Tester, John Sen

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perennial gop target but he is actual working farnmer with a crew cut

lcv 60/86%

http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/jon-tester

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mofo

[freebeacon.com Jon Tester Takes Private Meeting With Pole Dancer To Talk Abortion

Every vote counts. That's especially true for Montana Democrat Jon Tester, who faces the toughest Senate reelection race in the country this...

23 hours ago](https://freebeacon.com/elections/jon-tester-talks-abortion-in-private-meeting-with-pole-dancer/)

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LAST WORD JON ST RIp HIM TWT 100X/ DAY? took down but no apology, perp walk

Ex-Montana senator delivers profanity-laden 'wake up' call to Sen. Mike Lee

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an 8 24

montana Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy has made his business acumen a centerpiece of his campaign. But now that his aerial firefighting company is struggling with tens of millions of dollars of losses stretching three consecutive years, Sheehy's business record could actually be undoing.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that the U.S. Senate hopeful's publicly traded enterprise — Bridger Aerospace — is in the midst of a "cash crunch" due to a relatively quiet wildfire season. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bridger Aerospace has already lost $20.1 million in the first quarter of 2024. That comes on top of $77.4 million in losses last year.

However, despite the company's poor performance, Sheehy is still raking in a seven-figure compensation. The Post reported that in 2023, Sheehy was paid a base salary of $149,000 but received a $2.3 million bonus. In 2022 — when his company posted $42.1 million in losses — Sheehy was nonetheless paid a $450,000 salary and a $4.4 million bonus.

"That itself is not wrong, but it doesn’t look great,” AeroAnalysis International analyst Dhierin-Perkash Bechai told the Post. “While the company is bleeding cash, Sheehy is still making money.”

Bridger's balance sheet paints a far different picture of the company than Sheehy has on the campaign trail. During his Friday night rally with former President Donald Trump in Bozeman, the entrepreneur called his flagging firm "a Montana success story" that created hundreds of jobs.

"Just last week I was out water bombing, protecting your land," Sheehy said.

An ex-Navy SEAL, Sheehy has never held political office. But his elevation to become Montana's Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate is part of the GOP's strategy to run candidates rich enough to self-fund their own campaigns. The outlet NOTUS reported in June that candidates like Sheehy, as well as Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick, Wisconsin Senate hopeful Eric Hovde and Ohio Republican Bernie Moreno help the Republican Party counter Democrats' fundraising advantage by using their own personal wealth as a campaign war chest.

But despite Sheehy's wealth, he's been consistently outraised by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana), who is running for a fourth term this November. Campaign finance records posted to Opensecrets show that as of June 30, Tester has raised $42.9 million this cycle, and still has more than $10 million on hand in the final months of the race. Sheehy has raised just $10 million, and has approximately $3 million on hand.

Despite Montana being a deep-red state that Trump easily carried in both 2016 and 2020, the Senate race remains within the margin of error. RealClearPolling averages show that Sheehy has a lead ranging from two to three points. Trump, by comparison, has a 20-point lead in the Big Sky State.

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an 5 24

Democratic strategists, according to Roll Call, are feeling increasingly optimistic about their chances of flipping the U.S. House of Representatives — but worried about holding their small U.S. Senate majority.

Democrats know they are likely to lose a Senate seat in West Virginia, where Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin isn't seeking reelection. And that makes races in Ohio, Montana and other states all the more important.

Politico's Burgess Everett reports that the conservative group One Nation is investing another $70 million in races against "vulnerable" Senate Democrats — including Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Sen. Jon Tester in Montana.

"The nonprofit advocacy outfit, which is closely aligned with GOP leaders and the top GOP super PAC, is dropping tens of millions into five key battleground states to join a campaign already up in Montana," Everett explains in a report published on May 13. "The group is diving into Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada in a sweeping ad buy focused on the southern border and inflation, an effort branded as the 'Stop the Insanity' campaign."

Everett adds, "The push includes spending on radio, mail, TV and digital. The total spend for the campaign this cycle is $88 million, more than double the $43 million run of ads the group ran last cycle."

According to Everett, the "lion's share" of One Nation's spending will be on Republicans targeting "the most vulnerable" Democrats — namely, Brown and Tester. But Republicans also "believe they have a good shot against" Sen. Bob Casey Jr., who is seeking a fourth term in Pennsylvania.

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Steve Daines recently said that Republicans "are at a cash-on-hand disadvantage in virtually every race."

