VanDyke Seeks High Court Nod

Lawrence VanDyke, currently serving as Montana's Solicitor General, has announced his candidacy for the Supreme Court. Today he sent a letter laying out some items he hopes will earn him the support of Montanans.

"I believe policy decisions are best left to the voters and the legislature, not the courts," VanDyke said in the release.

"I have always put the law before my personal politics," he added, and pledged to preserve integrity and uphold the laws of Montana.
 
VanDyke described his background as a graduate of MSU with a masters in engineering; working to grow the family construction business in the Gallatin Valley, and graduating from Harvard Law School with high honors. He has been admitted to the state bar for well over eight years.

VanDyke Release Calls Out "Political Move" by Wheat Supporters

Supreme Court candidate Lawrence VanDyke sent a press release today where he asked the Montana Supreme Court to quickly step in to dismiss as meritless a challenge to his candidacy.

"The challengers are asking the courts for a strained interpretation of Montana’s basic constitutional requirement," said Rob Cameron, VanDyke's attorney, in the press release. "Lawrence meets the qualifications to run for Justice." 

According to his release, VanDyke has been continually licensed to practice as an attorney in Montana and has been a member in good standing with the Montana bar since 2005. The Montana Constitution specifies in Article 7, Section 9 that the qualifications of state district court judges and supreme court justices are as follows: 

"A citizen of the United States who has resided in the state two years immediately before taking office is eligible to the office of supreme court justice or district court judge if admitted to the practice of law in Montana for at least five years prior to the date of appointment or election."

VanDyke's release says he grew up in the Gallatin Valley and received his masters in engineering at MSU before attending Harvard Law School and graduating with high honors. VanDyke currently serves as the Montana Solicitor General, one of the top legal positions in the state, according to the release.

Many have observed that the lawsuit looks like a political move by Mike Wheat's supporters attempting to derail VanDyke’s campaign.  Regardless, VanDyke argues in his release that the specious allegations need to be addressed swiftly and conclusively to protect the integrity of the nonpartisan election process for justices.

"A lawsuit like this is not the sort of thing that voters want or deserve, and you won't see it out of my campaign. I look forward to getting this suit behind us, allowing the voters to compare my experience with that of my opponent, and letting them decide this race," said VanDyke in his prepared statement.

Daines Works to Reform Homeland Security

Montana's Republican Congressman Steve Daines sent a press release about bipartisan legislation to reform  the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“In the private sector, it’s pretty simple. If you don’t do your job, or use resources inefficiently, you don’t get paid,” Daines said in his release. “We need that same accountability to produce better results in government.”

The release points out that Daines' bill requires greater oversight of the DHS’s purchasing process while ensuring needed flexibility and providing clarity for American businesses. Since 2005, DHS Acquisition Management activities have been on the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) “High-Risk List” for programs that are highly susceptible to fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement. Recently, the DHS Inspector General found the Department mismanaged a $3 billion DHS-wide contract to modernize its radio systems and GAO reported that 21 of 68 IT contracts totaling $1 billion were not meeting cost and schedule obligations.

Daines Calls Obama's Coal Regulations Misguided

Montana's Republican Congressman Steve Daines sent a press release about passing bipartisan legislation to protect Montana jobs and Montanans' access to affordable energy by stopping the Obama Administration's efforts to develop new job-killing coal regulations.

According to Daines release, H.R. 2824, the Preventing Government Waste and Protecting Coal Mining Jobs in America Act, would save American jobs and taxpayer dollars by preventing the Obama Administration from continuing a wasteful process to develop new job‐destroying coal regulations. The bill would implement the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule and establish a responsible process for developing a rule that balances coal mining and environmental protection.

In his release, Daines said, "The Obama administration's misguided, job-killing regulations are a direct threat to Montanans' access to affordable energy and hundreds of good-paying Montana jobs."

Daines: NSA Reforms "Woefully Short."

Montana's Republican Congressman Steve Daines sent a press release criticizing proposed reforms to the National Security Agency’s mass data collection program. The reforms, proposed by the House Intelligence Committee and the Obama administration,  “fall woefully short of providing needed protections for Montanans’ civil liberties,” Representative Daines said in his release.

This week, the House Intelligence Committee and President Obama will introduce separate proposals addressing the NSA’s bulk meta-data program. According to his release, Daines called the reforms inadequate and reaffirmed his call for a complete end to the forced blanket collection of Americans’ telephone records for dragnet intelligence purposes.

The press release points out that In November, Daines helped introduce H.R. 3361, the USA Freedom Act, which increases transparency, protects Americans from bulk collection of their communications records and requires the government to more aggressively filter and discard information about Americans accidentally collected through PRISM and related programs.

Gianforte: Teaching Students Computer Programming is Working

Greg Gianforte sent an e-mail describing the successes of the computer science program he launched.

According to his release, CodeMontana.org, the free program to encourage Montana high school students to study computer science, is starting to have an effect. Since the program’s inception in September 2013, more than 1,100 Montana high school students have completed more than 40,000 computer science exercises. Schools are beginning to bring computer science into the classroom and kids are getting excited about pursuing degrees in computer science at college.

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One of the most recent signs that the program is making a difference is that MontanaTech in Butte has seen their applications for enrollment in Computer Science for the Fall of 2014 increase 3x over last year!

A starting salary for a college graduate with a computer science degree in Montana is $45K – $75K. I know because my son got two such offers when he graduated from MSU in December 2013. As a result, he continues to live (and now work) where he wants to, in Bozeman.

By preparing our young people for the high-paying jobs that already exist here in Montana, and even equipping them to create some of their own in the future, maybe less of us will have to travel out-of-state to see our grandkids. We can fix the Montana wage problem.

Rosendale Wins Straw Poll

Republican Congressional Candidate Matt Rosendale sent a press release in which he reports that he won a straw poll.

According to the release, hundreds of Republican voters gathered at Montana State University for the first debate of 2014 among candidates vying for Montana's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The debate was hosted by the Montana State University College Republicans.

The Rosendale Campaign Release says that in a post-debate straw poll, the first of the election, Matt Rosendale won with 51% of the vote.

"I believe tonight shows that the people of Montana are looking for a citizen representative, not a career politician. Montanans want someone who will have the backbone to defend our conservative values and reign in out-of-control government spending so we can get our economy back on track by allowing the private sector to create the jobs we so desperately need,” said Matt Rosendale in the release.