Senator John Walsh Withdraw Illustrates Why George Ochenski is Montana’s Top Political Writer

At 11:30 yesterday morning, interim Montana Senator John Walsh filed to officially withdraw his name from the 2014 ballot. This was due to a bungled response to a plagiarism scandal that derailed his election campaign.

This was not surprising to people in Missoula, Montana, where the local daily newspaper the Missoulian publishes columnist George Ochenski every Monday. Just twelve days earlier — in one of the biggest events in the John Walsh plagiarism scandal timeline — Ochenski wrote, “In the end, the honorable thing for Walsh to do would be to admit the plagiarism, resign and allow another candidate to replace him on the November ballot.”

Ochenski is something of a legend in Montana. A long-time capitol lobbyist, Ochenski knows where the bodies are buried. And he is not afraid to rattle the cages of the political establishment.

In one famous incident from a couple of years back, a new editor at the alt-weekly Missoula Independent didn’t like the way Ochenski had been writing his column for the last dozen years. Ochenski ankled and was picked up immediately by the Missoulian. This increased Ochenski’s readership by over 50% and delivered Ochenski’s column all over western Montana (instead of just at coffee shops and bars inside town).

George Ochenski saw through John Walsh right from the start.

Last December news broke that the White House was engineering a move to send then Senator Max Baucus to China, allowing Montana Governor Steve Bullock the ability to appoint Walsh to the US Senate.

On December 22, Ochenski explained the significance to his readers:

And so the Democrat strategists in Washington devised the plan to “elevate” Baucus as ambassador to China, slip another Democrat into Max’s seat to give the appearance of incumbency, increase the chances of fundraising from the murky depths of D.C.’s money pits, and quash any primary election challengers.

The obvious choice for Bullock’s appointment of Baucus’ replacement turns out to be Lt. Gov. John Walsh, who has already announced his candidacy for Baucus’ seat in next year’s elections. The problem is that Walsh has arguably some of the least experience in the policy arena of any politician in the state and Montanans know that. So there are some risks in sending this newbie off to the Senate to make serious policy decisions just for electoral expediency. (emphasis added)

However, Governor Bullock disregarded Ochenski’s warning (along with warnings from many others) and appointed Lt Governor John Walsh as interim Senator.

On February 9, Ochenski updated his readers, under the headline, Politics trumps policy in John Walsh U.S. Senate appointment.

I am far from the only Montanan who is troubled by the manner in which Democrat Gov. Steve Bullock addressed the issue of Max Baucus’ replacement in the U.S. Senate. Bullock prevaricated for months, refusing to acknowledge that he would appoint Lt. Gov. John Walsh to the seat when Baucus was confirmed as Obama’s ambassador to China.

Yet, to no one’s surprise, that’s just what Bullock did Friday, the day after Baucus was confirmed by the Senate.

Ochenski was not impressed with Governor Bullock’s selection.

But in truth, what Walsh will really be working very hard to do is raise millions in campaign funds from national Democrat-affiliated organizations, individuals and political action committees. And of course he’ll be on the stump here in Montana in his “spare time” from all that hard Senate work trying to convince voters to keep him in office come the November elections.

In short, Montanans will now be represented in the U.S. Senate by a man with virtually no policy experience who will primarily be trying to do at least two jobs at once a couple of thousand miles apart.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Bullock could have done better by simply appointing someone with more congressional experience, such as Montana’s former Congressman Pat Williams. It would have freed up Walsh to campaign here nearly full time and given Montanans better representation in the Senate for the duration of Baucus’ term.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and now Walsh, as well as the Democrats, will have to deal with the obvious implications of placing politics over policy with Walsh’s appointment.

Remember, Ochenski was writing all of this for the biggest paper in western Montana. The daily circulation of the Missoulian is actually 35% larger than the number of votes John Walsh would receive in the Democratic Party primary.

But Ochenski was not content with the Walsh coronation, and as the leading writer in Montana who actually focuses on policy, Ochenski went in-depth into the policy differences in the primary.