But "One Nation's onslaught," Everett reports, is "so important" because "it gives the GOP critical air cover in half a dozen states while the rest of the party braces for the crucial fall ad buying season."

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neglected a bit blind eye?

an 6 23 no lnx

no lnx

as 2024 races approach, United States Senator John Tester (D-Montana) is taking a page out of his former Republican opponent's book ahead of his bid for reelection, The Associated Press reports.

Per AP, while running against Senator Conrad Burns (R) eighteen years ago, the Democratic lawmaker "positioned himself as a fighter for the middle class who could take on a government that had become 'an auction where the folks who get representation isn't based on what's right but who can write the biggest campaign check."

Tester called out Burns for his history of being "linked through campaign contributions to lobbyist Jack Abramoff,who was convicted of conspiracy and fraud charges, and also faced scrutiny for working closely with lobbyists to craft spending packages," according to the report.

READ MORE: Inside the corporate lobbying 'onslaught' that tanked anti-price gouging bills as inflation surged

Furthermore, after accusing the Republican senator of "casting 'votes based on money that's passed to you," he slammed the GOPer, saying, "That is wrong, and it shows the fact that Sen. Burns has lost touch with Montana. Washington has changed him, it will not change me."

However, 15 years late, AP reports, "After Tester became chair of the Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee in 2021, he received campaign contributions totaling over $160,000 from employees and committees representing the defense industry," adding, "At one point last year, 49 Lockheed Martin executives and lobbyists — none of whom had given to the senator in the past — gave Tester's campaign a combined total of nearly $50,000."

AP reports:

In recent campaign cycles, Democrats have faced calls to reject checks from corporate political action committees. But Tester is also under reelection pressure as he faces a potentially challenging race back home in Montana, where his small-town farming roots and populist reputation have helped him survive the state’s increasingly conservative tilt.

Republicans tried to defeat Tester in 2018, attacking him for accepting money linked to corporations, but he still defeated the GOP nominee, Matt Rosendale, by four percentage points.

Sarah Feldman, who is Tester's spokesperson, insisted, "Every decision he makes is based on one thing: what's in the best interest of Montana and our national security, and he'll never back down from defending the Montana way of life or defending this country from enemies that want to do us harm."

READ MORE: How corporate greed and deregulation fuel threat of more bomb trains: researcher

AP further notes:

Most all lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats alike, accept campaign donations from lobbyists and corporations. Two other lawmakers who hold key roles on committees that determine military spending — Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Democrat Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut — each took in more than $60,000 in campaign contributions from Lockheed employees last year.

Director of the Campaign Legal Center's advocacy for campaign finance reform, Saurav Ghosh, noted the fact contractors donated to the Democrat "after he received a senior role crafting military spending" is unsurprising — considering, "In some ways getting your voice heard in Washington often involves money."

Ghosh emphasized, "When you take money from an industry that you're responsible for regulating, that sends a message to the public that really calls into question whether you're making policy decisions that are in the public's best interest."

READ MORE: 'Extreme, undemocratic': John Tester condemns Montana GOP for silencing Zooey Zephyr

The Associated Press' full report is available at this link.

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

All-American slush fund: How a new budget loophole could send Pentagon spending soaring even higher ›

'Unconscionable': Republicans demand more Pentagon spending as US teeters toward default ›

Tester Amendment Proposal

Introduced on March 15, 2021 in the Senate by Sen. Jon Tester (MT)
Read the text and explanation here: S.J. Res. 11
Organizations involved: Free Speech for People

What it does:

Asserts that corporations are not people

What’s missing:

Does not address political money equals protected speech under 1st Amendment
Does not address campaign spending

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no lnx

Bankers cheer as GOP senator dismisses calls for regulations after SVB collapse

Jake Johnson and Common Dreams March 22, 2023

Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana garnered applause from a room full of bankers on Tuesday after he dismissed calls for tougher regulations following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

"There are a lot of talking heads out there who are saying that the solution is more regulation, and I strongly disagree," Daines said in remarks to the American Bankers Association's Washington Summit, an annual gathering of bank CEOs and other top executives.

The Montana Republican went on to defend a 2018 law that progressive lawmakers and experts have said is at least partly responsible for the recent bank failures. That measure, known as S.2155, weakened post-financial crisis regulations for banks with between $50 billion and $250 billion in assets, subjecting firms such as SVB—which lobbied for the changes—to less stringent oversight and paving the way for more risk-taking and industry consolidation.

