Lair, Doug

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font><div><a href="https://mtstandard.com/opinion/editorial/montana-view-campaign-spending-limits-survive/">https://mtstandard.com/opinion/editorial/montana-view-campaign-spending-limits-survive/</a><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font></div><div>no lnx</div><div>
</div><div><b>Montana view: Campaign spending limits survive</b></div><div><b>Jan 17, 2019  </b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Eight years of litigation to abolish Montana’s campaign contribution limits ended Monday with two words from the U.S. Supreme Court: certiorari denied.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lair v. Mangan was among dozens of cases that the nation’s highest court declined to review in an order issued Monday.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The high court order allows the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling to stand</b>. The court upheld Montanans’ authority to limit how much money a contributor may donate to a candidate for public office.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Doug Lair was one of three individuals, who along with American Tradition Partnership, Montana Right to Life Association PAC, Sweet Grass Council for Community Integrity,</b> Lake County Republican Central Committee, Beaverhead Republican Central Committee, Jake Oil LLC, JL Oil LLC and Champion Painting Inc., <b>filed a lawsuit in September 2011 in U.S. District Court in Billings.</b></div><div>
</div><div>The lawsuit was one of a series involving American Tradition Partnership (originally named Western Tradition Partnership) that sought to overturn Montana campaign laws, including the state’s century-old voter-approved ban on corporate campaign contributions and newer statutes requiring truth in political advertising among other things.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ATP and its associates succeeded in getting most of the campaign laws thrown out. A week before voting started in the 2012 Montana General Election, U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell ruled in favor of ATP and Lair, nullifying Montana contribution limits, too.</span></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>The Republican Governors Association quickly donated $500,000 to the campaign of Rick Hill, the GOP nominee for governor.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lovell’s decision was appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which reinstated the Montana campaign limits pending appeal, so the limits were off for just six days.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>The Hill campaign asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and allow unlimited donations pending appeal, which the high court declined to do</b>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Eventually, the circuit court upheld the donation limits’ constitutionality and the law's foes appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">What this long legal battle means is that Montana must not take our campaign finance laws for granted. Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan, who has the duty of enforcing those laws, needs adequate staffing and resources to fulfill his vital watchdog role.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The flurry of court action in the 2012 General Election erased any doubt that even greater sums of cash would flood into our elections if we had no limits.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“Montana’s limits leave candidates with the ability to conduct an effective campaign for office,”<b> Commissioner of Political Practice’s Chief Legal Counsel Jaime MacNaughton </b>said in a news release Monday. “Our limits allow individuals to associate with the candidate of their choice through their own speech, volunteering, discussing their merits with their neighbors, and through making their voice heard at the ballot box. Montana secured a victory today for transparency and accountability in our government and elected officials.”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Montana Attorney General’s Office successfully defended the state contribution law, starting when Democrat Steve Bullock was attorney general and concluding under the leadership of Republican Tim Fo</span>x.</div><div>
</div><div>"I've never heard any Montanan say we need more money in politics and I'm glad to see the Supreme Court for once agrees," Bullock said Monday. <b>Montanans troubled by recent growth in campaign spending across the political spectrum will agree with the governor.</b></div><div>
</div><div>MONTANA VIEW ICON</div><div>The Billings Gazette</div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">bs front</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/about/">http://sweetgrassroots.org/about/</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><h1 class="post-title" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 30px;"><a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/about/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to About SGCCI" style="outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">About SGCCI</font></a></h1><div style="clear: both;"><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Sweet Grass Roots servant leaders:</font></p><p style=""><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Doug Lair</font></strong></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1980 graduate of Boise State University with BBA-Economics degree. Worked three years in Tulsa Oklahoma for HC Oil then to Lair Petroleum, a family owned business founded by Gale Lair. Moved to Billings in 1983 to continue working in the family business. Sold Lair Petroleum in 1989 to W.I. Koch and formed Lair Resource Services. Sold LRS in 1991 to Bob Weinberg a partner in Long Island, New York.  1992 to 1995 worked personal investments, angel financing and bio-med venture capital projects. 1995 became a partner in Wheelsmith Fabrications of Menlo Park, CA and moved the business to Big Timber. Sold to partner Ron McAdams in 1996 and bought Cole Drug and in partnership with Mary Lair and Becky Todisco, successfully operated the business for seven years as the first non-pharmacist owners of the 65 year old business. 2000 to present, invest in commercial and agricultural real estate and operate a small irrigated hay and sheep ranch east of Big Timber. Additionally, 12 years served on the Big Timber Grade School Board of Trustees, also the boards of several private and non- profit organizations.</font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Married 24 years with three children, one remaining in high school. Wife Mary owns and operates a successful real estate brokerage business. Personal Credo: Do the right thing for the right reason. One of my favorite sayings: Freedom is not free.<b> Core beliefs: Christian Faith-Catholic. Purpose: To serve.</b></font></p><p style=""><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Geoff Goble</font></strong></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For 40 years I have owned, operated, bought, sold, and developed small businesses and commercial property. I have also served on the boards of profit and non profit organizations, acting as secretary and president. I have been married for 43 years and have two adult children.</font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">My ancestors and I have enjoyed over 200 years of freedom and opportunity based on the principles of liberty and responsibility. My intention is to continue making those Constitutional rights, duties and traditions available to every citizen of the Republic.</font></p><p style=""><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Robyn Roberts</font></strong></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1999, I found my property in Montana.  When I retired, I moved here from the San Francisco Bay Area. Coming to Big Timber felt like coming home, everyone was so helpful and gracious.</font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before retiring, I was the Editor of an online site which provides financial information and education.   Prior to working with the financial services site, I was the Founder of a commercial real estate company which serviced the Northern California market.  Much of my work centered around development property for multi-family and high density single family properties although, we serviced all types of commercial real estate transactions.  The first business I opened was was a gift and interior design store also in Northern California.</font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a young adult, my time was spent raising my children and living a simple and active family life.  My husband and I enjoy gardening, hiking and riding in the back country.  We both have a great concern for our community and our environment.  We would like to leave it better than we found it without changing its’ extraordinary character and invigorating liberty.</font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">==
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">...But ATI's biggest funder is Montana businessman Doug Lair and his Lair

Family Foundation;</span> they contributed $5,000 and $135,000 respectively to

the group last year --<b> over 75 percent of its total income.</b>

<b>Lair’s

fortune comes from <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lair Petroleum, the family business that was sold in

1989 to William Koch</span>, the lesser-known brother of Charles and David

Koch</b>. As recently as 2010, Lair Petroleum was listed as Lair’s employer

in state campaign finance reports, although now he’s also an investor in

commercial and agricultural real estate.

