This Senate primary may feature an Establishment, big government, unprincipled candidate vs. one who has proven he will stand for social and physical conservativism. The groundwork is being laid now!
Thomas Jefferson famously said, "An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people." Eric Raile, a professor of political science at Montana State University said "he has not seen many indications that voters would pay much attention to concerns over possible conflicts tied to Sheehy's federal work." Jefferson was right and if Raile is right, we are creating our own ruin. Translation? If voters refuse to do the work to be informed, and still vote, they are contributing to that destruction of America.
(This article is designed to be fairly extensive – you can read as much or as little as you wish.)
Backgrounder Information:
This Montana Senate race primary is critical. First, make no mistake, Tester will not be easy to beat. If Tim Sheehy is elected, he will most likely be in the Senate until most reading this article are pushing up daisies – because few Senators term limit themselves. Sheehy is the hand-picked golden boy of the State GOP, and the Daines-Zinke moderate wing. Sadly, the big player in this race is not Tim Sheehy, it's Senator Steve Daines, a devoted Establishment Republican who is pushing another Establishment Republican.
As you will see below, up until he decided to run for office, Tim Sheehy's Bridger Aerospace company promoted itself to the far-left as an ESG (think climate change) driven company. Now, that language has been scrubbed from the webpage. But the Democrats are already using it to destroy him. Republicans and Conservatives, as always, are not paying much attention but, as always, the LEFT is.
On Friday, November 24th Senator Steve Daines' PAC (More Jobs Less Government) announced Pro-Sheehy PAC to Spend $250K on Radio ads to Promote Sheehy (Billings Gazette page A9 and A15). I will demonstrate that this is only part of the financial support – and misinformation – being promoted by the Daines camp to promote Tim Sheehy for Senate.
At best, Senator Steve Daines is a moderate. It's time Montanans meet the real Steve Daines as a promoter of big government, establishment candidates. This was on full display in the 2022 Western District Congressional primary between Ryan Zinke and Albert Olszewski as we will consider later - as an example of Daine's duplicity. Daines demonstrated that integrity and conservativism mean nothing to him as I will show in my section on picking winners and losers.
I will also expose Tim Sheehy as the unprincipled, inexperienced, establishment candidate that he is.
You have two key questions to answer as you consider this primary:
First, has Tim Sheehy, in his business dealings, demonstrated a consistent commitment to conservative values even when it would cost him professionally? We are now seeing many medical professionals and others make choices that could cost them their profession. Has Tim Sheehy demonstrated that kind of commitment?
I will ask questions relevant to where Tim Sheehy has stood on the issues of climate change, ESG, and DEI? A candidate who compromises his integrity just once, will become a congressman who does so a thousand times. Tim has flip-flopped on these issues, especially climate change - arguably the biggest political issue in America.
The companion question relates to his support by Senator Steve Daines and other big government, establishment Republicans including Mitch McConnell. Daines showed his true colors in the 2022 Western Congressional Primary. Why did he choose to support Zinke, who had all kinds of ethical and voting related issues, over Olszewski who actually lives in Montana and had shown consistency both ethically and in his Montana Senate voting record?
But alas, let's expose the real issue. This is all designed to keep Congressman Matthew Rosendale from entering this senate primary. The real target of the Republican moderates, and their complicit MEDIA, has been Congressman Rosendale who, with 7 others, faced others off about spending and the war. One thing is clear, with all the muddiness that went on in D.C. over the budget and the speakership, we would not have Speaker Johnson without these seven principled men. These 7 got rid of establishment darling, Kevin McCarthy and found a House leader who is going to walk in the light.
Where did all the money come from in such a short period of time? In a November 14th article in the Daily Montana There's a whole lot more Montana better know about Sheehy they state this. "It's clear he served honorably and bravely. From there things get blurry – as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, seeking our votes, he owes it to Montana voters to clear things up."
