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Monday, June 27, 2005

MT-Sen: Conrad Burns Staff

Normally, I don't make too much of who a politician keeps on payroll. But Burns former State Director is now pleading the 5th (i.e. not talking because he could incriminate himself) in a major corruption investigation. In fact, 3 former Burns staffers -- Will Brooke, Ryan Thomas, and Shawn Vasell -- are the focus of multiple investigations.

So my question is, how do you get hired by Conrad Burns?

When I visited Sen. Burns in Washington I had a chance to chat a while with a couple of his sprightly young interns. Both had thick southern accents. I remember how overly eager I was to ask them what they thought about some of the pressing issues that were facing my home state at the time. And I was surprised to find out that neither had ever even been to Big Sky Country. When I pointed this out to Burns he just chuckled, patted me on the back, and divulged in his raspy voice, "I don't hire the cute ones for their brains, kid. I hire 'em cuz they are easy on the eyes." (emphasis mine)

If Burns personally hires the interns, I think it is safe to assume he personally had a role in hiring senior staff.

Posted at 05:17 PM in 2006 Elections - Senate, Montana, Scandals | Technorati

Comments

The Fire Karl Rove petition is about to be thrown in the trash. I worked really hard to get names on it. Please don't let Petition Online just chuck it.

Here's what it says:
This petition was removed because the author did not provide a full valid name. Anonymous petitions are not permitted. Authors are given three days to respond with their name before a petition is removed. If you are the author of this petition reply to the email we sent you with your full name. If you are the author and do not have the email we sent you, send an email to support@petitiononline.com asking us to reactivate your petition. Be sure to include your full name and petition ID in the email.

Posted by: Jami at June 27, 2005 07:18 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Hey Jami,

I just called up Bob to talk about your post, and he had already seen it. He wanted me to let you know that he is talking with petitions online to make sure the list doesn't die.

Thanks,

Tim

Posted by: Tim Tagaris at June 27, 2005 09:26 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Pls. Santa,
I've bin really, really good.
All I want for Christmas is to see a whole heap o' republicans go to jail.
Is that too much to ask?
I know a whole mess of 'em are indicted, but that last step - actual hard time and a record - would be really, really nice.

I'll leave the milk and cookies out agin.

Posted by: bartkid at June 28, 2005 05:10 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment