It’s not that the idea hasn’t been bubbling around out there, but whenever it’s been brought up in polite society, the caveats and sheepish looks abound. But since our friends over at the Havre Daily Corrector have mentioned it – well, let’s go ahead and pile-on.
You may recall that Governor Schweitzer canned the former director Jim Lynch because Lynch allowed the hiring of his daughter at the Department of Transportation violating the state’s nepotism policy…
I would have to wonder if this whole deal is one big scam to bring attention to the fact that Lynch has filed to run for Governor as a republican. Something just doesn’t smell right in the way Schweitzer and his cronies are attacking ole Lynch. Interestingly Lynch has been a life-long democrat and every political cash donation attributed to his name has been made to only democrats. So why did he file for governor as a Republican? Some would have you believe that it was because he was “mad†at the governor but I have to wonder if Lynch filed on the republican ticket at the bequest of the democrats to muck up the whole republican primary and this whole lynching of Jim Lynch is nothing more than another one of the governor’s big tent sideshows…
Is this Lynch bashing attempting to simply make the republicans comfortable with voting for a former democrat in an attempt to swing the election to one of the less popular candidates they think Democrat Steve Bullock can beat?
I wouldn’t put anything past the devious Schweitzer organization.
So now the topic is officially on the table for discussion:
1. Do you think Lynch’s candidacy is a a nefarious plot by Gov. BS to disrupt the Republican gubernatorial primary in order to improve Bullock’s chances?
2. Do you think Lynch’s claim to be a life-long Republican passes the “smell test”?
3. Do you think there’s any truth to the rumors of a federal investigation into possible misappropriation of funds at MDOT?
4. EXTRA CREDIT: Are you buying into Tim Reardon’s hand-wringing and protests of ignorance about the multiple hiring issues that have occurred over there for the past several years?
If your four questions weren’t rhetorical, my answers are: 1. Probably; 2. No;
3. Maybe; and, 4. No. And even though there are a couple of jillion real republicans running for the office of governor, I pick Rick Hill over the others. He has a very good track record both in the private sector and public sector; is easy to talk to; is quite competent – and the list goes on.
If 30,000 Democrats jump from the D primary to the R Primary, the next governor’s election will be Bullock vs Lynch. Oh yeah – Aren’t there about 30,000 card carrying D’s out there that hate Essman?
What do the D’s have to lose in the Primary if they jump ship? I’d say not much. There won’t be much of a difference in the Wilmer/Gillan race (neither one can beat Daines), Tester is not in any jeopardy in a Primary, nor are any of the other top ticket candidates. So they may as well decide for the R’s who their candidate is. With close to 350,000 people that voted D in the 2008 General, it doesn’t take a high percentage of them to royally screw the Republicans in the Governor’s race in 2012!