A friend asks this question. "People want to know... where in the world did all the millions of dollars come from that allowed Sheehy to establish Bridger Aerospace in the very same month that he left active duty with the Navy? It certainly wasn't from saving dimes and nickels from his [junior] officer's salary." How did a junior officer – a Lieutenant... where did the grubstake come from?
I can find no explanation. I want to be fair minded, but as best I can piece this together, the question suggested above is bottom line. Tim Sheehy is now 38, was born in 1985. Sheehy's Montana "roots" are hazy – was he born in Bozeman? How long did young Sheehy live here and did he grow up in Minnesota? Why is it that his profiles note that he's "evasive" in talking about his parents?
In 2014 after getting out of the service, he moved to Montana. Interestingly, Wikipedia says (always written by liberals) Tim was born in Bozeman, but later says that "he became familiar with Montana in the military while doing mountain training in the state." Wiki also says "Previously, Tim served in the Navy SEAL for more than 10 years. He first joined the United States Department of Defense in June 2004 as a U.S. Navy Midshipman." No, he was not a Navy Seal for ten years, he was a Seal for under six years.
Tim graduated from the Navel Academy in May of 2008 with a B.S. in history, was active for about six years and medically retired in 2014. In those five to six years, you are being asked to believe that – on a junior officers pay – he scraped together millions?
He claims he and his family lived in a tent when they moved to Montana and started Bridger Aerospace. Within a year, his Navy Seal friend - then Trump's Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke - helps him obtain a government contract. It is my understanding that obtaining large government contracts usually only happens to established businesses. Before Zinke is shamed out of office in 2018, he helps Sheehy obtain two more huge government contracts
We have not answered the question where did the money come from to start the business in the year he came out of the service. I have no issue with people making money and there might be explanations, but here are some other money questions:
Five years later in 2020, at the height of the COVID pandemic, the Sheehys purchased three contiguous ranches with the help of Tim's friend and fellow former Navy SEAL Greg Putnam and started the Little Belt Cattle Company. Today, the company actively ranches approximately 30,000 private and leased acres and owns 2,000 cattle. But the money-stories continue although dates and details are hard to put together.
We also see Tim listed as manager of Bird Point LLC, which purchased a secluded, 7-acre peninsula on the south shore of Flathead Lake. The property features a 5,000-square-foot, 6-bedroom main house, a 2-bedroom guest cabin and 3-bedroom "caretaker quarters," multiple docks, a sandy beach, a tennis court, five-car garage and 2,400 feet of waterfront. The property went on the market in 2020 for just under $10 million.
Business records also show Sheehy is manager of Half Hitch Big Sky LLC, which owns a 3,200-square-foot chalet in the ritzy, unincorporated resort community of Big Sky. The property is valued at $7.7 million.
If elected, Tim would be the wealthiest man in Congress and all this in under ten years?
Interestingly, Sheehy is a big Trump fan now, but as the Daily Beast reported, Sheehy did not vote for Trump in the 2016 primary. In March of 2021, Sheehy gave the legal maximum of $5K to his Republican opponent Nikki Haley's PAC.
"Establishment Darling" with Zero Political Experience:
How did Tim Sheehy get into the senate race? He has no legislating experience of any kind and has only recently showed interest in the political process. He is in this race largely because of his friendship with Senator Steve Daines and Congressman Ryan Zinke.
Early on, Daines as the head of the Republican Senatorial Election Committee, championed Tim because he is wealthy and could finance his own campaign. Later, Daines said "we need men who have built successful businesses." But... when he endorsed Ryan Zinke over Albert Olszewski, there was no mention of building business and employing people because Zinke had done neither while his opponent Olszewski had a long history of building a successful business in Kalispell.
And, just for the record, both Zinke and Olszewski are veterans but there was no dark shadow over Olszewski' service record and anyone who was paying attention knows that Zinke got in trouble for some of his dealings as a Navy Seal.
