbent Bill Nooney is not running for re-election. The Republican filed there (Edmunds) is an unknown who did not return our survey.
Any information you can find out about candidates who have thrown out our survey would be most helpful. We will pass that information along to others. Our general assumption is that these non-responders are weak candidates. If they were strong conservatives, why would they be afraid to answer our questionnaire? They would welcome the help of MCA, our affiliated groups and conservative leaders.
Yes, unlike many of the “softball” questionnaires other groups send out, our survey was designed to make these candidates truly think about the proper, constitutional roles of government in a free society. It was intended to be “tough.” But I’ve got news for them. Being a wise and discerning legislator is tough. Defending freedom is tough. The question is, are they up to the task? That is what we wanted to know.
So please seek these people out, and press them for some straight answers. Candidates who refuse to be transparent do not deserve our support or our vote.
Again, I can’t impress upon you enough how important it is to get freedom-loving conservatives filed in the above (and other) races before March 15. I will gladly help you any way I can, as will Scott Orr. But it is up to you and your local members and contacts to make this happen. PLEASE do not delay. Your liberties depend on it! It won’t be easy. But as patriots have taught us throughout history, freedom is worth fighting for.
FIGHT.
Roger Koopman, former state representative
Scott Orr, former state representative
Montana Conservative Alliance