U.S. Senate candidate rallies Republicans
Berl Tiskus
Denny Rehberg stumps in front of the Cove Deli and Pizza on Aug. 8 during a campaign swing through Western Montana. Rehburg is running against Jon Tester for Tester’s U.S. Senate seat.
Berl Tiskus
U.S. Senate candidate Dennis Rehberg visits with Mauri Morin during a campaign stop in Polson.
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POLSON — Calling his campaign stop a “Liberate Main Street rally” instead of Occupy Wall Street, Montana’s lone Congressman, Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg, visited Polson on Aug. 8.
Staffers said the rallies would be held throughout around Montana in front of small businesses, such at the Cove Deli and Pizza, which Rehberg would like to see replicated in all towns.
“If we are going to turn this country around, it’s going to be with small businesses,” he said.
During remarks to a group of about 40, Rehberg said he wanted to make sure the small businesses of America and Montana don’t have a burdensome tax structure, including estate taxes.
Rehberg’s great-grandparents came to Montana in the 1860s. The property they owned has been passed down through the generations. When his grandmother died, Rehberg, his parents and sister inherited the property. To pay inheritance taxes, they had to sell one-third of the place, and it took them 20 years to pay it off.
As he campaigns, Rehberg said he asks for a show of hands if people are better off than their folks. Usually most everyone holds up their hand. But this is not the case when he asks if people's children will be better off than they are.
“You guys can actually make a difference,” Rehberg said, explaining that Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Missouri are all important states for Republicans to win in order to control Congress.
During a brief question and answer session, attendees asked about: anti-Rehberg ads and how to deal with them, baseline budgeting, ethanol and the amount of corn it will require, and the controversial H.R. 1505, the National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act.
While nothing can be done about ads unless they are untruthful or slanderous, Rehberg did talk about baseline budgeting, a process where the current year’s expenditures determine the following year’s budget. He does not favor this kind of budgeting, also noting that as inflation kicks in, the United State’s biggest expenditure will be interest on the debt.
With the drought affecting crops and corn, in particular, for ethanol, Rehberg said, “We want alternatives, (energy) like wind, solar and geothermal, but the technology isn’t there. We can’t force it.”
The U.S. is fossil fuel-driven, he said, and we have a president who wants to put coal out of business.
“Let’s be reasonable,” Rehberg said. “Let’s pass a reasonable energy policy, let Keystone (pipeline) be built, while paying attention to the alternatives.”
As for H.R. 1505, Rehberg said it’s a “boogie man” created by the environmental community. H.R. 1505 is a bill to prohibit the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture from taking action on public lands, which impede border security on such land, and for other purposes.
Rehberg is co-chairman of the Northern Border Caucus which, according to Rehberg’s website, was formed to educate Congress and direct legislation on Canadian border issues.
Rehberg said some land agencies weren’t cooperating with Homeland Security.
H.R. 1505 “will give us the opportunity and the tools to break down that lack of communication and give us the ability to get rid of dead and dying trees” on and near the border, he explained.
“Drones, etc. That’s not going to happen under my watch,” Rehberg added.
For the final question, Rehberg was asked how he felt about military cutbacks.
“It’s unconscionable,” Rehberg said. ” You can’t take a trillion (dollars) out of our military and hope to remain dominant.”
He added that he’ll do everything he can to keep that from happening.
Rehberg is on a campaign swing through Montana and was headed to Phillipsburg from Polson. He is challenging Senator Jon Tester, D-MT, for Tester’s seat in the U.S. Senate.
