cowboy politics
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V o l u m e s i x n u m b e r o n e , t w o t h o u s a n d t e n | spr ing
Cowboy Politics and the Montana Stockgrower
Tracing Parks Reece’s Artistic Root
Predicting Troublin Avalanche Country
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he Montana Stockgrowers Association
organized itself on April 20, 1884, in Miles
City. By the Fourth of July, a posse of asso-
ciation men had hanged its first rustler —a whiskey peddler who had branched out
into stolen horseflesh — at the mouth of the
Musselshell River.
Four days later and 15 miles to the south, the association’s
vigilantes surrounded a cabin full of armed men and ordered
them to surrender. The rustlers, facing a rope,
answered with gunfire. So the Stockgrowers
burned the place to the ground, killing
11 men.
Granville Stuart, a prominent
merchant fairly new to the cattle
business, lead the attacks.
Like other cattle men,
he was vexed beyond
frustration at wide-
spread rustling
From vigilante days to the cyber age,
the Montana Stockgrowers Association remains a big player
in state politics, with a little help from Uncle Sam
BY SCOTT MCMILLION
Cowboy
Politics
8
t
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY THOMAS LEE
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and the inability or unwillingness of the territorial government
to do anything about it. So the Stockgrowers Association took
the law into its own hands and the vigilantes became known as
Stuart’s Stranglers.
By the time the stranglers had finished their grim work, at
least 30 men, maybe a lot more, died at their hands. No trials. No
lawyers. Future President Theodore Roosevelt, then a rancher
along the North Dakota line and an association member, cheered
them on at t he time, though he later expressed some doubts.
In his memoirs, Roosevelt wrote that as many as 60 men
were killed. Most were guilty, he said. Some probably weren’t.
Justified or not, the lynchings were effective, and rustling
slowed to a trickle. None of the association men were prosecuted
and some went on to great prominence. Stuart became so influ-ential in the state that some people called him “Mr. Montana.”
Roosevelt went on to become president of the United States.
And the Stockgrowers Association is still around. While its
members haven’t tossed a rope around anybody’s neck for well
over a century, they remain one of the state’s most powerful and
effective political lobbies. They play hardball and they play to
win. They usually win.
And that’s why, when they issued a public apology to Gov.
Brian Schweitzer last October, it came as such a surprise. That
kind of thing doesn’t happen often in politics, and it made head-
lines across the state.
“I am deeply pained by the distressed relationship that our
organization has chosen to maintain with you throughout your
term of office,” association president Tom Hougen wrote. “I am
not excusing our errors of the past, but I am asking you to consider
our apology and to consider making amends.”
So who are these guys, and what are they sorry for?
MENDING FENCES
Hougen, interviewed at his Melstone ranch, wouldn’t specify
any specific transgressions. But he acknowledged the group
hasn’t gotten along with the governor, that the disagreements
have been bitter. Though the gover-
nor plays political hardball, too, the
apology came from the association, not
from Schweitzer. The intention, Hougen
said, was to open doors. The ranching
industry is in a tough spot, he said, and
it needs friends where it can find them.
He wants to move forward.
The association bills itself as the
voice of Montana ranchers. It has about
2,000 members, Hougen said, though
some are “supporting” or “allied indus-
try” members that don’t own a cow but
sell things to ranchers. Its members own
about 320,000 cattle, about 13 percent
of all the beeves in the state. There are
other ranch organizations around, but
the association is the most prominent
and the best-funded, in part because it
takes a lot of taxpayer money from the
federal government.
Ranching faces lots of vexing prob-
lems. Some of them are old: taxes on
both the living and the dead, weather,
water rights, fickle markets and govern-
Tom Hougen, president of the Montana
Stockgrowers Association, stands outside
his ranch in Melstone. Hougen says, “the
major concern of ranch families in Montana
is, ‘How am I going to pass this on to the
next generation?’“
ment regulations have rankled for decades.
But new issues arise all the time. People blame cows for
global warming, denuding landscapes, polluting streams, displac-
ing wildlife, spreading disease and expanding t he national waist-
line. Whether these perceptions are true or not, they cannot be
ignored.
That’s why the association exists: to protect the interests
of its members and earn them money. Its stated purpose is “to
protect and enhance the business climate for family ranching in
Montana.”