<b>Along with the American

Tradition Partnership, Lair and another Montana resident recently filed

a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Montana campaign finance

laws,</b> arguing that limits on donation amounts and corporate

contributions are impermissible under the First Amendment -- a suit

similar to others filed by the group. The plaintiffs are represented by

<b>James Bopp Jr.,</b> a prominent conservative attorney who worked as a legal

adviser to the group behind the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision

that successfully challenged strictures on corporate money in

elections.

"The Supreme Court has ruled that corporate political

speech is protected by the First Amendment, and you cannot ban political

speech just because the speaker is a corporation," said Bopp.

<b>A chilling trend for academic freedom</b>

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            Climate Scientist Wins A Round for America
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      <font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="arial_11 color_696969">Posted: 11/01/<b>11 </b>10:17 PM ET</span>
      
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     </font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A hearing today has implications for academic freedom across the country. A Virginia judge granted <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_E._Mann#Awards">climate scientist</a>

Michael Mann the right to intervene on his own behalf in a lawsuit

filed by a climate change denial group seeking to get his private papers

and emails from the University of Virginia.</span> While this is an important

victory for American-style freedom and privacy, its background is a

story of just the opposite - attempts at authoritarian repression of

science for political purposes.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2010 newly-elected Virginia Attorney General Ken <b>Cuccinelli</b>, a climate change denier, <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/67811/oh-mann-cuccinelli-targets-uva-papers-climategate-salvo" target="_blank">sued the University of Virginia</a>

to get Mann's private papers. Cuccinelli wanted to sift through them

in the wake of "climategate" to see if he could find anything he could

spin into a case under the state's Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, arguing

that while an employee of UVA, Mann's work on climate change may have

used public money to perpetrate a fraud.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mann has become a political target because he helped create the

"hockey stick" graph, which shows global temperatures stable for a

thousands of years and spiking since about 1950. It has the iconic power

of e=mc<sup>2</sup>, and discrediting him has become the holy grail of climate change deniers.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is why Mann was at the center of the climategate attacks in late

in 2009. Climate deniers illegally hacked into scientists' emails and

claimed they showed scientists, including Mann, manipulating data.

Their charges were investigated by <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/global_warming_contrarians/debunking-misinformation-stolen-emails-climategate.html">four separate bodies</a>,

each one reaffirming the soundness of the science, and exonerating the

scientists. In other words, climategate was over -- nothing, it turned

out. Instead of data, it was the press that had been manipulated.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rightly, the University of Virginia, which was founded by scientist

Thomas Jefferson, rejected Cuccinelli's McCarthyite attack. Cuccinelli

sued and lost. The case in under appeal.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But it didn't end there. Next, a little-known group named Western

Tradition Partnership (WTP) got into the act. WTP is a political

advocacy group <a href="http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/02/12/who-benefited-from-outside-influence/">backed</a>

primarily by the energy industry. It was first registered as a

Colorado nonprofit in 2008 by Scott Shires, a Republican operative who

pleaded guilty that same year <a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/jury_returns_conviction_in_cas_1.php">to fraudulently obtaining</a> federal grants to develop alternative fuels. </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2010 WTP <a href="http://www.americantradition.org/?page_id=1340">changed its name</a>

to American Tradition Partnership (ATP),[in the middle of lawsuits? ] and announced that it had

launched the American Tradition Institute, a think tank that would be

"battling radical environmentalist junk science head on."</span> The "junk

science" ATP seems most concerned with is what the US National Academy

of Sciences says should now be regarded as "<a href="http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12782&page=22" target="_blank">settled facts</a>" - that the Earth is warming and humans are the likely cause. </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last year WTP/ATP fought for a <b>Colorado referendum </b>allowing voters to opt out of the state's <a href="http://www.dora.state.co.us/puc/rulemaking/RenewableEnergyStandard.htm">renewable energy standard</a>.

The standard requires 30 percent of electricity produced by

investor-owned utilities to come from renewables by 2030. The

referendum's backers <a href="http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Colorado_Renewable_Energy_Exemption_Initiative_%282010%29">missed the filing deadline</a>, but ATI <a href="http://www.atinstitute.org/ati-environmental-law-center-sues-state-of-colorado-over-unconstitutionality-of-rps-mandate/">sued</a> Colorado over the standard, and is now targeting similar standards in <a href="http://www.atinstitute.org/ati-study-delawares-renewable-energy-mandate-will-damage-state-economy/">Delaware</a>, <a href="http://www.atinstitute.org/study-minnesota%e2%80%99s-renewable-energy-mandate-will-damage-state-economy-with-little-to-no-benefit-to-environment/">Minnesota</a>, <a href="http://www.atinstitute.org/ati-study-montana-renewables-mandate-is-all-cost-no-benefit/">Montana</a>, <a href="http://www.atinstitute.org/ati-study-new-mexico%e2%80%99s-renewable-energy-mandates-costly-with-questionable-benefits/">New Mexico</a> and <a href="http://www.atinstitute.org/study-ohio%e2%80%99s-alternative-energy-mandates-will-keep-its-economy-in-a-slump/">Ohio</a>.</span>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">

WTP/ATP also fights laws that restrict corporate money in elections or

require disclosure of contributions.<b> In 2009, the group sued Longmont,

CO over their Fair Campaign Practices Act.</b> The city <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Tradition_Partnership#Longmont">settled</a> and agreed to drop disclosure requirements. In 2010, after the U.S. Supreme Court's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission"><em>Citizens United</em> decision</a>, WTP/ATP <a href="http://coloradoindependent.com/64510/colorado-pro-business-group-gets-montana-corporate-campaign-spending-ban-struck-down-in-court">successfully challenged</a>

the constitutionality of the Montana Corrupt Practices Act of 1912,

which prohibited independent political expenditures by corporations.</span>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> During the 2010 elections, the Montana Commission of Political Practices <a href="http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_9b902fd2-dd81-11df-9486-001cc4c002e0.html">found</a>

that the organization broke state campaign laws by failing to register

as a political committee or report its donors and spending. The state suggested WTP/ATP was involved in <a href="http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/article_493daff8-dd76-11df-99b2-001cc4c03286.html">corruption and money laundering</a>.