Daines, a member of the Senate Banking Committee and a major recipient of securities industry donations, called the stricter liquidity requirements and other rules gutted by the 2018 law "overreaching regulations" and claimed that efforts to revive the safeguards are creating "more worry" in the banking sector.

"This was not the cause of this failure," Daines said of S.2155, which former President Donald Trump signed into law after it passed with bipartisan support.

Watch the senator's remarks, which begin at the 1:32:04 mark:

It's unsurprising that Daines' defense of S.2155 was received favorably by a gathering of the American Bankers Association, which was one of many industry groups that lobbied aggressively for the measure.

"The lobbyists were everywhere. You couldn't throw an elbow without running into one," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who vocally opposed S.2155, told reporters last week.

Warren and Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) have introduced legislation that would repeal a critical section of the 2018 law.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that in the hours before Congress approved the measure, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.)—one of the legislation's top Democratic supporters—"huddled with executives from Bank of America, Citigroup, Discover, and Wells Fargo, who were there on behalf of the American Bankers Association."

:{"The American Bankers Association, which helped lead the push, later paid $125,000 for an ad campaign thanking Tester for his role in the bill's passage," the Associated Press noted.

The banking group's PAC spent more than $2.6 million on campaign contributions during the 2018 election cycle, with more than 76% of the donations going to Republicans, according to OpenSecrets.}:

Daines, who won reelection in 2020, received $10,000 from the American Bankers Association PAC during that year's campaign.

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

Here are 4 red states where Joe Biden is shockingly competitive with Trump ›

Election Digest: Montana's governor may run against GOP senator in a boon to Democrats ›

Busted: GOP canvasser caught on surveillance video removing Democratic yard signs ›

Exxon’s Senate Puppets

BY GEORGE OCHENSKI

:{:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;word-break:break-word;overflow-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:repeat;display:block;overflow:hidden;height:32px;width:32px;border-radius:4px;float:left;background-color:#1877f2;"):}::{Facebook}::{}::{Twitter}::{}::{Reddit}::{}::{Email}:

Montana is a very long ways from the Senate chambers in Washington, D.C. Yet, like every other state, we send two senators to represent us in what used to be called “the greatest deliberative body on earth.” We are continually flooded with self-congratulatory press releases promising they’re “fighting for Montana.”

But a sad reality was revealed in last week’s bombshell news that Montana’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and Republican U.S. Steve Daines were named by Keith McCoy, Exxon’s senior director of federal relations in Washington, as two of 11 senators who he says are “crucial” to ExxonMobil. In truth, it appears our senators are actually “fighting” for the oil and gas industry, not the 1 million Montanans counting on them for Senate representation.

Of course there will be those who dismiss such attention-grabbing headlines as rumors, “fake news” or propaganda put out by opponents. But in this case it’s fair to say this information came “straight from the horse’s mouth” since it was recorded from a Zoom meeting in which Unearthed, a Greenpeace affiliate, pretended to be “head hunting” for some high-powered lobbyists. To say they got more than expected would be the understatement of the year.

The revelations from the recordings are absolutely shocking as two of Exxon’s lobbyists bragged about their exercise of power over the senators and their victories during the Trump administration that were “probably worth billions to Exxon.”

In McCoy’s own words: “When you have an opportunity to talk to a member of Congress, I liken it to fishing, right? You know you have bait, you throw that bait out. And they say: ‘Oh, you want to talk about infrastructure, yeah.’ And then you start to reel them in and you start to have these conversations about federal leasing programs, you start to have these conversations about a carbon tax. You know, it’s all these opportunities that you use and to use the fishing analogy again just to kind of reel them in.”

He went on to say: “I make sure I get them the right information that they need so they look good. And then they help me out. They’re a captive audience. They know they need you. And I need them.” He went on to elucidate how they can ask “to introduce this bill,” “make a floor statement” or “send a letter” adding: “You name it, we’ve asked for everything.”

McCoy also described how ExxonMobil uses third parties like the American Petroleum Institute as “whipping boys” in order to avoid public scrutiny on Capitol Hill and conceal its real agenda. That agenda, among other goals, includes opposing climate change legislation and keeping it out of Biden’s infrastructure and jobs bill. As McCoy bluntly admitted: “We were looking out for our investments. We were looking out for our shareholders.”

The bitter reality is that while Montana faces unrelenting heat, municipal water restrictions, dead trout and dry river beds, our senators are busy helping ExxonMobil protect its investments and profits as a horrendous wildfire season explodes.

