by Travis Mateer

After lots of TALKING about some kind of Zoom Chron newsletter, I finally have something tangible to handout, thanks to a motivated contributor assisting my independent journalism behind-the-scenes.

After a few pop-up attempts at distribution, I decided to go to Monday’s candidate forum here in Missoula between Ryan Zinke, Monica Tranel and the Libertarian with a nice beard.

I stood outside the Double Tree hotel holding up copies of my newsletter and handed out a few, including a direct distribution to John Lamb, who gladly accepted it. My attempt to give Monica Tranel a copy was snubbed by the candidate, who was eager to tell the other, more obviously credentialed press about driving to the event in a minivan and only having ONE house. Oh, and County Commissioner, Juanita Vero, came up and got a copy. I didn’t bother giving one to Zinke.

Since the event was at capacity, all I could do was offer the stern looking City Club people my business card, suggesting I could be invited to future events as a panelist on the joke that is Tax Increment Financing AND/OR the joke that is Montana’s response to the epidemic of illicit trafficking.

While these jokes don’t have obvious punchlines, they do have a silver lining of sorts, and that’s the potential of bringing people together over the discovery of common ground. I believe I have already discovered significant common ground.

The common ground I have found is twofold: money and sexual predation. I think this is very exciting, and could help liberate those still invested in the notion D’s and R’s are substantially different political creatures.

I had to search for a bit to find an Ellen Buchanan quote regarding Tax Increment Financing that highlights what I’m talking about. This quote should be understood in the context of Republicans having near TOTAL power at the state level. So why is Buchanan excited about NEW uses of TIF enabled by the State Legislature? Here’s the money shot from the Gomer link (emphasis mine):

The list of priorities, completed with the participation of City Council, targets the city’s own priorities with an emphasis on housing. Buchanan said additional housing opportunities may be possible in the future.

“The utility and sidewalk work supports all kind of housing, and the land banking is the biggest piece of that,” Buchanan said. “There’s also a change in state statute where they added, we think, the ability to spend tax increment on bricks and mortar for workforce housing. We’re working through policy around that, as is every other city in the state that has tax increment. That may be another tool.”

Another TIF tool? Holy shit, Ellen, that’s fantastic! I wonder if Adam Hertz is excited at this news, since he’s lining up like the rest of ’em for a little sniff of that TIF!

The other common ground I referenced is the fact that BOTH conservatives and liberals provide HUNTING grounds for sexual predators. For conservatives these places are called “churches”. For liberals, they’re known as “universities”. And I’ll be writing about BOTH arenas these “different” political affiliations provide clever predators.

So stay tuned, and thanks for reading!