They found that it solicited unlimited contributions to support

candidates and then passed them through a "sham organization," the

Bozeman-based political action committee <em>The Coalition for Energy and the Environment</em> that ran attack ads against Democrats. WTP told corporations that it aimed to combat "radical environmentalists" and "<a href="http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/article_493daff8-dd76-11df-99b2-001cc4c03286.html" target="_blank">beat them at their own game</a>" and that their contributions would remain secret.</span><strong /></font></p><strong><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong><strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><strong><strong>

</strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></font></strong></strong><p style=""><strong><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong><strong>These actions reflect an all-too-common authoritarian goal, a goal

that vested interests have pursued since the days of Galileo: forcibly

silencing freedom of speech, thought, inquiry and expression that runs

counter to the vested interests. In Galileo's <a href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1630galileo.asp" target="_blank" style="">1633 indictment</a>,

it was the Catholic Church, then the seat of world political power.

Today the vested interests that are being threatened by the measured

facts of science are the current the seat of world political power, the

US energy industry. But quashing science is anti-freedom and

unAmerican, so the try to do it anonymously, through groups like ATI.</strong></strong></font></strong></strong>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ATI's executive director is <a href="http://www.johnlocke.org/about/display_bio.html?id=16" target="_hplink">Paul Chesser</a>, who WTP/ATP describes as a "noted climate scholar.</span>" But Chesser is not a scientist. According to his <a href="http://www.home.roadrunner.com/%7Epaulchesser/aboutme.htm">bio</a>, Chesser <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">edited two weekly conservative North Carolina Christian newspapers</span>, <em>Raleigh World</em> and <em>Triad World</em>.

His writing has appeared in many fundamentalist and anti-science

websites including The Good Steward.com, Evangelical Press, the

Christian Examiner, The <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Home School Legal Defense Association, and

antiscience evolution denier Answers in Genesis.</span>

Sue Sturgis of the <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/10/special-investigation-whos-behind-the-information-attacks-on-climate-scientists.html" target="_blank">Institute of Southern Studies (ISS)</a>

reported that Chesser then moved to edit the Carolina Journal, the

monthly newsletter of the John Locke Foundation (JLF), a "free market"

think tank in Raleigh, NC that has been a leading voice of climate

denial in that state. This is ironic, since Locke is considered the

father of empiricism, and defined how scientific knowledge is different

from and superior to "but faith, or opinion," something the JLF seems to

have missed. The JLF ignores empiricism in favor of publishing

rhetorical arguments for a predetermined conclusion - the opposite of

empiricism. An example is their <a href="http://www.johnlocke.org/acrobat/policyReports/globalwarmingguide.pdf">Citizens Guide to Global Warming</a> (pdf), which is an antiscience publication that attacks what the group <a href="http://www.johnlocke.org/search/results.html?cx=000850932633721540975%3Ay7uhjqbesls&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=%22global+warming+alarmism%22&sa=Search#1019">calls</a> "global warming alarmism" and promotes the views of climate deniers.

The Locke Foundation was founded - and is still <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/blessed-to-have-a-pope.html">funded</a> in part - by Art Pope. Pope is a <a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about/directors">national director</a> of the Koch brothers-founded Tea Party astroturfer <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_For_Prosperity">Americans for Prosperity</a>. The Kochs <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/">fund several climate denial groups</a>. Their foundations contributed <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2007/11/special-investigation-whos-behind-the-attack-on-state-climate-policy.html">at least $70,000</a> to the Locke Foundation, according to the <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/10/special-investigation-whos-behind-the-information-attacks-on-climate-scientists.html" target="_blank">Institute of Southern Studies (ISS)</a>.

Sturgis says that Chesser also worked with Climate Strategies Watch, a

joint project of the JLF and the Heartland Institute, that sought to <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2007/11/special-investigation-whos-behind-the-attack-on-state-climate-policy.html">discredit</a> the Center for Climate Strategies, a nonprofit group that helps states figure out ways to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

Sturgis's research shows that Chesser also served as a special correspondent to the Heartland Institute, which has received <a href="http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=41">at least $676,000</a> from ExxonMobil since 1998. Between 1997 and 2008, it also <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/images/sitepieces/koch-pope-comparison_final.jpg">received $30,000</a> from foundations connected to the Kochs and <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/images/sitepieces/koch-pope-comparison_final.jpg">another $50,000</a>

from Pope's family foundation. Walter Buchholtz, an ExxonMobil

executive, served as Heartland's Government Relations Advisor, according

to <a href="http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2005/363/309/2005-363309812-0295fbb2-9.pdf" target="blank">Heartland's 2005 IRS Form 990, pg. 15</a>.

Chesser then became an associate fellow for the <a href="http://nlpc.org/" target="blank">National Legal and Policy Center</a>, a conservative think tank and propaganda dispenser <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#Funding">funded</a> by the Scaife Foundations, which are controlled by the family that owns Gulf Oil. He blogged at the climate denialist <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cooler_Heads_Coalition">Cooler Heads Coalition</a>, an industry astroturfer closely tied to the think tank and astroturfer <a title="Competitive Enterprise Institute" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Competitive_Enterprise_Institute">Competitive Enterprise Institute</a> (CEI). CEI opposes greenhouse gas regulations and has <a href="http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=2">taken over $2 million</a>

from ExxonMobil. It also has funding from the American Petroleum

Institute, Texaco, and the Amoco, Koch, Scaife and Pope foundations.

ATI's <a href="http://www.atinstitute.org/about/staff-board-of-directors/">director of litigation</a>, Christopher Horner, is a CEI fellow.

At ATI, Sturgis says that Chesser's antiscience propaganda efforts are

largely bankrolled by fossil fuel interests. According to its <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/sites/default/files/ATI_990_2010_final.pdf">most recent filing with the IRS</a>, ATI last year received $40,000 from its sister group ATP, which in turn is <a href="http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/02/12/who-benefited-from-outside-influence/">supported by oil, gas and coal interests</a>. It received another $5,000 from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, a Virginia-based think tank that since 1998 has <a href="http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=17">received over $1 million</a> in funding from Exxon Mobil; between 1997 and 2008, Atlas also <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/a-pope-of-climate-denial.html">received $122,300</a> from the Koch foundations and <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/a-pope-of-climate-denial.html">$735,000 from the Pope foundation</a>.

ATI's biggest funder is Montana businessman Doug Lair and the Lair

Family Foundation; together they contributed over 75 percent of its

total income. Lair's fortune <a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/about/">comes from Lair Petroleum</a>,

a family business that was sold in 1989 to William Koch, brother of

Charles and David Koch. Lair still works for Lair Petroleum according

to 2010 <a href="http://www.followthemoney.org/">state campaign finance reports</a>.

