Special interest money

Recently Republican State Representative candidate Derek Peachey answered a questionnaire sent out by the Daily Inter Lake. However, like the brochures he sends out, he doesn't provide much useful biographical information. More on that in a moment. 

He stated, "I'm not backed by party insiders or special interests."

Well, a campaign disclosure filed by a political action committee (PAC) calling itself conservatives4mt tells a different story.

Filed with the Montana office of the Commissioner Of Political Practices (COPP), it already shows a "candidate allocation" of $5,509.64 to Mr. Peachey over the past few weeks.

It also reports in just last month, receipts of $600,221.60 that came from just three out of state political action committees.

No fundraisers, just $600,000 from three PACs. That's the definition of special interest money.

The Western States Regional Council of Carpenters Improvement Committee in Los Angeles, a union that endorsed Kamala Harris, contributed $100,000.

Democratic Union dollars being spread to Republicans here.

Now some facts about Derek's past.

He has spent most of his adult life in California working for high tech companies, like Nokia, a leader in the artificial intelligence field (AI) -- becoming quite wealthy.

His brochures say that "he is rooted in the traditions that define Montana." 

I wonder how years of working for high tech AI firms that have offices in California and India could teach him about Montana values. 

Moving to Montana a few years ago, he bought a mansion in the gated community of Iron Horse. 

The market value of his house is $2,454,456. His property taxes are over $13,000 a year.

Does he really need to take money from a California union that endorsed Kamala Harris? 

It appears he's trying to buy Montana values with out of state democratic special interest money. 

Maybe AI wrote that line about him not being backed by "special interests." 

— Joe Novak, Polebridge