What to Ask Your Candidates
The 2012 elections are upon us, and they're important. We'll soon be bombarded with ads, mailings, and smiling happy faces asking for our votes and our contributions. And that's good.
But we should be asking our candidates more questions than they're asking us. We need to know where they stand on important issues and then hold them accountable. We need to treat our elected officials less like rock stars and more like employees. You need to ask them thoughtful questions and demand thoughtful answers.
Here are 30 questions developed for the January 2012 GOP Gubernatorial Forum in Bozeman. They can apply equally to any candidate of any party for any office. Use these, come up with your own, and make sure you understand where they stand so you can make an informed decision in June and November. And then hold them accountable in 2013.
The Daily Show (huh?) shows why it's pointless arguing about civility with people who think civility means agreeing with them
It's about six minutes long but worth it. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get the point.
Here was our take on the issue last summer in an op ed that was published around the state: Shut Up and Be Civil.
MPI's Lawsuit Seeking Actual Employee Pay Information Moves Forward
We were in court December 14th arguing to get data you own about how much you are paying your state employees. The Department of Administration was on the other side using your tax dollars to argue against giving you your data. Go figure.
Chuck Johnson of Lee Newspapers has a nice summary of the arguments. And of course Phil Drake of MontanaWatchdog.org wrote a great story on it as well.
You may recall earlier this year, MPI announced our lawsuit against the Montana Department of Administration seeking actual pay and compensation data for all state employees.
We believe that the state's taxpayers should know what they're paying their employees, and if the state won't make this data easily available then we will. We've made a good start at our www.opengovmt.org website. But if they won't provide actual pay information to us, we can't provide it to you!
Article 2, Section 9 of our Constitution guarantees access to public information, and our open records laws direct the state to provide it. We feel that they've failed in that responsibility so we're going to hold them accountable.
The Great Falls Tribune responds here with their opinion. And the Bozeman Daily Chronicle weighed in with a supportive editorial as well. We hope others will weigh in as the case proceeds.
NBC's KECI out of Missoula ran an online poll asking if government employee compensation should be public. Results aren't scientific, but about 75% said yes. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle ran a similar poll with 86% in favor.
And the national group Nonprofit Quarterly cited MPI's actions as an example of nonprofits acting as watchdog groups.
Sneak Peek!
Watch our new Tapping Capitalism Trailer
Tapping Capitalism is MPI's new program aimed at bringing independence and prosperity back to Montana through tax and budget reform, economic development, and taxpayer education.
We'll be officially rolling it out in early 2012 and coming to a town near you!
9/20/2011- MPI/Manhattan Institute Release Poll on Public Sector Unions
The poll, conducted by national pollster Doug Shoen asked voters in Montana and nationwide for their opinions on their states' economic condition and the role of public sector unions. Schoen discussed national results in a Wall Street Journal article, but Montana results were a little different.
Find out more in our press release, or read a summary of the results in a PowerPoint presentation put together by Schoen. Montana Watchdog also ran a story here.
Health Care Reform and Global Warming Resource Pages Updated 1/20/12
2011 Legislature
Go to our Legislature Resource Page for the studies and analyses we provided for the session.
Here's the latest from the Legislative Fiscal Division on where the money came from for the 2013 biennium.
And here's some context using past spending levels:
- Total budgeted outlays for the 2009 biennium were $9.1 billion.
- Total budgeted outlays for the 2011 biennium were $9.0 billion without stimulus funds and $10.2 billion with them.
- Total budgeted outlays for the 2013 biennium are $10.5 billion according to this chart.
- So...the 2011 legislature increased state spending by $1.5 billion - or 15% - over the 2011 budget if we assume, as we were told, that stimulus spending was one time only. Hmmm. That's not what we've been reading in the papers.
- Of course we can't assume that stimulus spending was one time only, despite what those who favored it claimed. A 2010 Mercatus study showed how "temporary" federal spending results in increased state and local taxes because, as Milton Friedman said, there is no such thing as a temporary government program.
We'll provide more detail as comprehensive data become available.
Open Government in Montana: If they don't do it we will.
Visit our new transparency site www.opengovmt.org to see what's possible in government spending transparency. The site is really two sites. One has district by district school spending and revenues for over 15 years; and the other has salary and benefits for every state employee, sortable by job, location, department, and lots more.
If you're interested in government transparency, you should also visit our information page at BigSkySearch.info. We have links to a whole bunch of other states' sites that actually do tell taxpayers where their hard earned dollars go, the Pork Report page, and much more.
The Economic Impact of Montana's Renewable Portfolio Standard
A new study by Montana Policy Institute and American Tradition Institute shows the fallacy of RPS mandates.
The study outlines the cost in lost jobs, lost wages, higher electric bills, and lower disposable incomes if RPS mandates are allowed to remain in place.
In addition, the study explains why RPS mandates wouldn't work even if we could afford them. They simply cause economic activity - including jobs - to move elsewhere leaving no overall benefit for the environment; just lost opportunity and lost growth.
