When do you know someone is bluffing? And when to call that bluff?  

It could be when someone claims that they are going to file 10,000 claims for water all over Montana if a certain water compact is not passed. What if those 10,000 claims have no basis in fact or in law, or are precluded because they were extinguished by the United States long ago? What if those claims are too late to file because the other water basins have already been adjudicated?

Here’s another bluff: “Go ahead and sue because we will win everything” — a statement overheard by myself and another opposing the current proposed Salish and Kootenai water compact. What if you have to bluff because you know a court of law will not let you “win everything”?

Bluffing comes along when one party knows its arguments are weak, and has to frighten other parties into believing the bluff. Bluffing is the province of bullies.

And we all know what happens to bullies when someone stands up to them. They fold like a house of cards.

For this compact, it’s time to stop the bullying, bluffing, and blundering, and start having a meaningful conversation. No one is going to let this compact be jammed down their throats. When will the  governor stop this insanity of throwing Montana tax dollars to corporate interests? —David Passieri, St. Ignatius