Month: February 2022

by Travis Mateer

I’ve been thinking of writing this open letter for a few weeks now, but some recent factors have made the timing ideal to state, with cautious optimism, that I may have been wrong in my cynical assessment of Daniel Carlino.

When I see Mr. Carlino getting the Gomer treatment for his worrisome vote (aligned with the two remaining conservative votes) signaling the possible existence of an independent political spine, well, I’m willing to put aside my concern that this city council position is just a stepping stone to higher office.

Because a person like that has easy levers to pull, from the perspective of a skilled political operator like GREAT LEADER and his many enablers.

One lever that’s easily yanked by this cabal is the GUILT BY ASSOCIATION card. How would this work, you ask? I’ll provide an example.

Let’s say Daniel Carlino decided to finally give me a direct call on the old telephone. Would I openly acknowledge a call like that had been placed? Nope, I wouldn’t, and a recent comment from “kevin” (not J. Kevin Hunt) shows precisely how that guilt by association is being set up.

From the comment:

I loved your film covering the TIF issue and watched the whole thing. I’ve been reading your blog off and on over the years and love when you call out the shitty developers and corrupt government in Missoula. Then I see takes like this one that are so lost in the sauce that it’s no wonder no one wants to be associated with a film that carries your name. It makes me (and likely many other rational people) question the validity of all your other work, which is a real shame. 

Get your shit together and stop being such a reactionary whiner so you can be taken seriously enough in the broader community to have your good work shared with more people. And if you’re going to make claims stating that “covid vaccine bad!! mask bad!!” please link to some relevant research to back that shit up. Or stop calling yourself a “citizen journalist” and call yourself a “citizen reactionary blogger.”

Now, the coolest part of this much longer comment is the claim (not in this excerpt) that I’m trying to be a RED PILL EDGE LORD, so that is the part I chose to respond to. The other stuff is just concern trolling hoping for an unhinged response.

I offer this excerpt as evidence of the kind of mentality percolating out there in Zoom Town. IF Daniel Carlino called me on the phone, I would assume he already understands the risks associated due to this town’s political dynamics, and therefore that call would certainly give me EVEN MORE encouragement that his political spine is for real.

The documentary Engen’s Missoula is a film I am VERY proud of, and I would LOVE to take full credit for doing the heavy lifting, but, alas, I wasn’t the one bringing the Dawg Majik to the process, so already you can see the guilt by association risk being deployed by “kevin” as he pretends to compliment the moments my content align with his sense of “right think”.

I assume a hypothetical call from Daniel Carlino would entail a discussion about how to reign in the obvious Tax Increment Financing abuses so clearly on display for those paying attention. That discussion is already happening in the increasingly lively comment threads on posts about TIF, or the shitty “reporting” on TIF being spewed out by Martin “Gomer” Kidston.

I’m willing to consider any and all possibilities. For example, I attended the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival’s DocShop on art and activism, where I learned there is something called an Impact Campaign, so now I’m thinking about where I could make an appeal for funding so I can take Engen’s Missoula on a Montana road trip around this glorious state to politely shame Republicans for not doing more to take this sharp tool away from irresponsible toddlers.

Another idea that has been discussed is a citizen-led initiative to make sure the voting public is involved with ANY bonds that risk extending the tax-siphoning life of Urban Renewal Districts or, what I’m going to start calling the financial engines of Missoula’s shadow government.

If putting bonds to a vote is a solution being seriously considered, my question is this: do you REALLY trust the software? Because Republicans in Missoula DO NOT, and they have been bucking their own State leadership on this issue, and have been doing so IN SPITE OF winning big.

Weird. It’s almost like they’re legitimately worried about the actual integrity of our elections.