For Montana conservationists and environmentalists, the biggest fight right now is not over Climate Change, but over forest policy. Somehow, things have gotten far worse for Montana forests with a Democrat in the White House and a Democrat in the Governor’s mansion than they were a decade ago, with Bush’s “Healthy Forests” being implemented locally by GOP Governor Judy Martz.

While Senator Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act (FJRA) mandates increased logging and only applies to forests inside of Montana’s arbitrarily draw political boundaries, that’s not the only option. In fact, the scientifically sound Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) was written after accepting that forests go across state boundaries, requiring a regional approach to ecosystems. Even Republican Congressman Steve Daines is smart enough to realize that we don’t need state-by-state bills, but a regional approach to forest management.

While some in Montana were focused on the politics of the bossed primary, Ochenski was focused on the the policy battle between FJRA and NREPA. And Ochenski made such a compelling case that this question — FJRA vs NREPA — will be one of the biggest tests for potential Walsh replacements.

With Walsh gone, FJRA won’t have a single co-sponsor. Meanwhile, NREPA has dozens. Thanks in large part to the words of Ochenski, Tester’s FJRA is dead. And if the Montana Democratic Party decides to waste a senate nomination attempting to revive FJRA, we’ll end up back to the same enthusiasm gap that plagued the Walsh campaign.

Ochenski’s role in all of this can’t be underestimated. He is one of the most respected authorities on forest management and a straight-shooter that Montanans trust. Plus, Ochenski is fair, he wrote a column praising Walsh when Walsh deserved it.

But when Senator John Walsh’s plagiarism scandal broke, Ochenski didn’t hesitate to deliver the coup de grace:

GEORGE OCHENSKI: Not too late for John Walsh to do the honorable thing
The most commonly heard phrase since the New York Times revealed that Montana’s Democratic U.S. Sen. John Walsh plagiarized vast sections of his 2007 U.S. Army War College master’s thesis is three words long: “Walsh is toast.”

Indeed, not only is John Walsh toast in his campaign against Republican challenger Congressman Steve Daines, he’s toast as far as his military career goes. And what’s perhaps more important in Montana, where a person’s word is as good as a contract, his personal honor and integrity will suffer.

And no, the damage done by Walsh’s own hand cannot be undone by any amount of shameful rationalization from fellow Democrats like Gov. Steve Bullock or the national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

“Walsh is toast.”

It is extremely difficult to fathom what the Democratic Party, its elected officials and organizations have to gain by trying to defend Walsh’s actions. This is not a matter for a court of law, where one is “presumed innocent until proven guilty.” The proof is already in – and it’s in writing by Walsh’s own hand. It is antithetical for elected officials such as Bullock, who lauds education as one of the foundations of his administration, to do anything that would indicate cheating is acceptable in any educational setting.

As the War College handbook stressed: “Sooner or later, academic dishonesty will be discovered.” Unfortunately, Walsh has been brought low by PTSD alright, but not post-traumatic stress disorder. Nope, his PTSD is Plagiarized Thesis Sinks Democrat.

In the end, the honorable thing for Walsh to do would be to admit the plagiarism, resign and allow another candidate to replace him on the November ballot. Should he fail to do so, Walsh and the Democratic Party will likely be beaten for cheatin’.

Democrats dodged a bullet with Walsh quitting in time to name a substitution. But it remains unclear with the substitution will be an improvement — the corruption that installed Walsh remains.

Next Saturday, August 16 the Montana Democratic Party will meet at the Lewis and Clark County fairgrounds in Helena Montana, for a 7:30 AM “Special Nominating Convention” to choose Walsh’s replacement on the ballot.

It might be wise to pick a nominee that Ochenski respects. Somebody with the integrity to stand up to the logging corruption and the wisdom to take a regional, scientific approach to forest management.

That would be a sign of progress. And it would be accepting the reality that from his new perch at the Missoulian, George Ochenski is Montana’s most important political writer.