A liberal activist group funded by George Soros is claiming a gun control victory in Montana following a veto by Gov. Steve Bullock. Plus, an anonymous pro-Baucus liberal blog is exposed. That’s just the latest in some very interesting reporting coming from Montana Media Trackers.
First, in case you missed the story, or missed the fact that it was a former Democratic legislator who has now been indicted. Dustin Hurst with Watchdog.org shared this link at Recovery.gov via Twitter:
Ten people in two separate cases have recently been charged with theft and/or fraud involving Recovery Act funds. In both cases, federal and state officials collaborated in investigating alleged misuse and abuse of taxpayer dollars, resulting in indictments filed in a U.S. District Court in Montana and a county court in Illinois.
Six people, including a former state representative, allegedly conspired to embezzle more than $300,000 from a $33 million Recovery award to the Chippewa Cree Tribe. The award was to fund construction of a freshwater pipeline for the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation in the north-central part of the state. According to the indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana/Great Falls Division, the defendants created a shell company into which they diverted approximately $311,000 in Recovery funds “for personal use and enrichment.”
Who is this former legislator? Montana Media Trackers has this:
Former Democratic state legislator Tony Belcourt and his wife were arraigned in a federal court in Great Falls on Tuesday on charges that they stole hundreds of thousands in federal stimulus dollars from the North Central Montana tribe. Three other Chippewa-Cree tribal members were also arraigned.
Belcourt, himself a tribal member who served in the Montana House of Representatives from 2009 through 2013, is accused of using his position as CEO of the Chippewa-Cree Construction Corporation to steal a portion of the $33 million in federal stimulus funds that the company received to build a water pipeline on the tribe’s Rocky Boy Reservation.
While you’re at the Montana Media Trackers site, make sure you bookmark their page, as they have consistently filed some very interesting reports, oftentimes ignored by the rest of the mainstream media in Montana.
Reports like this one: “MoveOn.org and Anti-Gun Activist Claim Credit for Veto of Montana Campus Carry Bill“
“When a house bill in Montana threatened to allow guns on school campuses and other public places, Andy Pelosi of GunFreeKids.org took action by creating a MoveOn Petition, which gathered more than 1,000 signatures,” MoveOn.org states on its website. “After sustained advocacy efforts, Governor Steve Bullock vetoed the bill.”
Groups receiving funds from the family of George Soros have grown increasingly active in Montana politics. Nearly every Democratic candidate in Montana received Soros money during the 2012 election cycle through a $97,070 donation to Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana from the Super PAC Planned Parenthood Votes, which received large donations from the Soros family.
Or this one: “Bullock Taps Liberal Activist Who Was Cited for Campaign Violations to Run Election Integrity Office“
Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock appointed Helena lawyer and longtime liberal activist Jonathan Motl as Montana’s new Commissioner of Political Practices on Monday. The appointment came despite strong opposition from Republicans over Motl’s decades of liberal campaign activism and previous citations for violating state campaign law.
Motl has also been cited twice by the Montana Office of Political Practices (OPP) for violations of state campaign law during ballot initiative campaigns: the 2002 case of Griffin v. MontPIRG and the 2012 case of Harrington v. 400% is Enough.
And, of course, here’s one you can’t miss, as a liberal anonymous blog is apparently exposed: “Montana Street Fighter” Likely a Hilltop Blog Run By Former Tester Staffer“
Media Trackers Montana has discovered that Bob Funk, a former staffer for Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Tester, and current employee of the Washington, D.C.-based Hilltop Public Solutions, is likely behind the anonymous left-wing blog “Montana Street Fighter.”
On May 13, Street Fighter posted about former Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s keynote address to the Montana AFL-CIO convention in Billings on May 11, while speculating about Schweitzer’s potential candidacy for U.S. Senate.
After the post, this Facebook screenshot was shown of a Bozeman Daily Chronicle poll showing Schweitzer winning a potential match-up against Montana’s current Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Daines. However, the author neglected to edit out the bottom right picture indicating whose Facebook profile the screenshot was taken from.
Hilltop is also known as a pro-Baucus outfit here in Montana, with the “StreetFighter” blog constantly pitching articles in support of Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT). That was, at least, before Baucus announced he would not seek re-election. Since that announcement, it has been pretty comical to watch the StreetFighter blog attempt to buddy up to the camp of former Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT).