Here's the interview I did with Montana State Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate, and Democrat, Sam Kitzenberg.
Again, and as always, sound quality is all me, and shouldn't reflect Sam's worth as a candidate. Yes, you will hear a janitor wheel out his garbage can. My pathetic amateurishness, not Sam's.
So thanks go out to Sam for sitting down with me.
For more information, check out Sam's website, and if you're so moved, you can help him out at his ActBlue page.
I haven't got interviews with any of the other Superintendent candidates yet. Hopefully I can get some soon.
(And if you haven't yet, check out the interviews for AG candidates Steve Bullock and Mike Wheat. I interviewed Parker yesterday, so that should appear soon.)
Sam Kitzenberg has announced his candidacy for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Sam's a solid public service with a long track record on education issues. He's a great addition to an already-strong field.
Sen. Corey Stapleton said Sam Kitzenberg hurt the "integrity" of Montana's state senate by switching parties. I've written before about why a party switch really isn't a big deal, especially in the context of how fluidly Republicans have viewed party affiliation when it suits them. The Republicans also did everything in their power to make sure Sam felt unwelcome in their party. Now they call him unethical for leaving.
When these clowns say Sam Kitzenberg lacks integrity for not sticking to his party line, it sounds like a bully criticizing someone half his weight for lacking integrity for not taking any more abuse. It's obscene.
And I'll say this one last time -- before I buy that anyone in Sam's district really feels betrayed, I need to hear it from someone in Sam's district -- not from a Republican shill in Helena. Maybe reporters should look for that, too, before they let Corey Stapleton of Billings decide whether or not Sam is doing right by his constituents.
Jay is all over this, but I want to throw in my two cents as well. A bunch of Republicans seem to think that Sam Kitzenberg committed some great travesty by switching political parties two years after his last election (in that election he was primaried and the state party apparently supported his primary opponent).
At the same time that these Republicans howl that Kitzenberg will be considered a Democrat, they demand that Rick Jore be counted as a Republican. Now, Jore has not been a Republican for six years. He left the party in 2000 and he ran in a legislative district this year in a race where Republicans got precisely 0 votes.
Brad Johnson apparently thinks that Sam Kitzenberg shouldn't be allowed to switch parties. Note, of course, that we never really discuss what this means. And what does it mean for Kitzenberg to switch parties? It means, functionally, that he'll vote for the Democratic choice for President of the Senate and for Democrats for committee chairs and to have majorities on the committees. It's a procedural vote. After that, he's free to vote however he wants.
Want to know a dirty little secret? He's even free to split with the party on those votes. He could, say, talk to a couple other Democrats and the Republicans and they could run their own person for President, just like three Democrats and fifty Republicans did in the House two years ago.
A party label is a public label to offer an explanation of where one's values lie. Kitzenberg no longer feels that the Republican label properly explains his values.
Watching this entire discussion over Kitzenberg's defection and whether or not it was proper, I'm struck by how anyone thinks he should have stayed in the party. On top of saying that it was inappropriate of Kitzenberg to switch parties, the Republicans have called him too liberal, unethical, and said that they sought to primary him out of the party in 2004.
So, what exactly is unfair about him leaving?
Honestly, do they think that yelling, "You're incompetent and unethical, now vote for us for leadership!" is a compelling message?
I know Sam mostly by reputation, having only met him once or twice in my life (and I don't think he would know me from a hole in the wall). What I do know is that his reputation for independence precedes him and that no one I've ever met would speak ill of him as a person (this is obviously because I've never met John Sinrud, who is, hands down, the dumbest and most vitriolic partisan in the Montana legislature).
In the Senate, Sam Kitzenberg has jumped ship and will be switching party affiliations to Democrat. In the House, the Laurel race that is currently tied will likely result in Democratic victory, unless a recount throws it to the Republican (ties go to the Governor).
Unsurprisingly, Corey Stapleton is saying that the people of Glasgow are mighty upset with Senator Kitzenberg. Of course, Kitzenberg staved off a primary challenge from the right and says himself that his constituents told him to do what he thinks is best.
This is like when Jeffords jumped ship. Republicans were howling that Vermonters would hate the decision. By all accounts, Vermonters were fine with it. The reality is, most people really don't want the level of partisanship were the letter behind the name is that significant. It's a political reality these days that the letter and the leadership matter, but that's not what the constituents want virtually anywhere.