Hate to say it, but using the fishing analogy in which the ExxonMobil lobbyists “reeled in” our senators, it appears that Montanans are the real suckers. Suckers for believing Tester’s and Daines’ posturing — such as Tester lamenting the “uncertainty” for the oil and gas industry due to a review of the Trump administration’s leasing policies; suckers for sending these two “bipartisan” corporate puppets to represent our serious and complex issues — and suckers to not realize just how badly we, too, are getting “played” by our own U.S. senators.

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https://www.thetrace.org/2018/09/nra-starboard-strategic-campaign-finance-senate-races/

no lnx

Bang for the Buck

Despite FEC Complaint, the NRA Is Still Using a Mystery Firm to Back Senate Candidates

The gun group's first big ad buy of the 2018 cycle was made through a company that, according to an election watchdog, exists only to circumvent campaign finance laws.

By Mike Spies Sep 10, 2018

NRA Youtube

The Trace

The National Rifle Association made its first major foray into the 2018 election cycle last week, unleashing ads on behalf of Republicanchallengers to Senators Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. And in both cases, the gun group continued to pay a mysterious vendor that, according to one election watchdog, appears to be a shell company set up to circumvent election laws limiting how much the NRA can spend on candidates.

That firm, according to the NRA’s latest filings with the Federal Election Commission, is Starboard Strategic Inc. As The Trace and Politico Magazine reported in July, Starboard Strategic, which is the NRA’s top election contractor — to the tune of more than $60 million from the gun group since 2014 — appears to be little more than the alter ego of an established firm calledOnMessage, Inc. The two entities share the same office addresses and partners, one of whom registered Starboard’s opaque, skeletal website (after our story was published, the domain registration was privatized).

OnMessage is a prominent consulting firm that works directly with GOP campaigns. According to an FEC complaint that the Campaign Legal Center filed shortly after our investigation, Starboard Strategic and OnMessage are “functionally indistinguishable.” The NRA is free to independently spend as much as it wants on political candidates, so long as the group isn’t coordinating its messaging and strategy with the candidates’ campaigns. Any spending that is coordinated, however, is subject to caps and disclosure requirements. By paying Starboard for ads in support of candidates while OnMessage was working directly with the same candidates’ official campaigns, the complaint says, the NRA “made excessive and unreported contributions…in violation of…reporting requirements and contribution limits.”

In 2014, the NRA paid Starboard millions of dollars for ads in support of three Republican Senate candidates: Tom Cotton in Arkansas; Cory Gardner in Colorado, and Thom Tillis in North Carolina. Simultaneously, those campaigns contracted with OnMessage. All three candidates defeated Democratic incumbents. In 2016, a similar arrangement played out again inWisconsin: Republican Ron Johnson, who beat back a challenge from Russ Feingold, employed OnMessage. Later in the campaign cycle, the NRA placed anti-Feingold ads through Starboard.

Federal law allows outside groups and campaigns to use common vendors. But the firm working for either client must ensure that employees do not share election-related information. Usually, a firm seeks to prevent coordination by requiring its staffers to read and sign astrict firewall policy, which functions both as an agreement to comply with the law and an acknowledgement that there are penalties for failing to do so. Despite repeated requests, OnMessage has never produced a copy or provided any details of its policy.

The ad the NRA ran against Tester raises fresh questions about potentially illegal coordination. The gun group paid Starboard almost $400,000 for costs relating to the spot. Meanwhile, the campaign of Tester’s opponent, Matt Rosendale, has already paid OnMessage more than $400,000 this cycle.....

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CAMPAIGN 2018

Big landowners back Republican Rosendale in Mont. race

E&E Daily: Friday, July 27, 2018

In a race where land access issues may be pivotal, Montana's largest landowners are spending big to unseat Democrat Jon Tester.

CAMPAIGN 2018

Western voters want access, conservation — poll

Greenwire: Wednesday, July 18, 2018

2018 office seekers, take note: Western voters in five states favor political candidates who prioritize public land access and conservation, according to a new poll from a nonprofit group.

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/07/montana-pols-launch-fight-against-nonprofit

Two Montana politicians on Tuesday launched separate fights against the Trump administration’s decision to relax disclosure requirements on certain politically active nonprofit groups.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) introduced legislation that would overturn the decision and increase nonprofit transparency requirements. Gov. Steve Bullock (D-Mont.) filed a lawsuit in a Montana Federal District Court that would prevent the administration from implementing the new rules.