I am looking at the latest colored mailer from Tim Sheehy that I just got. It has all of the Daines' talking points and, it is paid for by, - you guessed it - MORE JOBS LESS GOVERNMENT. That is none other than Senator Steve Dianes PAC. Daines and Sheehy are depending upon Tim's ability to ride the "Navy SEAL who fought for our country" message to the finish line. What Montanans – enamored by this handsome "warrior" - appear to be missing is the amount of baggage he would tote into a general election that the Democrats will have a field day exposing. And, If you're counting on the Veteran vote, you don't understand how popular Senator John Tester is with this group – sic as that may be.
While Congressman Matt Rosendale has resisted more money for the war in Ukraine, catch this little piece. In a piece from Steve Bannon's War Room, Bannon and Caroline Wren point out that Sheehy has said that "money is not enough, we need to send soldiers, planes, bombs, and bullets to Ukraine." Bannon also points to how Sheehy's interests match other comments by Globalists. Wait, how did we get to the Globalist issue? Because Sheehy's support for climate change and ESG are consistent with globalist doctrine. In China, your DEI score (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) score determines what privileges you may have and America is getting there fast.
So, how does a consistent, principled conservative get anywhere near supporting DEI as Sheehy has? This article from August 19 brings up many similar issues that Sheehy will have to answer to. Yes, this comes from a liberal source, Huffpost.com but they just happen to be right. The article addresses Tim Sheehy's former commitment to Leftist Climate Change ideology and how his tune changed when he was recruited to run for Senate. There are serious questions about his commitment to WOKE ESG (Environment, Social, & Governance). We will expand on these issues later.
How Did Tim Sheehy Get the Contracts that Boosted Bridger Aerospace So Quickly - Pals and Pay-to-Play?
When the Pay-To-Play began is a bit hard to delineate precisely, but is in full display now. You can see here that Sheehy has donated big money to Republican fundraising platform Winred and several GOP political action committees, including a $50,000 donation in 2022 to Daine's More Jobs, Less Government, a super PAC.
Much of the verbiage in this section is from This Top GOP Recruit Has a Swampy Connection to a Trumpy Rep appeared first on The Daily Beast. "Stephen Spaulding, of Common Cause, told The Daily Beast that he couldn't think of any precedent where a sitting senator owned a private company that held federal contracts." ...
Again, it is my understanding that businesses usually don't get huge government contracts without a previous, impressive resume – something Bridger did not have before the Zinke factor we will look at below.
Tim Sheehy, has made cleaning up the much-maligned "Washington swamp" a core promise of his campaign. But as the CEO of a company that gets the bulk of its revenue from the federal government, Sheehy is more than familiar with what it takes to work the Washington complex that he rails against. Bridger Aerospace, has reaped millions of dollars from the same system that Sheehy has decried as a candidate, according to a review of government contracts, lobbying disclosures, and political donations.
What is less known is the relationship that could explain his lucrative business with the federal government; the one he shares with his friend Congressman Ryan Zinke (R-MT), a politician who may embody some of the swampiest practices Sheehy is pledging to curb. When Zinke was Secretary of the Interior in the Trump administration, his department awarded Sheehy's company its very first contract – and that just a year after Sheehy moved to Montana. Since then, Sheehy and his family have gone on to shower their fellow establishment Montana Republican with political contributions, while Bridger lobbied to pass industry-friendly legislation introduced by Zinke. Sheehy and his family have donated nearly $50,000 to Zinke's campaigns since January 2022, all while Zinke has pushed legislation that would benefit Bridger.
Stephen Spaulding, vice president of policy at the good government group Common Cause, told The Daily Beast that the Sheehy-Zinke relationship—consisting of major campaign contributions,federal contracts, and favorable legislation—was the exact kind of "pungent mix" that gives voters the impression that elected officials put corporate money over the public interest.
Update: Tim Sheehy, Principled Conservative or Establishment Darling?
Connecting the Dots on Issues You Should Consider
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End of Part 1 of a 2 Part Series
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