by Travis Mateer

I think about how lucky I am that my family isn’t being financially decimated by Covid policies. With two of my kids still unable to attend their school this week, I’m grateful their mother is able to stay with them at home instead of us having to find and pay for childcare.

Luck is NOT the way I would describe the financial assistance some people in Missoula were able to get for their small businesses earlier this year amidst lockdowns and economic uncertainty. No, that money was “first come, first serve”, so instead of “luck”, I’d say “timing” was a bigger factor in who got help.

While I’ve written about one politically-connected recipient of local Covid money, I failed to show the hand-written gratitude expressed by this state senator for the assistance she received for her business, Ellie Hill Smith Law Firm.

Well, today I’ll remedy this oversight by including an image from a public records request I made earlier this summer. Here is the screenshot of the last page of the Duplication of Benefits Report:

I’m glad a HUGE breath infusion of money helped this WOMAN-OWNED business, though I’m saddened that Ellie’s husband didn’t think of any virtue-signaling to include in his paperwork submission, like how he’s a cancer survivor, or how he likes to help young interns with their political ambitions.

Instead it’s just this:

Boring! I guess Tyler Smith didn’t get any pointers from his wife on how to virtue-signal. But, at the end of the day, as long as you get the money, it doesn’t really matter. And from what I currently know about this funding, they got the loot.

Here’s the breakdown for Senator Boldman:

Notice the whiteout? That’s because this lawyer/state senator/former non-profit executive director didn’t fill out the form with accurate numbers the first time, so she had to amend the paperwork.

What would our local, politically-connected business people do without their government connections insulating them from financial downturns?

I’m glad they don’t have to worry about that harsh reality because Uncle Sam knows how to take care of his own.