Liberty Summit Unites Broad Spectrum of Right Wingers
Emerson touts ultra-conservative ÎRough Riders' political club
A lineup of conservative leaders met on September 19 and 20 in Kalispell to build political alliances and listen to Rob Natelson, head of the newly formed group, the Montana Conservatives. Scheduled speakers at the event represented the Christian Coalition, Montanans for Property Rights, the U.S. Taxpayers Party, Citizens to Preserve the Second Amendment, Montanans for Better Government, Friends of the National Rifle Association, and promoters of CI-75, (the successful citizens' initiative requiring a public vote on all taxes). Montanans for Right to Work was listed on promotional materials, but did not have an obvious presence at the summit.
Attendance started at about 40 people on Saturday morning, but dwindled to 15 by Sunday morning. The summit was attended by several elected officials including State Representatives Aubyn Curtiss, Scott Orr and Rick Jore, (all reelected in November), then State Representative Matt Denny, and then State Senator Casey Emerson (neither of whom ran for reelection). Bill Boharski, mayor of Kalispell, put in a brief appearance.
State Representative Matt Brainard (reelected by a narrow margin) was scheduled to speak, but was unable to attend. Tom Farrenkopf, president of Citizens to Preserve the Second Amendment, stepped in for Brainard, and admitted his group had intentionally created a disturbance at an event sponsored by the Network's affiliate group in the Bitterroot several years ago. Farrenkopf said he had personally planted people in the audience to disrupt the event. Farrenkopf put the Network in the same box as communists and environmentalists as responsible for most of the problems in society.
Rep. Scott Orr, who participated with Farrenkopf on a panel on Second Amendment Rights, said that states have authority over the federal government. He commented that all licenses are unnecessary, even professional licenses for physicians. Rep. Aubyn Curtiss criticized Glacier International Peace Park and promised more legislation to protect private property. Former Rep. Matt Denny, who joined Rep. Rick Jore for a discussion of educational issues, promoted local control, abolishing the Department of Education, and public vouchers for private education. He said that it was a shame that all students, even slow ones, must be taught in our schools. Jore declared that "all federal money spent on education is unconstitutional," and criticized plans to erect a statue of Mike Mansfield at the Capitol because "he's not a real Montana hero."
Del Palmer, a well-known anti-Indian sovereignty activist from the Flathead Reservation, also attended the event and attempted to gain support for his long-standing challenge of tribal hunting regulations. The Christian Coalition's Denise Cofer showed a video challenging the principle of separation of church and state.
The Rough Riders
In addition to his call for the gathered alliance of conservatives to join the National Federation of Republican Associations, former Senator Casey Emerson used the summit to tout his "organization of conservatives," the Rough Riders. A group of Gallatin County right-wingers initially known as the King Tool Rough Riders registered as a PAC (political action committee) in May, 1998, and later changed its name to the Rough Riders Conservative Committee. The group is apparently trying to restructure and organize as a statewide entity. The Gallatin County group's treasurer is Morgan Hinesley, who lost his bid to unseat Rep. Emily Swanson in HD 30.
Emerson claimed at the summit that the Bozeman group held a meeting attended by 63 people and contributed about $3,500 to two candidates. If that is true, the group failed to report its contributions with the Commissioner of Political Practices as required by law, and in any case would be prohibited from contributing more than $100 to any single state campaign. Likely Bozeman area campaigns did not report receiving any contributions from the Rough Riders.
An amateurish brochure for the state Rough Riders was available at the summit. Despite its use of graphics representing the Republican Party and its listing of party principles, the group currently has no official standing with the GOP. Future plans call for asking "the State Republican Central Committee to admit us as a wing, a branch, or whatever. . .similar to the Women's Federation. . . The women's organization energizes the faithful ladies and our conservative organization will cover the rest, made up mostly of men, but we do want the lakies [sic] so inclined to join us."
The defined purpose of the Rough Riders is "to energize conservatives in their work for the good of the party; to find and elect good, conservative candidates; to define, explain and promote the conservative philosophy; [and] to promote the publication and dissemination of conservative philosophy, action and accomplishments."
The Rough Riders' creed has eleven statements that deal in various ways with conservative issues of smaller government, individual rights, free enterprise, and constitutional fundamentalism. Among them is the declaration that "[c]onservatives believe in a government of laws not of men," which is defined as "following the constitution." The creed goes on with the oddly-worded (and ethnocentric) statement, "[t]he constitution is written in English, so anyone can read it, and interpret it with some study. The courts don't have a stranglehold on understanding English."