As prominent Republicans began gathering in Washington, D.C. last week to brainstorm the best way to revitalize their party’s brand – after losing the presidency, at least 19 House seats and six Senate seats – a similar, albeit less high-profile, group gathered at the Red Lion Inn on Kalispell’s Main Street. For Republicans in the […]

For most of history in most of the world, power has only changed hands as the result of violence. In the modern era, still only in a minority of the world, democracy has changed that. Democracy makes real change possible by a peaceful process of elections. In the record-breaking and historic election that just occurred […]

Steve Stunning, of the Ajax Advertising Agency, has spent every day since the Fifth of July working on television spots for the three most important retail merchandising days of the year. All them arrive within 60 days of each other: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the malls behind the costumes and the weird masks are […]

Plenty has been written over the last week or so about the Obama campaign’s use of technology and social media (much less a zillion other things). There will be more as information about the design of the internals of the campaign are revealed or discovered. Regardless of your politics, I suggest you read all of […]

With this historic election, I can’t help thinking back to Martin Luther King’s epic and wonderful “I Have A Dream” speech, where he declared his hope that his kids would “one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” […]

Thanks Whitefish, you trusted me with more votes than I have ever garnered before, making us the top vote getter from the district. I will not forget my obligation to work for locals. Good folks stood by me during the most pessimistic campaigning by special interest groups we have ever seen in our towns’ history. […]

One of the ways I find new businesses to help is by picking up brochure while I’m in their business, or when I see them around town. Brochures are your little sales dudes, sitting there on the counter, trying to get a date (generate interest enough to make a sale). They’re critical. They introduce your […]

As I write to meet the Beacon’s deadline, this year’s ballots have yet to be counted. As you read it, chances are, the results are in. Half of you are feeling much better about the direction of your city, county and country – the other half, not so much. And a few of you are […]

Jim Patrick’s tenure as Kalispell city manager came to an abrupt end earlier this month. The circumstances surrounding his firing remain murky, as Kalispell city councilors have instead chosen to explain his dismissal in the broadest terms possible, taking the high road, I suppose, in what was a likely bitter divorce. “We just determined it […]

I’ve been a resident of Montana for more than 30 years, and I believe that Montanans who face imminent death from terminal illnesses deserve the right to make their own end-of-life choices. Those choices should include Death with Dignity. I hope the Montana courts will soon rule that our state Constitution protects the dignity and […]

There’s a lot of talk about change these days. No, this isn’t another tired political story. I’m a bit burned out on them too. Let’s talk about changing your business for the better. Many ideas for business change come from your clients. Another source is from events like TED. TED is an annual conference that […]

Now is the time when editors and pundits write on the uplifting theme: “Citizens, Do Your Civic Duty This Election Day and Vote.” Well, my theme is: Citizens might best fulfill their civic role by staying the heck home. My friend Robert Struckman over at NewWest.Net wrote an item titled, “Should You Vote?” that featured […]

At the beginning of October, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced California may need an emergency $7 billion-loan from the Federal Treasury because his state is running out of cash to pay for basic services. A week later, Montana’s Legislative Fiscal Division projected a budget surplus of nearly $1 billion through the middle of 2011 for our […]

Folks who eat the food that Pam and I grow at Purple Frog can all attest that we work hard and pour our heart and soul into our community. It’s that value of hard work and honoring locals, instilled by parents and grandparents, which I bring to Helena. It’s a funny campaign when special interest […]

Small, stooped, with a wry sense of humor, Winfield Emerson Page was one of the early stock market “day traders.” Page was essentially nocturnal. He seemed able to function with very little sleep. He frequently stayed up most of the night to monitor foreign markets, making trades by telephone and telegraph, at all hours, nationally […]