Today's hearing considered Mann's motion to intervene in ATI's case

against UVA in order to protect his own papers under the ideals of

privacy and freedom that Americans have always held dear. Without this

right, Mann would have had no say in what papers the UVA might

ultimately release to ATI.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) <a href="http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2011/0629board_statement.shtml">said</a>

lawsuits like ATI's "have created a hostile environment that inhibits

the free exchange of scientific findings and ideas." Francesca Grifo,

director of the Scientific Integrity Program at the Union of Concerned

Scientists, <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/university-of-virginia-scientists-records-0530.html">said</a>

"Scientists should be able to challenge other scientists' ideas and

discuss their preliminary thinking before their analyses are complete

and published." Grifo said that "scientists shouldn't have to worry if

political opponents of science will be sifting through emails" for bits

and phrases to spin. "It has a chilling effect" on research, she said,

and that's not going to take America where we need to go. The American

Association of University Professors sent a <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/scientific_integrity/Letter-to-UVA-President-Teresa-Sullivan-regarding-academic-freedom.pdf">letter</a>

to the UVA president arguing that the Virginia public documents statute

exempts scholarly data of a proprietary nature that has not yet been

publicly released, published, copyrighted or patented - in other words,

Mann's emails. And US copyright law suggests that the documents may be

covered under common copyright.

What is at stake in Mann's case is something much larger and more

precious than papers and emails, or partisan politics -- what is at

stake is Americans' freedom to investigate, debate and express ideas

that run counter to those of corporations. Attacks on this basic

freedom are a step away from democracy and toward tyranny.</p>

Get Shawn Lawrence Otto's important new book: <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://bit.ly/fool2">Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America</a>,</span>

"a gripping analysis of America's anti-science crisis." --Starred

Kirkus Review. An "incredible book" -- Starred Publishers Weekly review.

Like him on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shawn-Lawrence-Otto/232314056783757" style="">Facebook</a>. Listen to him of <a href="http://shawnotto.com/foolmetwice/media/media20111014.html" target="blank" style="">Science Friday</a>. Join <a href="http://www.sciencedebate.org/" target="blank" style="">ScienceDebate.org</a> to get the presidential candidates to debate science.

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shawn-lawrence-otto/climate-scientist-wins-a-b_1070426.html" style="">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shawn-lawrence-otto/climate-scientist-wins-a-b_1070426.html</a>

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      <span class="meta-author"><a href="http://www.hcn.org/search?portal_type%3Alist=Blog+Post&Creator=marianlyman&sort_on=PublicationDate&sort_order=descending">Marian Lyman Kirst</a></span> | May 14, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">2012</span> 05:00 AM

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<p>Back in February, I wrote on the Goat blog about "sWINDle", an <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="http://www.hcn.org/words-are-wind">anti-wind energy billboard campaign in Idaho</a> that was developed by the <a href="http://www.energyintegrityproject.org/sWINDle.html">Energy Integrity Project</a>,</span>

an obscure nonprofit that fancies itself a grass-roots watchdog.  The

group believes that wind energy projects in Idaho -- specifically those

near EIP members' houses -- are not based on "genuine" science and that

they threaten the economy, taxpayers, and the environment.

The Energy Integrity Project is one of a growing number of

"grass-roots" groups around the country that aggressively lobby against

regional wind development projects and renewable energy policies.  And

while most are small, NIMBY-type outfits, <a href="http://checksandbalancesproject.org/2012/05/10/confidential-subversive-campaign-documents-show-fuel-funded-advocacy-groups-coordinating-with-local-anti-wind-groups/">documents recently obtained by the Checks & Balances Project</a>

-- a government and industry watchdog organization -- suggest that

these local groups are more coordinated in funding and strategy than the

average citizen-run non-profit. With the help of prominent conservative

think tanks -- a number of which have ties to the fossil fuel industry

-- these smaller groups are working to combine their small gusts of

regional anti-wind rhetoric into a national gale aimed at subverting the

renewable energy industry.

In a press release issued this week, the <a href="http://checksandbalancesproject.org/about/">Checks & Balances Project</a>,

whose watchdog work to date has largely focused on exposing the fossil

fuel industry's influence on energy issues -- says that a network of

anti-wind activists, including the members of several high-profile

conservative organizations with funding ties to the oil and gas

industry, gathered in the nation's capital in February 2011 to "confirm

plans for a coordinated national disinformation campaign against wind

energy."

The

plans were detailed in a confidential public relations campaign

proposal that Gabe Elsner, co-director for The Checks & Balances

Project, found (along with a number of related documents) via a <span class="highlightedSearchTerm">Google</span>

search. The proposal was edited and presented to participants at the

February gathering -- dubbed the D.C. Energy Advocates Conference -- by

John Droz, Jr., a longtime opponent of commercial wind energy and the

conference's organizer. From The Checks & Balances Project:

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The document details a series of wind energy attacks ranging from

"counter intelligence," setting up a "dummy business" and steering kids

away from science projects on wind because "it doesn’t meet the criteria

we set up."</span> The document also notes that the groups should coordinate

national messaging but make sure the same message "appears to come from

as many as a dozen separate sources."

While Droz and other participants describe the conference as a

gathering of concerned citizens opposed to government support for the

wind energy industry, which Droz says has failed to "justify its

existence," environmental groups and clean-energy advocates feel the

gathering is "evidence of a concerted effort on the part of fossil fuel

companies to squash a sector that could someday threaten their business

interests," <a href="http://www.eenews.net/EEDaily/2012/05/10/3">reports E&E News</a> (subscription only).

Indeed, in addition to Droz's strategy memo, Checks & Balances'

Elsner also found a list of conference participants, some of whom have

ties to the oil and gas industry or are associated with groups that

receive significant funding from fossil fuel interests.

For example, Droz is a senior Fellow at the <a href="http://www.atinstitute.org/about/">American Tradition Institute</a>,

a conservative think tank that, Elsner says, receives 75 percent of its

funding from Doug Lair, founder of Lair Petroleum, a business that

billionaire oilman William Koch bought from Lair back in 1989. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Paul

Driessen</span>, a Senior Policy Analyst at conservative free-market policy

institute the <a href="http://www.cfact.org/">Committee For a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT</a>) was also in attendance. CFACT received $577,000 from ExxonMobil between 2000 and 2007, <a href="http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=25">according to the company's tax records and giving reports</a>, but Driessen maintains that he was at the conference representing only himself. Marita Noon, Executive Director of the <a href="http://www.responsiblenergy.org/renewables.asp">Citizens' Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE)</a> -- a New Mexico-based anti-wind lobby -- also participated. CARE is funded in part by <a href="http://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/guest_columns/399887opinion10-19-05.htm">New Mexico oil and gas producers</a>.

This brings us back to the Idaho-based Energy Integrity Project.

According to that list of conference participants, Tauna Christensen --

the president of the EIP -- was there as well.

