Missoula County Republican Party

The Republican Convention was a huge hit! What’s more, our Legislative candidates are working hard and Denny Rehberg is making a difference in Congress!

MT GOP Convention A Huge Success

After all the effort and all the publicity, our convention turned out better than anyone hoped. More than 300 people attended, we had one of the first joint appearances between Supreme Court candidates, and the Billings group of TEA Party Patriots Montana Shrugged honored us by organizing a chance for GOP candidates to interact with their members and the public.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele impressed the crowd and singled out Jocelyn Galt of the College Republicans and Adam Gilbertson of the Young Republicans, highlighting the key role that their organizations play in the GOP. We also heard from Sue Lynch, President of the National Federaltion of Republican Women, and from Neil Livingstone, one of this nation’s preeminent authorities on terrorism.

Thank you to everyone who attended. Not only is the convention fun and educational for Republican activists, it’s the state party’s major fundraiser for the whole year. And it was a roaring success.

Legislative Candidate of the Week

Art Wittich is running for State Senate District 35. His legislative priorities are encouraging growth in Montana’s private sector, controlling state spending, improving the tax system, and utilizing the State’s unique constitutional authority to improve federal government decisions.

Art attended law school at University of Montana, and has practiced business, real estate, natural resource, and constitutional litigation for over 25 years. He also served as Counsel to Governor Stan Stephens from 1989-1992.

He resides outside Bozeman with his wife Candace, where they raised 2 daughters.

Rehberg Report

When the U.S. House voted for the so-called financial reform bill that perpetuates “too big to fail,” Denny Rehberg stood firm against it. He said, “this bill creates a huge new government bureaucracy and will lead to decreased credit availability for Montana’s small businesses.”

Instead, Denny supported auditing the Fed, another common sense reform killed by Democrats. Denny said, “While Speaker Pelosi is more than willing to stretch the Constitution to give the federal government the authority to control, bailout or even seize private companies, she won’t allow a clean up-or-down vote to push back the curtains at the Federal Reserve. The consequences of not shining the light on the Fed is too great to ignore.”

Kagan Should Not Be Confirmed

HELENA, MT – Montana Republican Party Chairman Will Deschamps released a statement today calling on Montana’s Senators to act on their stated support for Supreme Court rulings protecting the individual right to keep and bear arms. The statement follows:

On Monday Senators Baucus and Tester praised the Supreme Court’s decision in McDonald vs. Chicago. They said it was good for the Supreme Court to recognize an individual right to keep and bear arms. If they want to act on that belief, the best direct action they can take is to vote against the confirmation of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.

Both Senators Baucus and Tester have voted for gun control Justices at every single opportunity they have been given. But the most relevant case is that of Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Senators Baucus and Tester both voted to confirm Justice Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. In her hearings, Justice Sotomayor promised under oath that the question of whether the Second Amendment guaranteed an individual right to gun ownership was settled law.

Once on the court she voted against that right – she broke her promise. In the McDonald ruling, she concurred in a dissenting opinion that read as follows: I can find nothing in the Second Amendment’s text, history, or underlying rationale … to protect the keeping and bearing arms for private self-defense purposes.”

Today, once again, an Obama court nominee is promising the Senate that the question of an individual right to gun ownership is settled law. But Kagan’s record indicates a very strong likelihood that, should she become a justice, she will break that promise exactly as Sotomayor did.

If Senators Baucus and Tester want to avoid once again voting for gun control in their Supreme Court votes, they should vote against the confirmation of Elena Kagan.

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Paid for by the Montana Republican Party. PO Box 935, Helena, MT 59624. Shirley Warehime, Treasurer. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.