The Treasury Department announced last week that it would no longer require certain nonprofit organizations, such as 501(c)(4) groups, to disclose identifying information about their donors to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The move, which the department said will save resources and prevent the accidental release of confidential information, could allow groups like the National Rifle Association and Planned Parenthood to pour “dark money” into nationwide elections with less government oversight than before.

Tester’s legislation, dubbed the Spotlight Act, would effectively reverse the department’s new rules. The Spotlight Act would also require 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5) and 501(c)(6) groups to disclose to the IRS and the public the names of donors who contribute more than $5,000. Those groups do not have to release the names of any donors under current laws, which is why many politically active nonprofits are called “dark money” groups.

Bullock’s lawsuit, first reported by The New York Times, claims the IRS and Treasury Department unlawfully interfered with Montana’s ability to gather the data it needs to manage its tax laws. The suit also claims the Trump administration did not follow the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires agencies such as the Treasury Department to provide opportunities for public comment before changing policies.

Bullock’s litigation is seeking to nullify the new IRS rules, according to court documents.

Tester and Bullock have both been champions of campaign finance reform that increases election transparency. Tester has introduced multiple campaign finance reform plans, including a proposed constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not people and a bill that would require senators to file campaign finance disclosures electronically.

Bullock helped push legislation in Montana that requires independent groups to disclose their donors if they spend money in state elections, regardless of the group’s tax status. He also signed an executive order requiring recipients of government contracts to disclose dark money spending in Montana elections.

House, Senate Committees Attack Environmental Laws Using Wildfires as Pretext

Two congressional committees will hold coordinated hearings Wednesday to push partisan legislation designed to weaken environmental laws on public lands.

The House Natural Resources Committee will use the pretext of "catastrophic" wildfires to build support for legislation by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) that would curtail protections for endangered species and limit science-based review of environmental harms to expedite logging projects.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will consider three bills designed to limit environmental reviews on a variety of logging and forest-management projects on public lands.

"Timber companies would be the only winners if these terrible bills pass," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director with the Center for Biological Diversity. "No matter what issue our public lands face, the knee-jerk response from congressional Republicans is an effort to gut our environmental laws. They're willing to sacrifice our wildlife, healthy streams and rivers, and vibrant public lands on the altar of private profit."

The Senate committee will consider three bills:

S. 605 by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.)would eliminate consultations required under the Endangered Species Act when a new species is added to the endangered species list or when critical habitat for a listed species is revised for Forest Service lands where a land management plan is already in place. Only when that plan is revised—usually every 15-20 years—would the Forest Service be required to review it at the landscape level.

S. 1417 by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)would severely limit science-based review of potential harms under the National Environmental Policy Act for juniper-tree control projects on public lands if those projects are designed to benefit either mule deer or sage grouse populations. While Juniper control may be appropriate in some ecosystems, many juniper-removal projects use destructive chaining, plant non-native seeds and spray herbicides that could actually harm sage grouse and other species. That potential harm needs to be evaluated and disclosed.

S. 1731 by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) would exempt many types of logging and forest-management activities up to 10,000 acres—approximately 15 square miles—from environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. The legislation includes provisions that would also limit judicial review of Forest Service logging activities and force citizens to use binding arbitration if they want to challenge a poorly conceived logging project.

The House committee will consider Westerman's bill, which would eliminate Endangered Species Act requirements that the Forest Service ensure logging projects do not harm endangered wildlife and plants. It also would rush through large-scale logging projects—up to 46 square miles—without meaningful public involvement or scientific evaluation by excluding such projects from review under the National Environmental Policy Act.

"Republicans have repeatedly cut resources to the Forest Service, making it harder for agency workers to do their jobs," Hartl said. "Then the GOP scapegoats environmental laws for the problems that these funding cuts have caused. It's an incredibly cynical and dangerous strategy."

When properly funded, the Forest Service can meet its legal obligations and protect endangered species and natural resources. For example, in June the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service completed an important consultation process under the Endangered Species Act in just 10 days, covering nine national forests in the Sierra Nevada region, following the designation of critical habitat for the Yosemite toad and Sierra Nevada and mountain yellow-legged frogs. This type of consultation would be eliminated under the Daines-Tester legislation.

"Daines and Tester are wrong. Weakening the Endangered Species Act doesn't improve forest management—it only makes timber companies richer," said Hartl. "The main reasons forest projects are delayed is because Republicans in Congress have been starving the agencies of funding."