The EIP incorporated only recently and so it's unclear as yet who

funds the group. Christensen claims the EIP is paid for by concerned

citizens "out of their own pockets." But, like the other supposedly

self-supported anti-wind groups at the conference, notes Elsner, the EIP

is -- in its "sWINDle" campaign – running what appears to be a very

well-funded effort against local wind energy projects and policies. In

fact, Elsner looked into how much it costs to advertise via billboard in

Idaho: A quote he got from a Boise billboard company said 14 billboards

would run $13,000 a month. So buying anti-wind billboards is a pricey

endeavor for a group that Christensen says has only 4 active members.

For its part, The Checks & Balances Project, is not exactly a

disinterested party in the wind energy debate: "We are pro-clean

energy", says Elsner. But, unlike the EIP and other clean-energy-bashing

groups, The Checks & Balances Project believes in transparency and

is open about its funding sources: Renew American Prosperity (RAP) and

the New Venture Fund.  RAP supports Elsner's work, and it, in turn, is

funded by clean technology attorney Mike <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Danaher.</span>

If groups like the EIP are going to embark on subversive local and

national campaigns of disinformation about wind energy -- an industry

they claim is non-viable despite the fact that electricity generation

from wind increased from 6 billion kilowatt-hours in 2000 to about 95

billion kilowatt-hours in 2010 and that, since 1998, wind capacity has

grown by an average of more than 25 percent per year -- then the least

they could do is show us the money.

