Noted journalist discusses Montana's shifting politics

Mike Dennison, one of the most well-known political reporters in Montana for nearly three decades, shared his perspective on Montana’s politics during a talk last week at the North Lake County Public Library.

The presentation was sponsored by a bipartisan contribution from the Lake County Democrats and the Lake County Pachyderm Club, part of the “Montana Conversations” series by Humanities Montana.

Dennison said Montana has a long history of split-party control of elected offices at both the state and federal level. Expecting a strongly conservative government when he moved to the state in the 1970s, he was surprised to find a Democratic governor, and both Democrats and Republicans representing the state in Congress.

A strong history of labor unions gave Montana more Democratic voters than in surrounding states, Dennison observed. However, as many union jobs disappeared, especially in natural resource extraction industries such as mining and timber, environmentalists aligned with Democrats were often blamed, “rightly or wrongly,” Dennison said. That, and an increase of nearly a quarter of a million people moving to Montana, have been some influences on a steady move toward a more conservative voting populace.

The 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision made it easier to spend corporate money “just about anywhere” in the election process, and some of that money, he said, helped influence the 2010 election, which changed the state House of Representatives from a 50/50 split to a 68/32 Republican/Democratic ratio.

In response to an audience question on legislative term limits, Dennison said that when they were first implemented 20 years ago, he thought they might be useful. But “generally speaking, I think it’s weakened the power of the legislative branch,” he said. While the governor’s office and executive branch have thousands of people working to run the government every day, legislators are only in Helena a few months every other year, and “just when they get some seniority and knowledge, they’re gone.”

Montana is expected to gain a second U.S. House seat after the 2020 census, to first be elected in 2022. The decision as to how and where to draw the Congressional district line will be contentious, he said, especially relating to Bozeman and Gallatin County, the fastest growing city and county with a liberal-leaning interior and a conservative-leaning surrounding county.

Dennison signed copies of his new book, “Inside Montana Politics: A Reporter’s View from the Trenches,” an anthology of some of the stories he has found most compelling in his career. Stories of high-profile politicians, “strong characters,” as Dennison called them, including Govs. Judy Martz, Marc Racicot and Brian Schweitzer, and Sens. Jon Tester, Max Baucus and Conrad Burns, and Rep. Denny Rehberg.

The book includes the unlikely story of Burns, a staunch Republican, helping a Democratic friend convicted of selling marijuana, and of the 16-year journey to exoneration of a young man convicted of rape. “It’s tough beating the justice system,” he said. “They don’t want to admit they made a mistake. You gotta make them admit it.”

It is a history book, Dennison said, but also “my ode to Montana journalism,” which was at the time filled with “vibrant, seasoned, fearless reporters.” Online media has contributed greatly to reduced newspaper budgets, and therefore reduced budgets for professional reporting staff, Dennison said. However, he said good work is still happening. He now works for Montana Television Network, recently purchased by the Scripps Corporation, which emphasizes that they are a “journalism company first.” They tell him “we want you to do good work, investigative work, work that’s important to your community.”

The book is a tribute to not only reporters of the past, but of today, he said.