Sandy Welch « From Eternity To Here

Today, Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Candidate, Sandy Welch, finally admitted to what every other Montanan has known for over a month: Welch lost. She finally conceded the race after she was unable to raise the bond to pay for a manual recount of the vote.

Now I know some will say that once a candidate concedes, especially in a lower-level race like this, that candidates deserve to return to private life without too much scrutiny. However, because of the way Welch ran her campaign, it deserves a postmortem.

The first question that came to mind upon hearing Welch was giving up her recount crusade was, “How much did this recount fiasco cost Montana taxpayers?” Welch held on to the hope that somehow she’d be able to win this election- right up until it was time to put her money where her mouth was. She sought an unnecessary court ruling saying she had the right to a recount, despite the fact that state law makes it pretty clear that she has this right, provided she pays for the recount. This lawsuit cost Montana taxpayers thousands of dollars. (Cowgirl has already covered her theory on Welch’s goals with her recount crusade.)

By asserting right up to the last minute that she was going to pay for the recount, she also cost all Montana counties time and money to prepare for the recount, as well as the Secretary of State’s office.

While the most timely questions is about the cost of the recount charade, the more important questions remains, “Why was Welch running in the first place?” Throughout her campaign Welch wasn’t able to give a coherent plan to improve the education and educational opportunities for Montana children. Instead, she focused on improving a few administrative issues in the OPI office–issues that Superintendent Juneau has already been working to solve.

While Welch hadn’t told Montanans why she wanted to be the top educator in the state, the current Superintendent, Denise Juneau, was receiving national attention for her work and programs such as the Schools of Promise and Graduation Matters Montana programs, while standing up to a dysfunctional US Congress and their Bush-era “No Child Left Behind” program.

I wish I had more answers about what the purpose of Welch’s campaign and recount crusade are. Unfortunately, I don’t.

Hopefully though, this is the last we’ll hear from Welch in Montana politics.

Welch drops request for recount in school superintendent race (missoulian.com)
Welch asks for recount in Montana school superintendent race; faces long odds (missoulian.com)
After big U.S. Supreme Court win, Montana nonprofit suffers string of losses (publicintegrity.org)
Tim Fox Fails His First Test (dgsmith.org)

Just when you thought it was safe to, well, do anything- Judy Martz starts doing what she does best: muddying the waters of Montana politics. And guess who’s helping her?

From Montana Cowgirl Blog:

The GOP’s War on Women is “something fictitious and made up,” former Governor Judy Martz told a group of Havre Republicans yesterday. The Havre Daily News has the story on the latest ludicrous statement from the former Republican governor.

Martz is infamous for diminishing the dangers of domestic violence and belittling the women who are its victims. In a January, 2001 speech to an audience of 650 people in Butte, Martz said:

“My husband has never battered me, but then again, I’ve never given him a reason to.”

Besides Martz, the dream team that Republicans assembed to convince us that there is no War on Women included: TEA Party legislators Rep. Wendy Warburton and Kris Hansen of Havre, candidate for state school superintendent Sandy Welch, and Ronalee Skees. Ronalee is the wife of TEA Party poster boy Rep. Derek Skees, who is running for state auditor.

I can’t think of a worse group of women to make the claim that women’s rights aren’t under attack. These GOPers exemplify the efforts to restrict women’s rights. Each has either introduced anti-women legislation or championed the War on Women through work with right-wing causes.

Definitely do not miss reading this entire article. The Martz quotes alone are mind-bogglingly stupid. There’s even a reference to something Martz calls “meanness ears.”

But Martz’s loony, oddly-worded statements are only the beginning. Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Sandy Welch, who is a transplant from California, told the Havre Republicans of her belief that there is no glass ceiling. Rather, says Welch, women just “weren’t going into positions that would advance them to leadership” by choice. Even Welch’s idol Sarah Palin talked about the importance of breaking the glass ceiling. Perhaps Welch doesn’t read the paper.

And let’s not forget Wendy Warburton’s explanation for the lack of GOP women candidates. Warburton said a couple of years back, “the biggest reason that more women who are Republicans don’t get into politics is because we are the pro-family party” and are home raising kids like the women of the pro-family party should be.

Read the whole article here.