<em>Marian Lyman Kirst is an editorial Fellow for</em> High Country News</p>=</span></span><div style="font-weight: bold;"><b>
</b></div><div style="font-weight: bold;"><b>attrib to lair by cowgirl:</b></div><div style="font-weight: bold;"><b>
</b></div><div style="font-weight: bold;"><h1 class="post-title" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 30px;"><a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/frontline-pbs/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Frontline & PBS" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Frontline & PBS</a></h1><div class="post-info" style="margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 18px;">Posted by <a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/author/admin/" title="Posts by admin" rel="author" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">admin</a> on Dec 2, 2012 in <a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/category/uncategorized/" title="View all posts in Uncategorized" rel="category tag" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Uncategorized</a> | <a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/frontline-pbs/#comments" title="Comment on Frontline & PBS" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">1 comment</a></div><div id="fb_share_1" style="line-height: 18px; float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><div class="fb-share-button fb_iframe_widget" data-href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/frontline-pbs/" data-type="box_count" fb-xfbml-state="rendered" style="display: inline-block; position: relative;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; text-align: justify; vertical-align: bottom; width: 62px; height: 58px;" /></div></div><div style="line-height: 18px;"><p style="line-height: 18px;">Concerned Citizens of Sweet Grass County is sponsoring two free showings of <em>Big Sky, Big Money</em>, a documentary produced by Frontline, a Public Broadcasting System (PBS) contributor.    In our next post, we will examine the issues discussed in the documentary, but first we ought to find out just who and what Frontline and the Public Broadcasting System are, what they have said in other broadcasts and what they have supported.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">Here are some comments and positions expressed by PBS employees:</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">PBS host Tavis Smiley stated the United States has a terrible Christian terrorist problem.  In 2010, he said Christians blow up people every day in the United States.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">In 1989, PBS aired a six-part series titled <em>America’s Century</em>, starring Lewis Lapham, the leftist editor of <em>Harper’s</em> magazine.  In Lapham’s view, the entire 20th century was an unfolding mess of American violence.  Hitler, Lenin and Stalin apparently were humanistic peace lovers.  Lapham began with the troubling “militarism and imperialism” of Theodore Roosevelt, and kept the attack on until he’d reached Ronald Reagan and the “confidence of his belief in all the American fairy tales.”</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">NPR legal reporter Nina Totenberg proclaimed she was “ashamed of my country” after it was revealed that major terrorism suspects were housed in secret CIA prisons (2005).</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">In the PBS series <em>Ethics in America</em>,  Mike Wallace was asked, “Don’t you have a higher duty as an American citizen to do all you can to save the lives of  (American) soldiers rather than this journalistic ethic of reporting fact?”  Without hesitating Wallace responded: “No, you don’t have higher duty…You’re a reporter.” This persuaded Peter Jennings, who changed his view: “I think he’s right, too.”  Journalism trumps loyalty.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">The narrator of a PBS series on Africa, Ali Mazrui, said Moammar Qaddafi offered “supreme ideals” to make Africans and Arabs masters of their own destinies against the West.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">After being criticized by Senator Jessie Helms, reporter Nina Totenberg said she wished he would die of AIDS.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">In 1990, Saul Landau produced <em>The Uncompromising Revolution</em> for PBS.  He touted how Castro wanted to build a society “modeled on the ideals of the legendary Che Guevara….Fidel appeals to the masses to be like Che, but Che Guevara was a revolutionary saint. Most Cubans cannot aspire to such status.”</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">On June 12, 2007, the PBS show <em>Now</em> devoted most of its half-hour to smearing the pro-life movement. It didn’t matter how many times activists decried the shooting of late-term abortionist George Tiller — they were still treated as advocates of violence and terrorism. PBS hailed two other late-term abortionists, Dr. Warren Hern and Dr. Leroy Carhart.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">PBS regular Julianne Malveaux hoped that Clarence Thomas’ wife “feeds him lots of eggs and butter and he dies early like many black men do, of heart disease.”</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">In 1990, the panic over global warming was in full swing, and from October 7 to 11, PBS aired ten hours of a series gaudily titled <em>Race to Save the Planet</em>. The show’s host was Meryl Streep, who said: “By the year 2000, that’s less than 10 years away, the Earth’s climate will be warmer than it’s been in over 100,000 years. If we don’t do something, there will be enormous calamities in a very short time.” Earth Day founder Denis Hayes suggested that without an environmental revolution, man could cause “planetary death.”</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">Loren Jenkins, a PBS foreign editor, vowed to “smoke out” American troop locations in Afghanistan, adding he had no desire to aid a lying Pentagon and that he represented ‘history’.  We recollect similar statements from Karl Marx.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">On a PBS program, Andrei Codrescu wished evangelical Christians would disappear: “The evaporation of four million people who read and believe this Rapture crap would leave the world an instantly better place.”</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">In 1991<em> Frontline </em>aired a documentary investigating  “The Election Story of the Decade.” Liberals pushed the conspiracy theory that the Reagan campaign in 1980 secretly plotted to delay the release of the U.S. hostages in Iran to prevent an “October Surprise” for Jimmy Carter. This led to 27 network news stories (and several special episodes of ABC’s <em>Nightline</em>) casting ethical aspersions on the Reagan campaign. But the tale of their alleged “lawlessness and recklessness” was proven to be false.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">Shortly after 9/11 PBS host Bill Moyers said: “When I see (American) flags sprouting out on official lapels, I think of the time in China when I saw Mao’s Little Red Book.”</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">In a 1987 program on PBS, Moyers proclaimed that the “black birds” represent America and the “white birds” were the Sandinistas who revered freedom, George Washington and Jesus Christ.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">Nina Totenberg was the first to report the unproven story of Anita Hill’s sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas.  She later ignored sexual assault claims by Paula Jones and Juanita Broaddrick against Bill Clinton.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">PBS aired NEA funded <em>Tongues United</em>, a documentary that celebrates black gay sex with explicitly pornographic talk and anti-religious overtones.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">Unlike the firing of Juan Williams last year, none of these blatantly biased offenses resulted in punishment or any change in policy.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">Frontline has produced a long list of left wing hit pieces.  Here are a few:</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">The 2001 documentary <em>Enemies of War</em> recounts the 1980s civil war in El Salvador. While denigrating the elected anti-Communist Salvadoran government that was backed by the Reagan administration and was fighting against Marxist terrorists from neighboring Nicaragua, the film lauds the efforts of those who “halted U.S. involvement” in the region and thereby helped El Salvador “generate peace instead of war.” Praised effusively in the film is <a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1507" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Jim McGovern</a>, a Massachusetts congressman who in the Eighties was a congressional aide opposed to Reagan’s efforts.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">The Frontline documentary <em>FROM JESUS TO CHRIST: THE EARLY CHRISTIANS </em>brings together the skepticism of the Jesus Seminar and the pretentiousness of German higher criticism to form a very confused portrait of Christianity.  It takes real hubris to disregard the Gospels and try to patch together a portrait of Jesus from some limited archeological evidence.  <strong>The program’s scholars belittled Jesus</strong>.  Then they confuse the meaning behind theological precepts and  harped on a questionable source produced by the German school of higher criticism that helped undermine the church in Germany and paved the way for the Nazi Holocaust.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">In a the documentary <em>Vaccination Wars</em>, Frontline consistently ignored and gave no voice to contributors who did not agree with their belief that child vaccinations are always good and can be multiply administered.  Even physicians with moderate doubts were not represented.  It is curious that PBS gets some of its funding from the producers of vaccinations.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">The Frontline documentary <em>Bush’s’ War</em>, the President of the United States is portrayed as a lover of theatrical policy presentations, the slave of his cabinet, intellectual inadequate and full of blood lust.<a href="http://pjmedia.com/blog/bushs_war/" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">http://pjmedia.com/blog/bushs_war/</a></p><p style="line-height: 18px;">In its’ documentary <em>Money, Power and Wall Street</em>, Frontline totally ignored why the subprime market got so big. That’s because if they were to explain why it got so big, they would have had to discuss the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and the fact that banks, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and other lending institutions were <em>required by law</em> to make loans to subprime borrowers. (Click <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203633104576623083437396142.html" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">here</a> or <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204791104577108183677635076.html" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">here</a> for a smidgen of the voluminous literature on the subject.) from <a href="http://policydynamics.org/" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">http://policydynamics.org/</a></p><p style="line-height: 18px;">And just wait for the coming expose of Rupert Murdoch.  The reporting correspondent has accused Murdock of participating in a conspiracy with “every Prime Minister in Britain for the last quarter century…colluding, money changing hands, cover-up and all kinds of black arts in between.”  With a lead in like that, we can hardly expect the documentary to be objective. And of course, Frontline is far too morally upright to regard a media tycoon as one of its competitors.                              <a href="http://truth-has-a-liberal-bias.tumblr.com/post/18954297369/save-the-date-pbs-schedules-frontline-expose-of-rupert" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">http://truth-has-a-liberal-bias.tumblr.com/post/18954297369/save-the-date-pbs-schedules-frontline-expose-of-rupert</a></p><p style="line-height: 18px;">Frontline is just another head on the Medusa-like monster of the mainstream media.  They are in the business of dictating to the American public that what is wrong and what is right.  We suspect Frontline was given the American Tradition Partnership story by the Montana State Attorneys General office in order to silence a group that has been most effective in preserving Montanan’s  Constitutional freedoms in state and federal courts.