(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Democrats missing an amazing chance to remind Montanans who is to blame for meteoric property taxes – Daily Montanan [1] ['More From Author', 'August', 'Darrell Ehrlick'] Date: 2023-08-03 This column will inevitably draw the scorn and ire of Montana Democrats. But, I can’t say that I am sorry. One of the things that’s commonly been said in politics, and it’s especially true in the Big Sky State, is that Democrats are great at stealing defeat from the jaws of victory – a play on the popular sports cliché. No one disputes that if the Republicans in the 2023 Montana Legislature were the supermajority, then that means the Democrats were the superminority. And there is only one benefit to that position: Every really bad thing that happens was in no way the fault of the Democrats. But if in Montana politics, the Republicans are great at acting like a minority party, always battling some unseen, theoretical and future danger, the Democrats are equally adept at acting like they have some important part to play in a statewide political landscape that has relegated them to near-irrelevancy. Instead, the Democrats, seeing the outrage that has happened since state property tax assessments have come out, have inexplicably seemed to ask for some of the blame. Instead of watching Montanans of all political stripes give a righteous dose of holy hell to the supermajority party that got us into this mess, they have jumped head-first into the fray, by trying to devise plans to solve the property tax problem, notably by calling for a one-day special session. It would be naïve if not so shocking that as the Democrats have had to sit and watch Republicans dismantle so much good since storming all political offices in 2020 that they could believe that the GOP would call itself back into session — well-rested, of course — and that it would voluntarily abide an agreement to limit debate or bill subject matter to just property tax. And, let’s ask ourselves the question: How many great pieces of legislation get done in one day? Let’s set aside for a moment the trouble that such a theoretical one-day session could bring. For example, no one has answered how such a limited session would work, and how enough experts and thoughtful public input could be achieved in such a short time. And then, if the session were to last longer, what else may be included? It raises the question: Did the Democrats learn anything from the last two sessions? The Republican leadership, their culture wars and their love of corporations more than the residents who live here, are dealing with the very real consequences of bad legislation. As they were hunting for porn in elementary school libraries and finding none, as they were busying themselves in your medical decisions, they forgot to focus on well-documented problems being caused by Montana’s soaring housing costs. And I’d suggest to the Gianforte administration: No one cares about red-tape reduction ahead of property tax reduction. Rebates help once, but most of us pay property taxes every month when we write the checks for the roofs over our head. The inability of the Republican Party to grasp how the average Montanan pays bills is shockingly out-of-touch. But then, here come the Democrats wanting to help their legislative colleagues by calling a special session, even though few Republicans believe such a fix is necessary. If the Democrats really cared about regaining power, they would embrace the sadly wonderful political opportunity they’ve been given. As they campaign and knock doors, they’re inevitably likely to hear plenty of grousing about what the legislature did — or, more accurately, didn’t do — to property taxes. And it seems like a golden opportunity for Democrats to remind voters of the values they tried valiantly to bring forth while the legislature was in session. They tried to curb property taxes. The Democrats floated several different proposals for housing relief and better jobs – all of which mostly died because Republicans wanted all the wins for themselves and killed off most of the progressive (read: helpful) plans. The Democrats have been given an opportunity, one borne out of economic misery of most Montanans. If there’s a better catalyst for change, I haven’t seen it here in years. What hasn’t changed is the Democrats’ backwards approach. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/08/03/democrats-missing-an-amazing-chance-to-remind-montanans-who-is-to-blame-for-meteoric-property-taxes/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/