Day: April 13, 2023

by Travis Mateer

After the Dean Stone lecture, featuring Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, David Fahrenthold, I was ready for the Q&A. The audience was primed to be the engaged consumers of media content Fahrenthold was urging them to be, so I raised my hand and Lee Banville, the new director of the Journalism School, came over with the microphone.

After identifying myself as a blogger operating within our degraded local media landscape, I gave David Fahrenthold a scenario, asking if he could tell me if it was newsworthy or not. The scenario: a black man is assaulted in a homeless shelter, then taken to the hospital where the Coroner removes him from life support WITHOUT first contacting the man’s family.

Is this newsworthy, I asked David Fahrenthold? His answer: I would certainly want to know more, he replied.

I then shifted to addressing the audience gathered in the auditorium, asking them to show, by a raise of hands, if anyone had heard the name Sean Stevenson. Not ONE PERSON raised their hand. This is a problem, I said, because that scenario is what happened to him.

It’s no surprise local media is shit and getting worse. Just this week Lee Enterprises made further cuts to Montana newsrooms, as reported by MPR. From the link:

Employees at Montana’s largest newspaper chain say they’re seeing layoffs at papers across the state.

The union for newsroom employees of the Billings Gazette announced on April 7 that six of their members had been laid off by Lee Enterprises. In a statement, the Montana News Guild said they were “devastated” by the cuts.

The union criticized the layoffs and pointed at the earnings of Lee’s top executive officers, who are compensated over a million dollars a year and received a raise in 2022.

Lee Enterprises owns four other papers in Montana. On Monday morning, Missoulian sports reporter Lucas Semb announced on Twitter he’d been laid off.

Who cares about the death of the newspaper industry? Judging by the silvery hue of hair on about 75% of the attendees last night, I’d say old people, like the son of Lee Enterprises “former” CIA hire, John Talbot (John, not Pete, is pictured below).

If you aren’t aware of Operation Mockingbird, you probably should be. And if you want to see proof of Talbot’s pedigree, check out Talbot’s 1975 interview. Here’s a screenshot:

I took some time to scan the interview and it’s pretty damn interesting. For example, the power of a newspaper to be the instigator of community change was discussed in 1975 as it related to air pollution in the valley. Here is how Talbot describes the role of the Missoulian in leading the “crusade” to address the smog:

I don’t think anyone will argue that LESS pollution was a bad thing for Missoula, so the power and influence of the local newspaper to enact change back then was, I assume, mostly appreciated by Missoulians. But what about the stories NOT covered by local newspapers? Or, in the case of Sean Stevenson, covered like this?

One thing Fahrenthold said that resonated with me was the encouragement he gave to the students in attendance to actually GO to the places they are writing about. I felt much less resonance with how Fahrenthold described using Twitter to research Trump’s claim about donating money to a Veteran’s organization. Maybe that’s because the failure of NATIONAL media platforms has been so much more consequential to the erosion of an informed public, with technology giving us the false impression of a beneficially networked world, when the reality is closer to a control grid tightening like a noose around our collective neck.

While I appreciate the opportunity to pass along my contact information (and additional perspective on local corruption) to an esteemed member of the national press, the news industry Fahrenthold represents is on its death bed, and rightfully so. What comes next is being stitched together by people like me, people putting public truth ahead of personal profit.

If you would like to help sustain my financially unwise choice to pursue local truths, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is awaiting your contribution, as is the donation button at my about page.

Thank you for supporting local, independent journalism!

by Travis Mateer

On Monday, at the frustratingly early hour of 8am, legislators in Helena will be debating Senate Bill 523, and I’ll be there to provide testimony. But what should I say? Should I focus my testimony on the negative impacts of TIF on first responder capacity, including law enforcement, or should I focus on the political application of the TIF tool?

To highlight the latter, a Missoulian article from October, 2019, offers a perfect glimpse of one of my claims about TIF in Missoula, and that’s the political function of this tool. But in order for this tool to be used for a political attack, the media has to do their part, and that’s exactly what the Missoulian did four years ago with this “article”, titled TIF-taking donors support anti-TIF candidates. From the link (emphasis mine):

Some funders of a divisive political mailer supporting Missoula City Council candidates opposed to the use of tax increment financing have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in TIF funds for their business projects.

The group, a political action committee, or PAC, called Missoulians for Missoula, sent campaign mailers Monday supporting conservative candidates who have all voiced opposition to tax increment financing.

You can probably surmise from the image at the top that Bretz RV was one of the offending businesses that took a TIF handout, then tried to politically bite the hand that fed it. Another business mentioned in the article is a construction company based in Frenchtown. Here’s more from the “news” hit piece:

As previously reported by the Missoulian, Bretz RV received nearly $123,000 in TIF funding to aid an expansion project in 2015. The business’ controller, Brandon Bretz, donated $200 to the PAC, according to public campaign finance records. He did not respond to multiple calls requesting comment.

Tollefson Construction Inc. donated $2,000 to the PAC. The Frenchtown-based construction company, which formed an incidental committee in order to legally donate as a business rather than an individual, received more than a total of $150,000 in TIF money to aid construction of two apartment buildings behind what is now the South Crossing shopping center on Brooks Street in 2010 and 2012.

The company’s owner, Nate Tollefson, did not respond to a request to comment on the donation.

As you can see from the link, this media-facilitated attack was actually a counter-attack in response to a few local businesses trying to influence an election by contributing to a political PAC. Did it work? Nope, the Engen machine steamrolled those political contenders, allowing the TIF payola schemes to continue subsidizing development in Zoom Town (Missoula).

Part of my commentary next Monday should probably feature a BIG apology to the rest of the state for having to appeal to legislators for municipal handcuffs because our municipal bureaucrats can’t control themselves. If I have the time, I’ll include a strategic mea culpa, since I do recognize there is A LOT of Montana geography outside Missoula.

Going further, geographically speaking, my Deep Dive appearance with Monica Perez is now available, so check it out. I think anyone who finds themselves trapped in the TIF incubator known as California should get savvy on this scheme, so to help I took a quick peek online to see what I could find.

What did I find? I found an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District that the County of Los Angeles is using for, well, all kinds of stuff, potentially.

Here’s a screenshot of the types of things that COULD get financed within these EIFDs (emphasis mine):

Yes, that’s right, there is a distinct possibility that the Hollywood Walk of Fame will be the beneficiary of a TIF handout, California style. Maybe Hollywood should consider a PUBLIC/PRIVATE partnership with the celebrities themselves to ensure this obnoxious veneration of popular culture is subsidized by those who might actually give a shit instead of tax payers.

Do any of the people involved with handing out public money understand that infrastructure must be maintained? And do they understand that lawless dystopias are NOT ideal environments for maintaining this infrastructure?

North of Hollywood, in San Francisco, an act of vandalism caused the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to cancel their meeting. This same board has attempted to down play the violence against people and property in the Bay area. Then this happens:

I think the public safety argument against TIF is more compelling, but in terms of convincing legislators in Helena, the political-weapon-angle may get more usable attention so these lawmakers can see that we are WAY beyond blight when we’re talking Tax Increment Financing.

If countering their TIF with a leaner, meaner TIF exposing the PUBLIC SAFETY gaps their TIF is exacerbating sounds like something worthy of support, then financial generosity can be directed at Travis’ Impact Fund, or the donation button at my about page.

Thanks for reading!