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conrad burns abramoff corrupt, targeted by coc gps

hope

2. Running Clean Works:NRDC Action Fund research has confirmed that candidates who campaign on clean energy and climate action from the beginning win—including Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) in 2012 to Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) in 2014. Clean energy provides a positive, solutions-based narrative to talk about issues that matter most to Americans: jobs, the economy and the health of their families.

sierra

JON TESTER (D-MT) Team: Clean Air Aces Joined the League: January 3, 2007 Hometown: Big Sandy, MT BIO: Senator Tester is a Montanan to keep an eye on this season, as families across the state are eagerly watching his progress in fighting for energy independence. He’s shown he can produce on climate action, clean energy, and energy efficiency. We’re pretty confident he can put up All-Star numbers and give the fans what they want: big hits protecting our air and our water from toxic pollution while growing the clean energy economy. QUOTED: “Agriculture and outdoor recreation power Montana’s economy. From floods to fires to beetle-killed trees, we know the consequences of the changing climate. State-based solutions that limit the effects of climate change will keep these industries and our economy strong.” 28 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: « Senator Tester has voted right on all critical votes for climate action, clean air, and clean energy solutions across the board. STATS: « Climate: « Clean Air: « Clean Energy: « Energy Efficiency: WHAT YOU CAN DO: Get in the game! Thank Senator Tester for protecting Montana and standing up against polluters by calling

T?en Democratic senators have voted with Republicans to allow the progress of a bill to extend the Keystone oil pipeline, placing more political pressure on the White House to reconsider its proposed veto of the legislation.

The procedural motion was passed by 63 votes to 32, comfortably clearing the three-fifths majority needed to avoid a filibuster and falling just short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to overcome a presidential veto when it comes to a final vote.

But some of the Democrats, who were also joined by Maine independent Angus King, may switch votes in future to avoid embarrassing Barack Obama who has said he is opposed to Congress interfering in a long-running administration review of the pipeline extension.

Keystone has become a symbolic battlefield for the administration’s climate change policy, with critics insisting that it will encourage the exploitation ofheavily-polluting Canadian tar sands and supporters claiming it will createthousands of jobs.

The bill will now see various amendments added over the coming weeks, a process which could ultimately decide on its level of support among Democrats.

It was approved by the House of Representatives last week by 266-152 votes, a margin also short of the two-thirds majority in both chambers needed to overcome White House opposition.

The Obama administration has stood by its decision to reject the bill, even though a Nebraska court decision in favour of the Keystone route removed one of its remaining objections.

The Democrats who joined senator King in voting for cloture on the motion to proceed included: Michael Bennet of Colorado, Tom Carper of Delaware, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana, Tom Udall of New Mexico and Mark Warner of Virginia. King has said he would vote against final passage, and five senators have not voted at all yet.

5. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT):{. The Chamber has spent more than $1.3 million on “independent expenditures” helping Rehberg in his challenge to Sen. Jon Tester (D), with }:{ and}:{ }:{. Rehberg }:called the deal:{ “little more than business as usual for Washington.”}:

===

ATI?

America is not Stupid (C90013327

Total Independent Expenditures: $60,725

For Democrats: $0

Against Democrats: $60,725

For Republicans: $0

Against Republicans: $0

Total Electioneering Communications: $0

Tester, Jon

Senate

$60,725

Winner

http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=America+is+not+Stupid&cycle=2012

but ad creepy baby says obamacare will hurt medicare; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz6qcM10nUA&feature=youtu.be esp since their mailers look like ati ads, Rehberg was their guy? rove attacked tester; senate seat is crucial

both sides got losts of out of state $ (THO NOT SO MANY PPL IN mo SO SKEW?) tester ~ XL

In Montana, Democratic Sen. Joe Tester has been defending his seat against a challenge from Rep. Dennis Rehberg in a race that is expected to remain close through Election Day.

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"There is no reason to deny or further delay this long-studied project," said the letter, which was initiated by Sens. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Max Baucus, D-Mont., and signed by 44 Republicans and nine Democrats. Another Democrat, Jon Tester of Montana, supports the pipeline but did not sign the letter.

targetted by CoC neg ads: The example of Wall Street’s attempts to resist financial regulation—and the help provided by the Chamber—is an illustrative one. The Chamber pounced early on Congress to dissuade it from passing the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act. Donohue’s troops mounted grassroots and media onslaughts around the country, dispatching local chamber officials and business members to lobby local lawmakers, and running local advertisements directly targeting them. In Montana, the Chamber aired an ad targeting Senator Jon Testerthat showed a man lying awake in bed in the middle of the night, staring at the alarm clock, while a voiceover intoned, “Call Senator Tester. Tell him to stop the CFPA, because small businesses can’t afford more economic pain.” The Chamber put millions into this sort of advertising.

