I see a bright future for Todd Frank and his outdoor business, the Trail Head. What started in 2019 with a six-figure, interest-free infusion of public money from the Missoula Redevelopment Agency could bloom into anything this money-quote maker can dream of, and I’m sure he’s dreaming BIG while visiting Cuba, a funny detail I got from speaking with one of his employees yesterday.
To better understand how Todd Frank acquired public TIF money, and what his building actually looks like, here’s a screenshot from the Missoula Redevelopment Agency’s own records (PDF):
And here’s the image I used to prompt Gemini with:
Since relocating and expanding his business with the help of public money, Todd Frank has gotten a bit worried from time to time. First, there was Putin attacking Ukraine and the disruption to his ski sales.
Next came the dirty little secret of the “pro-deal” third-party discount threat to his bottomline:
“Fifteen years ago, pro-dealing was a marketing tool. A handful of store employees got pro deals, and that was it. Now anyone can get a pro deal and it’s become a full-on sales channel,” says Immersion Research president John Weld. “It’s one of the key reasons why the retailer-manufacturer relationship is falling apart.”
The typical pro-deal discount ranges from about 30 to 60 percent, which pencils out to a sales price that is comparable—and in many cases higher—than wholesale. As the number of people with access to pro deals has continued to grow, retailers and some manufacturers say the programs have become a way for brands to sell direct-to-consumer at a discount, without violating MAP [minimum advertised price] policies.
The reason I’m writing this post, though, is possibly the most galling reason yet for Todd Frank to get quoted, and that’s because, for some weird reason, The Nation quoted our humble little Missoula business owner about “dark money” in Montana politics.
Huh?
What is the “Montana Transparent Election Initiative“? It appears to be just another Helena-based, Democrat astro-turfed effort at shoveling bullshit to get political dollars, and it’s being amplified by a reporter connected to the Montana Free Press, the media platform in Montana most obsessed with defining what “dark money” is, and who should be shamed for getting it.
When you see that McLaughlin is based in Butte, and you see that the “Montana Transparent Election Initiative” will soon have its most recent Democrat champion, Pete Buttigieg, visiting Butte later this month, it all starts making more sense.
Transparent Election Initiative announced this week that former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has endorsed the “Montana Plan” which seeks to keep corporate money out of politics through a ballot measure.
Buttigieg will come to Butte for a town hall on May 17, the release from the Transparent Election Initiative said. The event will start at 1 p.m. and the location will be announced later, the release said.
Initiative I-194 needs 30,000 signatures by June 19 to be on the November ballot. It started as a state Constitutional initiative, but now is a statutory initiative, which would change Montana state law – not the Constitution.
Meanwhile, in Missoula, the money Todd Frank will NEVER criticize–Tax Increment Financing–is having the predictable effect on the general fund, leading to the same, predictable people panhandling the public for MORE money.
While an out-going non-profit influencer holds her panhandling sign for a school levy, a new critical voice is emerging to sound the alarm about what using TIF money from newly formed Missoula County TEDDs (Targeted Economic Development District) could mean (spoiler: litigation!)
A top official for DeSmet School west of Missoula told the Board of County Commissioners last week the school district plans to take legal action if the county continues its plans related to Tax Increment Financing in the Wye area.
The comment came during a public hearing where the commissioners voted to expand the life of a Targeted Economic Development District, or TEDD, near the Wye through a long-term loan to finance a new water system to allow for more housing development in the area as Missoula grows.
Matthew Driessen, the superintendent of DeSmet Public School, told the commissioners the expansion of the TEDD would fund new infrastructure at the expense of pulling tax revenue away from his school district.
Is Matthew Driessen for real? Does he know what he’s up against and how they will come after him in any way they can? And, has he seen the documentary, Engen’s Missoula? (Have YOU?)
For those who HAVE been a part of the TIF conversation, a school superintendent is quite an ally to have, especially one who seems to have real lawyers and the means to pay them at his disposal:
“You are going to freeze the revenues that the school district, the fire department and transportation are going to get, based on the funding that you do with this bond, for the next 25 years,” Driessen said. “That is going to have a detrimental effect on these jurisdictions.”
He said he was giving “notice” that there would be legal action from the school district, and asked the commissioners to table the plans and have an in-depth conversation with the school and other stakeholders about TEDDs.
“The school board has approved that we will go to legal action to make sure our district is taxed the same way as other school districts within the county in reference to TIF funds,” Driessen told the county commissioners.
Hell yeah, Matt! Go get ’em!
If sanity doesn’t return to local budgets, schools could be harmed, but isn’t harming schools kind of what liberal users of public money enjoy doing?
I was reminded of 2020 recently (and the kind of pressure I felt to jab my kids from my own family) when I read this hollow lament from Dan Brooks on X. For those who don’t know this free-lance writer based in Missoula, just wait.
If you think this is tone-deaf, it’s important to understand that it’s coming from this guy:
The insistence, among the Republican leadership in the spring of 2020, that Covid-19 was a glorified version of the flu guaranteed that responses to the pandemic would shake out along political and, therefore, cultural lines. In places such as Alabama, not getting the vaccine has more to do with socio-economic identity than with scientific literacy. This is a fatal flaw in the reasoning of unvaccinated people, who are absolutely wrong in a way that endangers not only themselves but also others.
But given the haughty reaction of many liberals, can you blame them? Even as the cost of their obstinacy has become grimly clear, the cost of admitting they were wrong has risen; to get the vaccine now would be to kowtow to a class that holds them in contempt.
The notion that a vocal minority of our fellow citizens threaten to undo us with their ignorance has become something of a master narrative in anglophone democracies over the past five years. Trump did it for a lot of American Democrats in 2016, and Brexit – which, unlike Trump, won popular support at the polls but, like Trump, was overwhelmingly opposed by the urban and higher-educated – had a similar effect in the UK. The current Republican mania for making voting more difficult seems to be a product of Trump’s loss in November. Last week, a Pew Research Center poll found that 42% of respondents agreed with the statement: “Voting is a privilege that comes with responsibilities and can be limited.” This attitude is fundamentally incompatible with democracy.
In summary, this is an information war, so try to understand what’s NOT being said by conventional media outlets (and their preferred parrots), why it’s not being said, then act accordingly (donate some money to me!)
Thanks for reading!
