Our illustrious Superintendent of Public Instruction, Elsie Arntzen, spoke at a Capitol rally supporting “school choice.” She said, “Public and private schools work together.” It’s good to have her back in the loco arena.

Rep. Forrest Mandeville (R-Locoville) proposes that any state tax or fee increase require a two-thirds vote in both chambers. Besides the constitutional issues involved with this suggested statutory change, there are issues of simple sanity about how to operate government.

Freshman Representative Rodney Garcia (R-Billings) thinks it’s a good idea to buy the Colstrip generating plants and have state government run them.  I suppose if one wants to bankrupt the State of Montana, it’s not a bad idea.

It’s just the first week – it didn’t take long for weirdness to arise in the 66th Legislature. Senate President Scott Sales will introduce a bill to help fund The Wall, along with a resolution supporting Trump in his intransigent stance during the shutdown.

FORMER Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has bemoaned the “vicious attacks” that he claims drove him from office. As with most tragic figures, he need only look in the mirror.

Using his state email, Secretary of State Corey Stapleton has announced that he’s running for Governor in 2020.  This should be fun!

A  cabal of right-wing representatives fears a change to House rules that would enable a change from 60 to a simple majority of 51 votes to “blast” a bill from committee for debate on the floor.  Rules Committee Chair Derek Skees (R-Nutcase) shut down the committee before a vote could take place on the proposed change. He said it would create an “oligarchy” of Democrats and moderate Republicans.  Big word for Derek; he’s probably confusing it with “bipartisanship.”

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke bit the dust amid multiple investigations of unethical behavior.  He attributed his demise to “vicious attacks.”  Too bad he didn’t just look in the mirror.

In the face of opposition, bad science, and environmental questions, TransCanada continues its quest to build a pipeline from Alberta to Nebraska.  The Trump administration supports the project; that in itself is a bad omen.

Senate President Scott Sales said he’d “take the lumps” on behalf of his fellow legislators and carry the bill for a pay increase.