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http://www.treehugger.com/energy-policy/karl-roves-epa-farm-dust-attack-ad-pulled-air-being-untrue.html

A little while back, I wrote about yet another GOP effort to paint the EPA as an overreaching boogeyman. The EPA, Republicans claimed, was getting so out of control that it wanted to regulate "farm dust". As in, they wanted to go in and tell small farmers how much dust their equipment could stir up. This was such an outrageous example of Big Government messing with people's lives that they could bear to stand by and let it happen -- so they proposed legislation that would ban the EPA from embarking on its mad farm dust regulatory scheme.

Of course, the EPA never had any plans to regulate farm dust in the first place. There was never any proposed rule or regulation that would do anything of the sort. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson repeatedly explained that the 'farm dust' rule was a myth. But the GOP liked the myth so much that they went on repeating it anyways.

Most recently, Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS group funded an ad spot attacking the Democratic Montana Senator Joe Tester. And it criticized him for being in favor of -- you guessed it -- farm dust. Watch:

Yeah, that never happened. The vote cited in the ad is actually legislation referring to currency manipulation abroad -- it had nothing to do with farm dust, real or imagined. Apparently, this was such an egregious lie that the cable company running it :{decided to up and pull the ad off the airwaves}:. Which rarely, rarely happens -- as evidenced by the prevalence of lie-filled political ads that do make it on the airwaves.

An ad by Karl Rove-backed Crossroads GPS was yanked from rotation on a Montana cable show because it made claims that the network deemed false.

Recently a number of ads by the well-funded conservative outfit have been declared misleading and false, but the spot targeting Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) is apparently the first pulled from the air. The Associated Press reported that other outlets are still running the ad.

In it, Tester is accused of supporting an Environmental Protection Agency rule -- a rule that was never in fact proposed -- to regulate farm dust. But the vote that the ad cites actually had nothing to do with dust or the EPA; it was a procedural vote on a measure aimed at cracking down on China for manipulating currency.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had hoped to bring up the anti-EPA amendment -- which targeted regulation of soot, not farm dust -- but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) never even let it get to the floor.

Because of that, Cablevision's Optimum cable service dropped the ad, the AP reported.

Crossroads GPS, which is affiliated with American Crossroads, has also been heavily criticized for ads in several other states, including spots attacking Democratic Senate contenders Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts and Tim Kaine in Virginia.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post highlighted Friday how the Warren spot "falsely insinuates" that Warren supports violence by Occupy Wall Street protesters. And PolitiFact rated as "mostly false" claims made against Kaine. The Kaine spot also accused him of running a deficit as governor of Virginia, but Virginia state law prohibits deficits.

A spokesman for Crossroads GPS could not immediately be reached for comment.

UPDATE: Friday 7:17 p.m. and 8:50 p.m. -- Nate Hodson of Crossroads said in defense of the pulled ad, "It was a very small cable system. The four largest broadcast stations in Montana reviewed the facts supporting the ad and will continue airing it."

He said later, "We are communicating with the cable system and expect that the ad will be back up and running on cable soon."

Jon Tester (born August 21, 1956), a Democrat, has been the Junior Senator from the state of Montana since 2007 (map). He is the first member of the Senate to post his daily schedule online (available here).

Contents [hide]

Record and controversies

General information about important bills and votes for can be found in Congresspedia's articles on legislation. You can add information you find on how Jon Tester voted by clicking the "[edit]" link to the right and typing it in. Remember to cite your sources!

Iraq War

For more information see the chart of U.S. Senate votes on the Iraq War.

Environmental record

For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Tester posts daily schedule online

With his inauguration in 2007, Tester became the first member of the Senate to post his daily schedule online.[1] It can be found here.

Calls for acting Attorney General to step down

On May 3rd the Washington Post reported that Sen. Tester called for Montana's acting Attorney General William W. Mercer to resign; after a federal judge found that he was "violating a federal law that requires him to live in Montana". Mercer, advocated for the law to be changed. Tester was quoted as saying "Mr. Mercer was operating outside federal law, so he had the law changed. That might work in Alberto Gonzales's Justice Department, but it's not how we do business in Montana."^[1]

Main article: Bush administration U.S. attorney firings controversy

Biography

Born in 1956 near the town of Big Sandy, MT, where he now lives, Tester graduated from the University of Great Falls with a degree in music. He worked as a music teacher after graduation. Tester, a third generation farmer, runs an organic farm; he and wife went organic in the 1980s after they realized they could make more money while avoiding the sicknesses that they got from the pesticides.[2] As a boy Tester lost parts of three fingers on his left hand in a meat grinding accident.