So, there it is. My open letter to Daniel Carlino. A young man I can only imagine having spoken with, perhaps after imbibing a strong strain of Sativa from Nick Checota’s GROOVY weed shop.

by Travis Mateer

Yesterday I attended, and made public comment at, the VIRTUAL Missoula County School Board meeting. Frustrated parents were relegated to making GENERAL public comments about the mask mandate because these condescending policy zealots REFUSED to even put the mask mandate on the agenda.

The Zoom meeting even conspicuously omitted the images of parents so that we couldn’t see each other, or how many of us were virtually lining up to make comments. This is by design, by “inclusive” school board members like these.

Two of my three kids listened to the charade, keeping track of how the comments were breaking down on a piece of paper. The total: 15 comments AGAINST the mandate, and 1 comment supporting the continued political enforcement of this harmful policy.

I will also note that 3 mothers got audibly upset. It sounded like they were crying, but since their faces were kept hidden, I can’t verify that.

One comment I especially appreciated came from a teacher, Sue Rowe. She talked about the sadness many of her students have expressed to her when she’s talking to them one-on-one.

Another parent, a dad, said he was directing his kids to just stop complying. Right on.

There is no longer any valid scientific justification showing that the benefit of masking out-weighs the risk of harm.

The school board election is May 3rd.

I assume most of the parents left the virtual Zoom meeting after making public comments. I decided to stick it out in order to see all the important stuff that warranted a higher priority than the mask policy.

Pat McHugh, the Executive Director of Operations for MCPS, gave a mind-numbing report on financials. As I forced myself to listen, I found a few moments that inspired my virtual hand to shoot up, but then it would be put down by whoever was running the meeting.

I kept at it, though, and eventually, when Pat was done, I got my chance to make ANOTHER public comment, and this one was a blast.

I first explained to Pat and the school board members that I had taken off my “parent hat” and put on my “citizen journalist hat”. Then I proceeded to ask Pat McHugh about the cost of running a shadow government called the Missoula Redevelopment Agency and if he’s crunched any numbers on the cost to the school board of NOT allowing Urban Renewal Districts to sunset, something Ellen Buchanan and Martin “Gomer” Kidston don’t want you knowing about.

It was fun using those fancy words to signal I wasn’t one of those dumb members of the public that can be summarily dismissed by Missoula’s elitists when engaging in their financial schemes and scams. Less fun was listening to the droning response of Pat McHugh as he “answered” my question with a heap of gobbledygook.

After the meeting I discovered the existence of a survey at Engage Missoula about MRA’s funding priorities. When I went to the website, I was assured Missoula’s TIF wizard, Ellen Buchanan, would be listening.

Since I already had an account set up (which is a requirement for filling out the survey), I gleefully ENGAGED in this survey, which had questions like this one:

And this one:

While I found it somewhat satisfying to respond to these “questions”, it was the last one that allowed me the freedom to actually express myself satisfactorily. And it will be this one I will conclude this post with. Here it is:

That is all for now. Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

I had to rally to get this recorded tonight AFTER the school board zoom meeting, which I wrote about for tomorrow. Also, late breaking, an assault at the brand new out door homeless camp on the eve of Congressional candidate Tom Winter claiming on Twitter he’s going out there.

I’m going to bundle up tomorrow to go out there and see what I can see. Stay tuned.

by Travis Mateer

When the weather gets suddenly extreme, like the cold front that blew in yesterday, local media likes to check-in with homeless service providers to see what the needs are.

While this weather system is no different, the information available IS different, thanks to the city of Missoula’s contract with Roger’s International. To understand what I’m talking about, here’s the relevant part at the end of this KGVO article:

Jeager did not comment on the security at the Johnson Street facility due to the fact that security is privately funded by the City of Missoula.

I bolded the part that makes absolutely no sense at all. How in the hell can a city contract using public dollars be considered private funding?

The areas now being “secured” by Roger’s International with their city contract and MDOT contract includes the Poverello Center, the Johnson Street Shelter, the Transitional Safe Outdoor Space, and the official encampment near Walmart on Mullan.

