Page 26 - Flathead Beacon // 4.15.15

26 | APRIL 15, 2015
LIKE I WAS SAYIN’ Kellyn Brown
Rules and Silver Bullets
DID YOU CATCH THE DEBATE AT THE STATE capitol over expanding Medicaid? It wasn’t really a debate at all. Instead, it was a drawn-out discus- sion about rules, whether they were broken and whether the full House of Representatives would be allowed to vote on Senate Bill 405.
It began to get weird last week after several hours of public testimony in the House Human Services Commit- tee. That’s when the legislation, which was proposed by Re- publican Sen. Ed Buttrey, already passed the Republican- controlled Senate and is considered to be a compromise by those who support it, began to get amended.
First, a motion was proposed to revert the bill to simple Medicaid expansion, which Gov. Steve Bullock had previ- ously supported and would have little chance of passing since SB 405 is considered a more conservative bill that had garnered GOP support. That motion passed. Then a motion was proposed to amend the bill to a citizen referendum. That motion passed. At one point, a lawmaker threw up his hands and said he couldn’t support the legislation after all the changes. It was fake outrage. This was the plan all along; to kill the bill by changing it before it was sent to the House floor. But it didn’t work, partially because of the so-called “silver bullets” rule agreed to between the two parties be- fore the session began and partially, I would argue, because of Americans for Prosperity, which may have upset enough Republicans that the super PAC actually helped pass the bill it so ardently opposed.
After the committee gave the modified Senate bill an ad- verse report, which would have required a two-thirds major- ity to pass, House Minority Leader Chuck Hunter objected on the House floor and a lengthy rules debate commenced. According to Hunter, he and Speaker Austin Knudsen had agreed that six measures could be blasted to the floor for an up-or-down vote using silver bullets and SB 405 had been designated as one of those bills. Knudsen disagreed, and it appeared Medicaid expansion was doomed. But the House rules then began working against the speaker.
About a dozen moderate Republicans joined every Dem- ocrat in overruling the speaker’s decisions. They voted that the silver bullets rule should apply to SB 405 and that a simple majority of lawmakers would determine whether it should pass. An anti-expansion lawmaker then proposed adjourning for the entire session – yes, before a budget had even passed. That motion failed, but it did garner 40 GOP votes, which highlighted how much some lawmakers op- pose Medicaid expansion, even if this version requires en- rollees to pay premiums and co-payments and was proposed by a Republican. Buttrey’s Health and Economic Livelihood Partnership (HELP) Act is estimated to cover about 45,000 Montanans and will be paid entirely by the federal govern- ment through 2016, with its share beginning to decline to 90 percent after that.
Along with House Republican leadership, AFP cam- paigned hard against the legislation, but in the end may have done more harm than good. Skeptical audience members openly heckled AFP representatives at “town hall meet- ings” across the state targeting moderate GOP lawmakers who had refused to sign blanket pledges opposing expan- sion. You have to wonder if a few of those targeted legislators supported SB 405 out of spite for the group.
After Medicaid expansion passed the House, AFP em- barrassed itself again when its state director Zach Lahn re- leased a statement that read in part, “This decision stands directly against the voices of millions of Montanans who have made it clear that they do not want more Obamacare.” It’s unclear where these “millions of Montanans” live, but it’s certainly not Montana, which has a population of about 1 million. Soon after Lahn’s statement, #MillionsofMontan- ans became a popular post on social media. If Republicans in the House wanted to stop Medicaid expansion, it could have used a more competent ally.
OPINION FLATHEADBEACON.COM
TWO FOR THOUGHT
Same Topics, Different Views
By Tim Baldwin
As expected, Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy for President in 2016. Despite allegations surrounding email-gate, Clinton has a good chance of winning the general elec- tion.
(1) She has tremendous name recogni- tion. (2) She has lots of monetary connections and support. (3) She is a woman. (4) No other Republican (except for Rand Paul) will draw cross-section national support. (5) She has been involved in top-level politics for decades. (6) Big Electoral College states favor Demo- crats. (7) The Democrat Party will unite for her. (8) Her husband, Bill, will help her.
Hillary has claimed that she is the only person who can unite America as a political leader. But notably, when it comes to big for- eign and domestic issues, she’s in the back- ground. Unlike President Barack Obama, she has no clear theme to her candidacy, but she has a long primary process to “pounce” on her opponents in the general.
