by Travis Mateer

Last September I went on the airwaves of KGVO to criticize the Crisis Mill Levy after a homeless camp clean-up in the Reserve Street area led to an act of violence against two staff for the Department of Transportation. I have tried several times to get back on the radio to promote Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), but I no longer get responses from a previously responsive Nick Chrestenson. Why?

My theory is that KGVO is essentially a conservative cop radio station, so I suspect my criticism of the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office has rendered me persona non grata in their hallways. To back up my claim, I offer this figurative hand job at the end of this KGVO article featuring AG Knudsen:

Knudsen is one of the few public officials who relish the opportunity to answer direct questions from KGVO’s listeners.

Isn’t this a nice depiction for a man who is probably going to be challenging Senator Tester in his reelection efforts this year? I think it’s VERY nice of KGVO to be so supportive of our Attorney General as he keeps his focus on the SOUTHERN border, while ignoring cartel inroads that have snaked into our state under his watch.

Maybe things are worsening because Montana’s technology isn’t up to par. Here’s Knudsen’s man, Will Selph, testifying last year about needed upgrades after an audit indicted the MERLIN system isn’t up to the task.

From the link:

A new state information technology audit shows that the Montana Department of Justice is not meeting goals and requirements for security, structure and governance, exacerbated by high turnover within the department, and is at risk for not converting the state’s out-of-date motor vehicle record management properly.

In testimony before the Legislative Audit Committee, lawmakers heard about ongoing problems within the department that is looking to transition away from the MERLIN system, which keeps record of vehicle license, registration and drivers licensing and identification cards.

Will Selph, the DOJ chief of staff, told legislators that MERLIN has reached the end of its programming life and the state will switch to a new system, estimated at more than $54 million. In the meantime, however, the Montana Legislative Audit Division reviewed five areas of the existing system – IT governance, IT management, IT human resources management, IT risk management, and IT security management – and each category received either a “needs improvement” or “unsatisfactory.”

Auditors said the worry is that if they don’t fix the problems now, the new system will have the same limitations and liabilities lawmakers are concerned about with the current one.

Do I think Selph and the AG office are capable of doing this? Nope, I don’t think they are, because just doing simple NON-technology things, like preserving evidence, isn’t something every Sheriff’s Office in Montana is capable of doing, especially in the County west of Missoula.

There’s a lot going on behind the scenes that I can’t talk about yet, and there’s a new effort developing to shut me up, so I’m going to be as careful as possible as I determine what I should put out publicly, and what I should continue sitting on, despite the increasing risk to myself and people I care about.

If you appreciate the type of coverage you won’t find anywhere else, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to support my work, and the donation button at my about page is another.

Thanks for reading!