Rep. Kendall Van Dyk recently lobbed a bomb at the Montana Stockgrowers Association, laying out a strong case that the Association is out of touch with its membership. While farm country confronts the realities of the WTO trade agenda, MSGA, for example, worked hard to block Sen. Jim Elliott's resolution opposing the reauthorization of fast track.
I'm curious to hear some of the state's ranch/blog community jump in to this discussion, but I'll say this, while Errol Rice of the Stockgrowers responds, claiming to offer "clarity," he actually fails to respond to a few of Kendall's arguments -- and he just outright fails to note a few other substantive criticisms that are certainly floating in the ether -- most notably that the MSGA was invited to discussions about resolving the bridge access issue, but refrained from joining negotiations, and then later called for legislation to be killed based on their own voluntary exclusion.
The MSGA does have some explaining to do. Fortunately, Montana is one of those bizarre states where legislators, often being more part-time than the lobbyists who harangue them, are actually suited to call to account the other folks in Helena who claim to represent people back home.