Given the us-versus-them approach most people have concerning politics, Clinton will not likely unite people and ideas more than any other candidate, especially with the per- ceptions of her that exist among Republicans. Will the X-factor libertarians like her? Not more than they would Rand Paul, who is likely the only Republican that can beat her.
By Joe Carbonari
Who runs our country makes a difference – speaking both of who it is and from which party they come. Our parties represent a large divide of thought, the moderate center a flimsy bridge. This leaves us inefficient, economically unstable, and physically vulnerable. Internationally we are weakened. Not a good model.
Personalities matter, especially on the inter- national stage. Diplomacy is an art. Some are bet- ter at it than others. The best are tough, smart and comfortable with themselves. They under- stand human nature and factor in the emotional responses that can override the rational. Get it wrong there and there are consequences.
Hillary knows the ropes and has represented us well. Envision Ted Cruz, Rand Paul or Chris Christie in the job ... it’s not funny. Envision some more.
The well-being of our country turns on our economy. No job, no work, no food. The economic machine slows, and we feel it, to differing degrees. Our economy has recovered to a greater extent than Europe’s or Japan’s. Now they are adopting economic policies similar to what we did earlier. Hillary supported those policies. Most of the oth- er candidates did not.
Hillary needs help. She knows who is avail- able and how good they are. That’s important. By contrast, consider Ted Cruz’s readiness. Hillary has experience with the best and the brightest. Show me someone better.
Clinton’s Candidacy
GUESTCOLUMN | BobBrown
Remembering Governor Tim Babcock
My mother handed me the telephone with an excited smile. The voice on the line said, “Hi, Bob, this is Tim Babcock.” That was 50 years and a few months ago. I was 16, and the governor had called to thank me for organizing a “Teen Age Republican Club” at Flathead High School in Kalispell.
Rarely has a year gone by since then that I haven’t had contact with Tim Babcock. He would answer to “Governor Babcock,” but only once, as you will see, did I ever hear him introduce himself that way. He preferred Tim, and that’s what we called him.
About 40 years later, in a recorded interview I did of him for the Mansfield Library Historical Ar- chives, Tim mentioned offhandedly that he was dec- orated as a result of his experience in combat near the Ramagen Bridge in Europe during World War II. Typical of Tim, what he left out was that his decora- tion, the Bronze Star, was awarded for his heroism in risking his life under fire to guide reinforcements to the rescue of his pinned-down detachment.
In another conversation Tim told me that when he was governor, he was invited by former President Eisenhower to an overnight visit to Eisenhower’s farm at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Tim said that Ike knew that Tim had been an enlisted man in World War II. After the other guests had left, Tim said the great general was intensely interested in Tim’s per- spectives as a common soldier. Tim’s impressions of the five-star general were that Ike was smart, his questions penetrating, and when he sensed Tim might be holding something back, “that’s when he really zeroed in.” Perhaps euphemistically, Tim de- scribed the general’s speech as at times “colorful.” Tim must have passed muster, because he was sub-
sequently invited to play golf with Eisenhower sev- eral times.
Tim enjoyed the fact that he had never served as a military officer, unlike manyof his peers in high elected office. Tim was a lobbyist for Occidental Petroleum Company in Washington, D.C. when I was an enlisted man at the Navy Annex to the Pen- tagon during the Vietnam War. I called him at his office, and he invited me to lunch, which we had in Tim’s office. Then Tim called my office in the Bu- reau of Naval Personnel, introduced himself to my commanding officer as “Governor Babcock,” and told Commander Schultz that Petty Officer Brown would be arriving back at his duty station in Tim’s limousine in about 30 minutes. To Tim’s delight, I reported to him that my officemates were watch- ing when the gleaming long black limo delivered me back to the Navy Annex.
Tim Babcock has been the grand old man of the Montana Republican Party for virtually my whole life. He was in the Montana delegation to the GOP National Convention a record 16 consecutive times. I attended just once, and saw former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Tim share a warm em- brace, followed by a lengthy conversation. I also watched Tim initiate a conversation with football great Jimmy Brown, seated with the New Jersey delegation next to ours on the convention floor.
Tim’s life had its up and downs, but his outlook was always up. He loved people, and making friends. He was my friend since as a teen I first heard his friendly voice on the telephone. Ever wise, engaging and humble, all Montana has lost a friend.
Bob Brown is a former Montana secretary of state.