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">Donors and Executives:</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">The PBS Foundation’s most <a href="http://www.pbs.org/foundation/donor-recognition/" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">significant donors</a> between 2005 and 2011 were the <a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/funderProfile.asp?fndid=5176" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Ford Foundation</a>, the John S. James and L. Knight Foundation, the <a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/funderProfile.asp?fndid=5223" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation</a>, the Adobe Foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies, the Richard and Rhonda Goldman Foundation, the Newman’s Own Foundation, the Orfalea Family Foundation, the Charles H. Revson Foundation, and the Skoll Foundation.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">PBS Foundation’s first executive director, <a href="http://www.capitalresearch.org/pubs/pdf/v1185994166.pdf" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Cheri Carter</a>, was a veteran <a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6214" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Democratic Party</a> political operative who previously had worked for the late Ron Brown, Commerce Department secretary during President <a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=644" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Bill Clinton</a>‘s first term. Carter subsequently served as chief of staff in the White House office of public liaison (1996-1999), and as chief operating officer for the 2000 Democratic National Convention. Just before joining PBS, she was a fundraiser for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.</p><p style="line-height: 18px;">Not only does the Federal Government partially fund PBS (about $450 million), but the organization uses some of the money to lobby for, guess what?  More funding.  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/funding" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Click here to read their pitch</a>.  Some say that amount of money is insignificant.   Perhaps, but there is a principle involved.  <strong>No public money</strong> should be given to any outfit that holds and promotes political and religious opinions.  In our view, that principle holds true for all organizations; the Catholic Church, the Salvation Army, the Republican Party, Citizens United or the mis-named Public Broadcasting System.</p><strong style="" /><div style=""><strong style=""><strong style=""><strong style=""><strong style=""><strong style=""><strong style=""><strong style=""><strong style=""><strong style=""><strong style=""><strong style=""><strong style=""><strong style=""><strong><strong><strong><strong><span><span></span></span></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></div><div style=""><article id="post-14928" class="post-14928 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-montana-gop category-montana-legislature-2013 category-tea-party-2 tag-american-traditions-partnership tag-bob-faw tag-dark-money-groups tag-doug-lair tag-geoff-goble tag-jason-priest tag-medicaid-expansion tag-montana-growth-network" style="margin: 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline-block; width: 470px; line-height: 1.5em; float: left;"><header style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; line-height: 50px; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/2013/04/29/the-ties-that-bind/" title="Permalink to The Ties that Bind" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">THE TIES THAT BIND</a></h1></header><div class="content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; 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border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline-block; width: 470px; line-height: 1.5em; float: left;"><header style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Posted: April 17, 2013 at 7:29 am</p><h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; line-height: 50px; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/2013/04/17/board-members-of-atp-front-group-also-uncovered/" title="Permalink to Board Members of ATP Front Group Also Uncovered" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BOARD MEMBERS OF ATP FRONT GROUP ALSO UNCOVERED</a></h1></header><div class="content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">by Cowgirl</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">The board of directors of an American Tradition Partnership (ATP) dark money front group operating in Big Timber have now come to light.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">The good people of Sweetgrass County discovered that ATP has been operating a front group in their community under the name Citizens for Constitutional Integrity.  Board members of the front group include: </span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; 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padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Sweetgrass Citizens for Constitutional Ingegrity</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/sweetgrass-county/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Sweetgrass County</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/terry-baird/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Terry Baird</a></span></footer></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><article id="post-14689" class="post-14689 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-2012-elections category-montana-gop category-montana-legislature-2013 tag-american-tradition-partnership tag-american-traditions-partnership tag-atp tag-atp-board-members tag-doug-lair tag-geoff-goble tag-joel-boniel tag-oathkeepers tag-peter-mackenzie tag-secession tag-sovereign-states-project tag-wtp" style="margin: 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline-block; width: 470px; line-height: 1.5em; float: left;"><header style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Posted: April 15, 2013 at 9:38 pm</p><h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; line-height: 50px; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/2013/04/15/meet-the-atp-board-of-directors/" title="Permalink to Meet the ATP Board of Directors" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">MEET THE ATP BOARD OF DIRECTORS</a></h1></header><div class="content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">by Cowgirl</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screen-shot-2013-04-15-at-10.24.24-PM.png" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
</a>A court has demanded that the dark money group American Tradition Partnership must reveal its board members, the <a href="http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/atp-directors-reveal-identities-in-court-filing/article_10206efa-b558-52fe-b906-737e6a3d56bb.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Associated Press</em></a> reported today.  Let’s meet them.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Doug Lair</strong></p><figure id="attachment_14692" aria-labelledby="figcaption_attachment_14692" class="wp-caption alignright" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 20px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; max-width: 100%; float: right; width: 238px;"><a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screen-shot-2013-04-15-at-8.43.05-PM.png" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><img class="size-medium wp-image-14692" alt="ATP Director Doug Lair" src="http://mtcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screen-shot-2013-04-15-at-8.43.05-PM-234x300.png" width="234" height="300" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; max-width: 100%; height: auto; float: left;" /></a><figcaption id="figcaption_attachment_14692" class="wp-caption-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; clear: both; line-height: 18px;">ATP Director Doug Lair</figcaption></figure><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Doug Lair (pictured right), resides in Sweet Grass County.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">For some reason, ATP is operating in the county under a different name: Sweetgrass Citizens for Constitutional Integrity.  The group hosts an innocuously named website <a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">sweetgrassroots.org</a>–and it’s really something to see.  On it, Mr. Lair warns his ATP followers that “Progressive programs and indoctrination have found their way into our local government and schools at an alarming rate.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">There is one insidious new influence in Big Timber that Mr. Lair is especially worried about.  He fears that a local economic development project of the Northwest Area Foundation may really be a secret “<a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/wolf-in-sheeps-clothing/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">progressive indoctrination boot camp.</a>”  Actually, the program gives grants to local communities for projects like <a href="http://www.nwaf.org/NewsReleases/Rural%20Communities%20Fight%20Poverty,%20Embrace%20Horizons%20Community%20Leadership%20Program" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">sprucing up their business and industrial parks</a> to help get the local economy moving.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">When the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/big-sky-big-money/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FRONTLINE </a>documentary exposing ATP’s activities was aired on PBS, Lair posted a <a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/frontline-pbs/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">tirade against PBS</a> on the Sweetgrass Council/ATP website.  He accused the station of everything from “belittling Jesus” to spreading anti-American views, to being part of a government conspiracy to vaccinate kids against diseases.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">The site indicates that Sweetgrass County Commissioner <a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/about/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Bob Faw</a> is heavily invoved in the group.  It also <a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/gratitudeleadership/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">helpfully lists the emails of all the legislators </a>they say have done right by ATP in the legislature, so that you may thank them.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"> </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Geoff Goble</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screen-shot-2013-04-15-at-11.23.35-PM.png" style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-14725" alt="Geoff Goble" src="http://mtcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screen-shot-2013-04-15-at-11.23.35-PM-300x118.png" width="300" height="118" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; max-width: 100%; height: auto;" /></a>