In 1998, he successfully ran for Montana State Senate, and in 2005 was named Senate President. In Montana, State Senators are term-limited after two four-year terms. In 2005, at the end of his second term, Tester decided to run for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Sen. Conrad Burns. He and his wife Sharla have two children. [3]

2006 Senate race

In the Democratic primary Tester faced State Auditor John Morrison, a well-financed candidate backed by the National Democratic Party. Morrison, with a huge fund raising advantage, was expected to defeat Tester. Tester's popularity and grassroots approach led him to a large margin of victory in the June 6th primary.

Tester has focused his campaign against incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns as one between a Montana farmer and a Senator who has become to tied to the political structure in Washington. Allegations of impropriety in Burns' ties to convicted lobbyist :{Jack Abramoff}: have helped Tester make this argument. Tester is also a vocal opponent of the Iraq War and "wants Bush to draft a planned exit strategy that would lead to a shift in which Iraqis would be trained to take over their own country."[4]

In a debate Burns attacked Tester for wanting to "weaken the Patriot Act". Tester clarified his position by stating, "I don't want to weaken the Patriot Act, I want to repeal it. What it does, it takes away your freedom ... and when you take away our freedoms, the terrorists have won."[5]

Tester has sounded a populist note on economic issues in the campaign. He has called for fair trade policies and assailed free trade agreements as destructive to Montana farms, agriculture, and quality U.S. jobs. Tester stated that free trade policies "have been hurting Montana workers and Montana farmers, and resulting in the outsourcing of jobs."[6]

Tester defeated Burns by less than 3000 votes, a victory that was instrumental in winning Democrats control of the Senate. [7]

2008 elections

2008 superdelegate

This information was gathered by volunteer researchers as part of the Superdelegate Transparency Project on the superdelegates for the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. For more info see the Montana superdelegate tracker or visit the STP homepage.

Before Hillary Clinton conceded the race, Jon Tester, as a superdelegate, had not endorsed a candidate for President.

For more information and sources, see the state page for this superdelegate linked to in the blue box above.

Dem Con Watch
Obama's campaign gave $5,000 to Tester.^[2]

Money in politics

This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases. cid=N00027605&cycle=2006

Links to more campaign contribution information for Jon Tester from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.	Links to more campaign contribution information for Jon Tester from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.	Links to more campaign contribution information for Jon Tester from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.
Fundraising profile:	2006 election cycle	Career totals
Top contributors by organization/corporation:	2006 election cycle	Career totals
Top contributors by industry:	2006 election cycle	Career totals

Links to more campaign contribution information for Jon Tester

from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.

Links to more campaign contribution information for Jon Tester

from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.

Links to more campaign contribution information for Jon Tester

from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.

Fundraising profile:

2006 election cycle

Career totals

Top contributors by organization/corporation:

2006 election cycle

Career totals

Top contributors by industry:

2006 election cycle

Career totals

Revolving door profile for Jon Tester from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org website.
2006 privately funded travel profile for Jon Tester from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org website.
Personal finance profile for Jon Tester from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org website.

Committees and Affiliations

Committees

Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
- Subcommittee on Water and Power
- Subcommittee on Energy
- Subcommittee on National Parks

Senate Committee on:{ Banking, :(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:Housing, and Urban Affairs
- Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
- Subcommittee on Financial Institutions
- Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development

More Background Data

Background information on Conrad Burns, whom Jon Tester challenged in the 2006 congressional elections:

Background information on Conrad Burns from Project Vote Smart

Interest group scorecard ratings for Conrad Burns from Project Vote Smart

Voting record for Conrad Burns from the Washington Post database

Tester, John Sen

Tester Amendment Proposal

Exxon’s Senate Puppets

CAMPAIGN 2018

Big landowners back Republican Rosendale in Mont. race

CAMPAIGN 2018

Western voters want access, conservation — poll

House, Senate Committees Attack Environmental Laws Using Wildfires as Pretext

Record and controversies

Iraq War

Environmental record

Tester posts daily schedule online

Calls for acting Attorney General to step down

Biography

2006 Senate race

2008 elections

2008 superdelegate

Money in politics

Committees and Affiliations

Committees

More Background Data

Contact

Attachments