by Travis Mateer
Once again there’s a news story about Westridge Creative and the political office seekers who get tainted by this “consulting firm”, something I’ve written before, like this eloquently titled piece: Does Jim Parker’s Westridge Creative Give Zero Fucks About Campaign Laws?
How else should one interpret the chronic problems that seem to follow this firm?
Last fall, a volunteer for a competing judge candidate filed complaints with the commissioner accusing Jennifer Streano, Eli Parker and Jacob Coolidge of financially coordinating campaign efforts. The allegations say the judges raised contributions as individuals, then essentially pooled the money for management and coordination by Westridge Creative, a campaign consulting firm.
The question left unasked is whether Westridge Creative is an INCOMPETENT consulting firm, or a zero-fuck-giving one.
I’d say the latter, considering Westridge Creative helped Sheriff McDermott fall under similar scrutiny, which I wrote about around the same time Jim Parker was getting all peace signy for the peace center.
Back to the latest charge, here’s the skinny, although the process of providing a deterrent would only lead to a negotiated fine, if anything.
While the commissioner’s office concluded the trio did violate campaign laws, enforcement remains in limbo. The commissioner is only tasked with investigating campaign violation complaints and determining if evidence of law-breaking exists.
I added the emphasis because, man, I often times feel like ENFORCEMENT REMAINS IN LIMBO. Take, for example, oh, I don’t know, witness tampering. Maybe it’s not even known what constitutes witness tampering, so to be ever helpful, here’s what Montana Code Annotated says:
If that fine print is too small to read (maybe because one of your eyes is covered with an eyepatch) then I suggest going to the link.
Ultimately, at the end of the day, if there’s NO DETERRENT for doing things–like breaking campaign laws and calling the woman the state could have called in your PFA case (but didn’t) after the reckless PI outed her on a radio show–then why stop doing it?
Thanks for reading.
JC
For the most part I disagree with Republican Party platforms -especially in its most current form. However, the state of Missoula with its Democrat dominance, its “progressiveness” makes me want to vote Republican all day every day. I think its two sides of a same coin. When a single party (or more importantly) a single hive mind set is allowed totalitarian control a society (be it local, state, national) suffers. Missoula definitely suffers from this complete group think where no dissenting voice is allowed (without being labeled “ignorant”) and no one is held accountable (whether its campaign shenanigans or being drunk on the job).
Despite not being of their persuasion, I am heartened by the news of a Mormon Temple in Missoula. It will draw many LDS families here – they will be able to afford to move here. They will tend to be more traditional, more conservative and more family oriented than the new hipster/techster/zoomer demographic that we are currently attracting. As they are community oriented they are likely to run for public office. It is my hope that Missoula will see some balance as a result. Who knew I’d be hoping for Mormons to save Missoulians from themselves.
In the meantime, Im really hoping that the State Leg. continues to keep Missoula from doing more damage locally and state wide (please, please reform Blight Defn and reform TIF Usage)
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