Mr. Goble </span>is a  commercial property developer who also lives in the Big Timber area.  He’s also your garden variety secessionist.   He’s been linked with the website<a href="http://sovereignstateproject.com/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">SovereignStateProject.com</a>  According to <a href="http://politicalpractices.mt.gov/content/2recentdecisions/EspvDirectMailandWTPComplaint" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">this campaign finance complaint</a> filed by former state legislator John Esp,  some ATP documents<a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/documents-found-in-meth-house-bare-inner-workings-of-dark-money-group" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> uncovered in a meth house</a>  appear to show that Goble helped finance the pro-secession website.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">The website <a href="http://sovereignstateproject.com/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">proclaims </a>such views as:</p><blockquote style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 35px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: url(" http="http" mtcowgirl.com="mtcowgirl.com" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" blaskan="blaskan" img="img" sprite.png="sprite.png" url="url" quotes="quotes" none="none" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">“The Project was inspired by Rep. Joel Boniek’s recent legislation in Montana and the clamor for states’ rights that is sweeping the U.S. We are part of a grassroots movement of ordinary citizens who are FED UP with the Federal Government.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">and</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">“States should seize back the power over their own borders and BOOT the Feds. Let them control ONLY the international borders, and stay out of our Sovereign States.”</p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">The complaint also describes how <a href="http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2012/12/03/montana-courtroom-incident-proves-wild-fire-can-burn-twice/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Oathkeeper-affiliated Joel Boniek</a>, Geoff Goble, and ATP worked together to defeat Esp and support Boniek’s campaign for state legislature.  Boniek was the former state legislator who made headlines after a bizarre incident which <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/2012/07/19/gop-legislator-arrested-after-bizarre-incident/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">led to his arrest.</a>  Goble has also signed his name to statements declaring that Earth Day is “s<a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/triangles-earth-day/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">traightforward paganism</a>,” and a “tool used by those who seek to control individuals and engineer society.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"> </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Peter MacKenzie </strong></p><figure id="attachment_14695" aria-labelledby="figcaption_attachment_14695" class="wp-caption alignright" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 20px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; max-width: 100%; float: right; width: 121px;"><a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screen-shot-2013-04-15-at-9.25.46-PM.png" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><img class="size-full wp-image-14695 " alt="Peter MacKenzie, ATP Bankroller" src="http://mtcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screen-shot-2013-04-15-at-9.25.46-PM.png" width="117" height="161" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; max-width: 100%; height: auto; float: left;" /></a><figcaption id="figcaption_attachment_14695" class="wp-caption-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; clear: both; line-height: 18px;">Man thought to be Peter MacKenzie, ATP Board member</figcaption></figure><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Peter Mackenzie is a <a href="http://www.parkcounty.org/site/pdfs/CCP_Minutes/2009/Week%20Mar%202%20minutes.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">large land owner</a>and Livingston real estate developer and a <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/2012/11/08/ppl-corp-among-american-tradition-partnership-bankrollers/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">major bank-roller of ATP. </a> Here’s how he’s described in ATP’s <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/426626/perspective-wtp-donor-list.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">donor prospecting notes,</a> which were uncovered among the infamous meth house documents:</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screen-shot-2013-04-15-at-10.59.32-PM.png" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-14719" alt="Peter Mackenzie" src="http://mtcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screen-shot-2013-04-15-at-10.59.32-PM-300x93.png" width="300" height="93" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; max-width: 100%; height: auto;" /></a></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">A Peter G. Mackenzie of Mackenzie Associates LTD from the Livingston zip code has given money to Burns, Daines, Fox, and Brown. His profile appears to match this <a href="http://www.prumt.com/agents/Montana/All-Offices/All-Cities/All-Types/agent/1257/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Peter MacKenzie</a> (pictured) who is described thusly:</p><blockquote style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 35px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: url(" http="http" mtcowgirl.com="mtcowgirl.com" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" blaskan="blaskan" img="img" sprite.png="sprite.png" url="url" quotes="quotes" none="none" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">“Over the past 25 years, Peter MacKenzie has developed and operated 200 plus nationally-known franchises. In addition to spending a number of years on Wall Street, he continued to raise and manage monies for clients. Peter has developed properties in Big Sky as well as currently owns and operates several retail businesses there.”</p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screen-shot-2013-04-15-at-10.24.24-PM.png" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><img alt="Peter Mackenzie check" src="http://mtcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screen-shot-2013-04-15-at-10.24.24-PM-298x300.png" width="298" height="300" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; max-width: 100%; height: auto;" /></a></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"> </p><div class="shareinpost" style="margin: 0px; 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padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">2012 Elections</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/category/montana-gop/" title="View all posts in Montana GOP" rel="category tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Montana GOP</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/category/legislative-races/montana-legislature-2013/" title="View all posts in Montana Legislature 2013" rel="category tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Montana Legislature 2013</a> </span><span class="tags" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><span class="tags-label" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Tagged with</span> <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/american-tradition-partnership/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">American Tradition Partnership</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/american-traditions-partnership/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">American Traditions Partnership</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/atp/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ATP</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/atp-board-members/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ATP Board members</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/doug-lair/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Doug Lair</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/geoff-goble/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Geoff Goble</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/joel-boniel/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Joel Boniel</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/oathkeepers/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">oathkeepers</a>,<a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/peter-mackenzie/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Peter Mackenzie</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/secession/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">secession</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/sovereign-states-project/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Sovereign States Project</a>, <a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/wtp/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">WTP</a></span></footer></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><article id="post-12369" class="post-12369 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-tea-party-2 category-uncategorized tag-american-tradition-partnership tag-american-traditions-partnership tag-atp tag-big-sky-big-money tag-big-timber tag-bob-faw tag-doug-lair tag-pbs tag-republican-candidates tag-sweetgrass-citizens-for-constitutional-ingegrity tag-uncovered-potentially-illegal-collusion" style="margin: 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline-block; width: 470px; line-height: 1.5em; float: left;"><header style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Posted: December 2, 2012 at 7:16 pm</p><h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; line-height: 50px; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="http://mtcowgirl.com/2012/12/02/big-timber-big-money/" title="Permalink to Big Timber, Big Money" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BIG TIMBER, BIG MONEY</a></h1></header><div class="content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Big Timber citizens have a reason to be particularly concerned about dark money groups like American Tradition Partnership.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">The state leader for ATP, Doug Lair, resides in Sweet Grass County.  County Commissioner Bob Faw is even a major donor to the group.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">For some reason, ATP is operating in Big Timber under a different name: Sweetgrass Citizens for Constitutional Integrity.  At the innocuosly named website <a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">sweetgrassroots.org</a>, folks are told that they can:</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"> </p><blockquote style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 35px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: url(" http="http" mtcowgirl.com="mtcowgirl.com" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" blaskan="blaskan" img="img" sprite.png="sprite.png" url="url" quotes="quotes" none="none" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">“Help maintain the integrity of Big Timber by making a generous contribution to SGCCI here. Note- contribution receipts will appear from American Tradition Partnership.”</em></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;"> </p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">The ATP/Sweetgrass Citizens website is really something to see.  On it, Mr. Lair warns his followers that “Progressive programs and indoctrination have found their way into our local government and schools at an alarming rate.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">There is one insidious new influence in Big Timber that Mr. Lair is especially worried about.  He fears that the Horizons project of the Northwest Area Foundation may really be a secret “<a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/wolf-in-sheeps-clothing/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">progressive indoctrination boot camp.</a>”  (A simple google search shows that the program gives grants to local communities for projects like <a href="http://www.nwaf.org/NewsReleases/Rural%20Communities%20Fight%20Poverty,%20Embrace%20Horizons%20Community%20Leadership%20Program" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">sprucing up their business and industrial parks</a> to help get the local economy moving.)</p></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Thankfully,  group of citizens in Big Timber smartly decided to bring  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/big-sky-big-money/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Big Sky, Big Money</em> </a>to the local theatre this Thursday, December 6th at 7:00pm and Sunday, December 9th at 2:00pm.  The documentary, which <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/big-sky-big-money/a-protest-and-a-break-in-fallout-from-big-sky-big-money/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">uncovered potentially illegal collusion</a> between secretive right-wing group ATP and Republican candidates, is being shown <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: underline;">FREE</span> to all residents.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">The showing seems to have upset Mr. Lair.  When he learned locals would be seeing the expose, he posted a<a href="http://sweetgrassroots.org/frontline-pbs/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">tirade against PBS</a> on the Sweetgrass Council/ATP website.  He accuses PBS of everything from “belittling Jesus” to spreading anti-American views, to being part of a government conspiracy to vaccinate kids against diseases.</p></div></article></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>