Screwing Us Over

It wouldn't seem to be the fault of Rep. Stahl so much as it is the republicans in the legislature, who were not able to keep their coalition together. Try as hard as they proclaimed they would, even before the start of the session, to scuttle Schweitzer's priorities, in the end they were forced to eat an awfully big slice of humble pie.
I remember being a little upset when Matthews was chosen speaker, essentially by House republicans, with the help of Democrat Emelie Eaton from Laurel. It seemed to be quite the coup at the time and I was terribly upset that the newly elected Eaton would go against the will of the party. It just didn't look good. In the end, though, what the republicans did (without knowing, which makes it even more delicious) was chose the best person for the job. Wanzenried would have been too polarizing a figure as Speaker but kept the caucus together as the House Dem Leader, allowing Matthews to make the deals with a handfull of wayward republicans. Shahl, and the handfull of other "wayward" republicans in the House were, afterall, voting in the best interests (as they saw it)of their constituents.
Can't blame a guy for wanting $500,000 to help build a museum to promote tourism in a struggling area of the state.
What I would like to see is a study from the legislative branch of how much money is wasted in researching and writing bills that EVERYONE knows will never make it past a first reading.
Mike