A few months ago I spoke with Lynn Pritchard on the phone. Who is Lynn? She’s the co-owner of Rogers International. Why did I speak to her? Because I was curious.

I was curious why their address with the Secretary of State is NOT where they claim to be.

When you physically go to this address, like I did two months ago, you will find the Montgomery building, a place I am very familiar with. Why? Because when it was built it was intended to be a birthing center, where my wife and I planned on having our first child, but Dr. Lynn Montgomery died suddenly, and now I just go there if I need something from our family pharmacist.

Roger’s International DOES NOT EXIST at 1211 S. Reserve Street. I asked Lynn Pritchard if they moved their office, and she said yes, but I think that was a lie. I do not believe Roger’s International was EVER actually located at this address.

Another fact I find curious is when Rogers International was established. The screenshot image indicates the company was registered in March of 2020. So, just as the pandemic emerged, drastically altering the delivery of homeless services, Roger’s International ALSO emerged as a brand new security company. Nice timing.

There is something VERY fishy going on with this new and rapidly expanding role for private security companies in our community, and there are still some aspects of this story I’m not going into detail about yet because I hope to see more than just a blogger shining a light on what’s going on here.

Thanks for reading.

by Travis Mateer

Before I get to the provoking and wave-ducking maneuvers being deployed against parents like me, I’d like to reference an anecdotal text my wife got this weekend from a friend. This friend, who will remain anonymous, is DONE with current school policy. The reason this text gives my wife and I hope is because this friend exhibited ALL the symptoms of being a TRUE BELIEVER.

If THIS mom is done, no amount of desperate provocation from a tool like Ken Toole is going to work. And boy is this guy trying hard. From the link (emphasis mine):

You don’t have to be a parent to care about your local school. But recently there are groups popping up around Montana who refer to themselves as the “parental rights movement,” as though they have more of a stake in public education than those who don’t have kids in the school system.

I appreciate Ken Toole’s candor here, especially the scare quotes. It’s a reminder to people out there getting political for the first time that the narrative controllers have to label you with something reductive before they can start smearing you. Like this:

The “parental rights movement” is a relatively small group of people with an axe to grind and clearly don’t represent most parents. Recently they have been attacking masks, vaccines and how we teach history. In their view, they should be able to mandate school policies, because they know what is best for “their kids.”

When I read this I DO experience an emotional stirring of anger, and that’s the point. Truckers are playing fucking hockey and singing the Canadian national anthem up north, and parents in Missoula are peacefully mobilizing to figure out what they can do to unmask their kids. No one is acting like the domestic terrorists the authoritarians need in order to justify the continued authoritarian behavior of the state and their eager, well-intentioned executors of OFFICIAL policy.

While parents and truckers refuse to be terrorists, cowards ARE in fact acting like cowards. Cue Rob Watson, who just announced his retirement for greener administrative pastures.

Missoula County Public Schools Superintendent Rob Watson will leave the district at the end of the school year, he wrote in an email to staff on Friday.

The MCPS Board of Trustees will discuss plans to find a new superintendent during a Feb. 22 meeting.

“It is with mixed emotions that I share this decision with you today,” Watson wrote. “My time with MCPS, including my former time as a principal, has been some of the most rewarding of my 29 years in public education. I will leave with many happy memories and proud to have served with each of you.”

Watson said he will be leaving his position on June 30, 2022 to take the role as the executive director of School Administrators of Montana (SAM), an organization that advocates for public education. Watson will begin in his new role on July 1.

I went to the SAM website and, man, are there a bunch of acronyms. There are also a bunch of links I clicked on but, alas, it is membership-restricted, and I am not a member, which is too bad because I’m sure this guy has LOTS of amazing things to say about schooling the kiddos.

The move by Rob Watson to retire is curious and the big question now is who will replace him and by what process will that person be selected?

I’ll be watching this one as close as I can. Stay tuned.