
Viewpoint: Republicans defend corruption
David Daniels
State legislator Sue Vinton (R-Billings) recently authored an opinion piece claiming Democrats empowered Jason Ellsworth (R-Hamilton) to commit corrupt acts against the people of Montana.
Similar to Greg Hertz’s (R-Polson) false complaint that Democrats created the residential property tax fiasco, Vinton ignores the uncomfortable fact that Republicans control all branches of Montana state government.
Vinton claims that Senate Republicans knew about Ellsworth’s corruption for years. Vinson stated, “The vast majority of the Senate Republican caucus learned his true nature over the past several years and knew that we needed to turn the page to new leadership.”
As a leader within the Republican Party, Vinson took no action to rein in Ellsworth’s corruption until news sources broke the story about him steering an illegal state contract to a crony. By her own admission, Vinton knew about Ellsworth’s corrupt nature for years but played along until the news media broke the story last December.
The irony of Vinton’s comments, much like Greg Hertz’s delusions, cannot be ignored. Montana Republicans cannot run their own party, let alone the state of Montana, without blaming Democrats for their screw-ups.
Vinton’s blame game casts light on the three most important tenets of Republican politics: create an “enemy”, obfuscate issues by telling lies, and avoid taking responsibility.