It runs publicity campaigns that extol ranching,
it files lawsuits to push wild bison out of the state, it
publishes a newsletter and a Web site, and it helps
members market their cattle. And it lobbies heavily.John Bloomquist, the association’s Helena
lobbyist for the past 17 years, estimated he’s been
successful 90 to 95 percent of the time, whether
he’s supporting a bill or opposing one.
And for the past several years, the association
has been heavily funded by the federal government,
with congressional earmarks originated by former
Sen. Conrad Burns, an enthusiastic supporter of t he
association.
Between 2004 and 2008, the last years for which records
were available, the association accepted more than $2 mill ion in
federal earmark money. That means taxpayer money comprised
40 percent of its budget for those years. Government gave the
association more money than its own members did. (The asso-
ciation also raises money by selling ads in its publications and
vendor space at its conventions.)
Other agricultural groups with strong lobbies, like the
Montana Wool Growers Association and the Montana Grain
Growers Association, take federal money, too, but it’s a frac-
tion of what the Stockgrowers Association takes. The Montana
Cattlemen’s Association, which competes with it for members,
takes no taxpayer money.
The Stockgrowers Association often opposes Montana
environmental groups on issues ranging from stream access to
Yellowstone National Park bison. Those groups have to raise
their own money without congressional help.
The Montana Wildlife Federation, the Greater Yellowstone
Coalition, the Montana Environmental Information Council, t he
Northern Plains Resource Council, and the Alliance for the Wild
Rockies all report no payments from the federal government.
Montana Trout Unlimited has taken federal money in recent
years: a $17,000 grant.
Association officials make no apology for their heavy reli-
ance on federal money.
“We’re proud we could secure some federal funds to bringback to Montana ranch families in order to improve their bottom
line, to make their business m
association’s executive vice p
“Everybody has had these sorts
has seized on the opportunities
The federal money did n
dedicated to two programs: On
Stewardship, which helps ranc
tices to make their land bette
bottom line. It also helps them
has earmarked $5.5 million fo
money went to Montana State Un
work of analyzing rangeland an
A little more than $900,0
association’s job was to recru
program. Over the years, more
dozen ranches have been “certi
Undaunted Stewardship
community.
“My feeling is they’ve dev
would like to have,” said Bill
and community activist who o
Bozeman. “It’s good for the lan
for the country.”
He notes that Undaunted S
grazing practices on vast landsc
an acre. That translates into be
water, which is a hard thing to m
The second federally fund
Beef Network, is a little easier t
That one, another partner
culture department, provides to
price for their cattle. Also funde
a way for ranchers to certify th
ments of specific markets. For in
under 20 months old. Europe
hormones. The American “natuno hormones or antibiotics.
People blame cows fo
denuding landscapes,displacing wildlife
and expanding the
Whether these perc
not, they [
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The Montana Beef Network certifies that buyers get what
they’ve ordered. Doing so costs the rancher about $3 an animal,
according to John Paterson, who runs MSU-Bozeman’s part of
the program, but it fetches them an average of an extra $10 per
animal at market.
“The goal was to add value to a guy’s calves,” Paterson said.
Plus, buyers could see the records, and the program would stand
behind them. A primary goal was to establish credibility for the
certification program.
But it’s hard to describe the program as cost effective.
It ran from 1999 to 2009 and cost about $600,000 a year,
for a total of more than $6 million. Paterson said he can docu-
ment that ranchers earned an extra $3 million by selling calvesthrough the Montana Beef Network.
MSU did most of the lab and field work. The association
did most of the marketing and outreach to ranchers. It was paid
between $100,000 and $445,000 a year for that work.
Neither program is getting any more federal money. When
Burns lost the 2006 election, the Undaunted Stewardship
earmark ended, though some dollars remain in t he account.
For the Montana Beef Network, former MSU-Bozeman
president Geoff Gamble told the association last August he was
ending the program.
The program was never intended to last forever, university
spokesman Tracy Ellig said.
But it still might put money in the association’s pockets.
Running the program called for sophisticated software,
databases and monitoring. Aware that ear mark money was about
to run dry, the association spent $445,000 in federal money on
the program in 2008, prepari ng to transform it into a private busi-
ness, Rice said. It is now a joint venture between Stockgrowers,
Inc., a for-profit subsidiary of the association, and Watts and
Associates, a Billings consulting firm.
Though the program was financed mostly with public money,any future profits will go to those two private entities.
A rankled governor
Schweitzer finds something foul in this arr angement.
“They’re using earmarks from Congress to keep themselves
in business,” he said. “They’re able to pay a large number of
Gov. Brian Schweitzer takes a phone call in his office in Helena.
lobbyists and lawyers wit h taxpayer money.”