Full Study (548kb 
)
Two page Policy Note (470kb )
Montana Pork Report
MPI's Pork Report, State Spending Growth, and Budgeting for Fiscal Discipline studies and other conference materials are available here . We released all of these reports during the Legislative Forum in Helena November 16th.
Go to our Legislative Forum information page to see what you missed.
Got your own Pork to Report? Go to MPI's transparency information site BigSkySearch.info and tell us what should be included in the next edition. You can also learn a lot more about how other state governments are keeping their taxpayers informed while ours is more interested in spending money than accounting for it.
Legislative Fiscal Division - Charts of the Week
The Teachers Retirement Fund is one of several public employee retirement funds that illustrates the coming pension crisis.The TRS, according to this chart, is underfunded over a billion dollars, and taxpayers will be left to pick up the tab.
Kudos to LFD for proactively getting useful and accessible information to Montanans.
Urban Transit Study
We looked at the bus systems in Billings, Great Falls, Bozeman, and Missoula. Among the findings:
- Costs and emissions, including C02, per passenger mile of public transit are over twice those of a light truck
- Montana taxpayers subsidize public transit users to the tune of over $5 per trip
- Public transit systems are siphoning funds from public roads
- Fewer than 10% of Montanans use public transit, even though it's cheap or even "free" to the rider
Download the entire study or take a sneak peak of our guest editorial:
-
Public Transit in Montana (1.4mb
) - 2 page Policy Note
- Montana's Bus Systems Harmful to Taxpayers and Environment
Latest Blog Posts
Bridging the Conservative Divide - Part 1
In a mostly conservative state that’s in a mostly conservative nation, why do we have a president and entire slate of state constitutional officers in Helena who come from the party of the Left? Obviously conservative beliefs don’t always translate into conservative votes.
The reason for that, I think, is that the Center/Right and, for lack of a better term, libertarian Right tend to either scare or disgust one another; while the Center/Left and, again for lack of a better term, progressive Left are much more effective at coalescing around central themes and voting as a bloc. Read More...
Enough Already!
Think your friends and neighbors are biting on the "income inequality" bait? Guess again. It's jobs and the economy that most people care about. Not the loud obnoxious people, but most.
First you raise the price of something through regulation, compliance costs, subsidies, or whatever. Then you "discover" that some people can no longer afford that something. So naturally you then give them assistance, and they become dependent on you for the necessities of life. That's how you turn people from creative and fulfilled pursuers of happiness to apathetic wards of the state.
Worried about the "draconian" cuts to defense and entitlements if the Supercommittee fails to reach agreement? Don't. Here's a chart showing how spending increases under the cuts. And since they don't kick in until 2013, a new congress can undo them anyway.
Spending cuts? What spending cuts. Don't blame reduced government spending for the slowdown.
Are Green jobs really green? Here's an offbeat cartoon by the Manhattan Institute.
Montana's per capita disposable income (income after taxes) is near the lowest in our region. That takes into account our low per capita gross income, but also the tax burden in the state. Those hardest hit are those at the lowest rungs of the ladder as they have fewer dollars to pay for necessities.
Bipartisan Opposition Fails to Stop Government Healthcare Takeover - Most Americans Favor
"Repeal and Start Over"
Thirty-Four Democrats joined Republicans to oppose the government's takeover of one-sixth of our economy, and polls consistently show that a large and growing majority of us want it repealed so we can start over with real reform.
We'll continue to use this space to keep you updated on the latest developments as this battle continues.
Free Market Health Care Resources - Latest Posts:
1/10/12: Investor's Business Daily - David Hogberg : ObamaCare rule may bar HSAs, low-cost health plans
1/10/12: Forbes Op/Ed - Sally Pipes: Doctors say ObamaCare is no remedy for U.S. health woes.
A study by CATO's Michael Tanner that provides a definitive outline of the impacts of "reform." Updated in February 2011!
Congressional Budget Office presentation outlining costs, presenting caveats, admitting current legislation is unsustainable.
A great tool at Health Reform Navigator that insurers and clients can use to calculate the costs and benefits of the PPACA.
A nifty calculator from the National Retail Federation to determine whether or not businesses will be hit by the employer mandate tax.
See more posts here.
Global Warming Resources
We're compiling the best articles, opinions, research (including our own) on the science, policy, and politics of global warming. Call it the home page for skeptics.
Here's a sampling, but there's lots, lots more; and we'll continue to provide updates.
1/20/12: National Legal and Policy Center: Energy Dept. Makes More Bad Bets with Taxpayer Money
1/20/12: GlobalWarming.org: EPA's War on Transparency
1/20/12: The Hill.com Opinion - Rep. Lee Terry (Neb.) : Time to decide on Keystone pipeline. (Despite yesterday's announcement from the feds, this is a worthwhile read.)
1/20/12: Forbes Op-Ed - James Taylor: Please, Global Warming Alarmists, Stop Denying Climate Change - And Science
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