A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Louise Bruce, chair of the Beaverhead County Democrats, is running for chair of the Montana Democratic Party, reports Montana Cowgirl with a lack of enthusiasm. Bruce is challenging incumbent chair Jim Larson.
I know Bruce from years ago when I was active in public lands issues (I once served as chair of the Sierra Club’s Montana chapter). She’s highly intelligent, has an instinct for politics, has good connections, works well with people, and is no one’s tool. And no, neither she nor Dirk Adams has been in touch with me regarding her candidacy for party chair or anything else.
Montana’s Democratic Party might profit from a shake-up in leadership. Certainly it will profit from the debate over leadership that Bruce’s candidacy provokes. Last year’s fiasco with John Walsh is a red flag that’s still waving. He wasn’t properly vetted. He was endorsed by the party’s executive committee prior to the primary, a violation of the spirit if not the letter of the bylaws, and certainly a violation of a party’s obligation to remain neutral in a primary unless a genuine nutball or ringer threatens to hijack the nomination. Walsh’s primary opponents were neither nutballs nor ringers.
At both the state and national levels, the party’s leadership has come to fear contested primaries as dollar burning bloodbaths that weaken candidates. So once again party bosses are trying to pick the nominees, just as in the old days before fair nominating conventions and primaries. This is a dreadful and dangerous mistake that discourages the party’s grassroots.
Next year’s general election will be of enormous consequence for Montana. Apart from the Presidency, the only federal office on the ballot will be our seat, now occupied by Ryan Zinke, in the U.S. House of Representatives. This will be the best chance to replace him that Democrats will have for many years. Even more important, if Steve Bullock is not re-elected governor, radical right Republicans will control the legislature and statehouse with disastrous consequences for progressive programs (I believe Democrats can pick up seats in the legislature, but not enough seats for a majority in either house).
Montana’s Democrats must go into that election united, optimistic, and energetic, led by men and women who don’t meddle in primaries and who recognize and nurture the wisdom of the grassroots. Louise Bruce is that kind of leader.