The association listed five lobbyists on its disclosure form
in the 2009 Legislature. Three of them are full-time, year-round
association employees.
Like most federal contracts and grants, the earmarked
money allowed the association to pay some of its overhead. For
example, the federal money compensated the association for 25
percent of Rice’s salary.
The governor and the association have butted heads over a
number of issues: public access to streams, coal bed methaneregulations, taxation, school-funding formulas, appointments to
the Montana Department of Livestock, the list goes on, and at its
top you find one of the state’s most vexing issues: brucellosis and
Yellowstone National Park’s wandering bison (more on this later).
Schweitzer, elected in 2004 as Montana’s first Democratic
governor since 1988, maintains the association — which is proudly
conservative — lets its politics get in t he way of good policy for ranch-
ers. (Its competing group, the Montana Cattlemen’s Association, was
until recently run by Dennis McDonald, a Democrat
now trying to unseat Republican U.S. Representative
Dennis Rehberg.)
“Let’s be realistic,” said Schweitzer, himself a
former rancher and farmer. “Ninety-seven percent of
the Stockgrowers Association aren’t Democrats. And
they’ve made it more important to be partisan than to
build their industry.”
And it rankles him that the association is sodeeply funded by federal tax dollars. Many of its
members also graze cattle on federal land, paying
a fraction of what they’d pay to lease private land.
(
r
g
hS
b
i
f
g
a
p
owned grass, Schweitzer said.
“And they criticize everyb
babies,” he said.
Waning in
While many association mem
disputed Schweitzer’s assertion
main priority.“We’ve done a lot more tha
said. Ranching grows more com
Modern finances dictate an
have a harder time. Working
machines, which burn a lot of f
profits can be elusive.
“We’re part of the general
the general economy is,” Houg
E
v
S
[
The governor
have butted head
issues: public acce
bed methane re
school funding
ments to the MonLivestock
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14
majority of Montana ranchers didn’t make any money last year.”
Regulations continue to pile up. Both imports and exports
alter the markets. Some consumer advocates assail the indus-
try over food safety and the way animals are treated. Bizarre
diseases pop up occasionally. The association works on all these
issues and more.Plus, ranchers are losing political clout.
In 1989, 51 of Montana’s 150 legislators farmed or ranched. In
2009, the number shrank to 17. (You can look at this trend a couple
different ways: 66 percent of Montana is in farms and ranches, but
less than 5 percent of the state’s population works that land.)
Bloomquist said when he started lobbying for the associa-
tion, he could talk to 20 or 30 key lawmakers and be confident of
support.
“Now,” he said. “You have to do a lot more.”
Which brings us back to that apology letter.
Shortly after it was issued, Bloomquist resigned as lobbyist.
“It undermined my ability to promote their policy, in partic-
ular if it’s at odds with the governor,” he said.
Bloomquist had been a lead player in the association’s legal
and legislative efforts — successful so far — to keep Yellowstone
bison from wandering more than a few miles from the park. The
main concern is brucellosis, a tough disease to address in wild-
life, but there are other concerns.
“It’s more than just competition for grass,” Rice said. “It’s
fear of being removed from the land. Can successful (bison) resto-
ration be done without removing the rancher?”
It’s a thoughtful question, and one that has been batted
around for years.
But for the first time, the association is sending signals that
it’s willing to give an inch on bison and brucellosis. In essence,
they have agreed, at least in principle, to back a federal plan thatcalls for a special surveillance district near the park. That means
ranchers in that area will face extra work, expense and hassle to
make sure their animals are f ree of brucellosis, a disease carried
by many of the park’s elk and bison.
It’s similar to a plan Schweitzer proposed several years ago.
The association’s position really irked some of the affected
ranchers, many of whom want the disease tackled inside the park.
“It feels like they abandoned us,” said Alan Redfield, an
association member who ranches south of Livingston. “They’re
trying to get along with whoever, instead of standing for the prin-
ciples they’ve been standing for.”
Such criticisms are not lost on the association’s leadership,
Hougen insisted. But he also pointed out that reality must be
faced.
“I think we have to move forward,” he said. “Change does
happen. The conclusion we’ve come to is that we’ve got to reach
out a little bit. We’ve got to look at not only how we do things, but
how the public perceives those t hings.”
Reaching out to Schweitzer was part of a process, he said.
He wants to lead the association into a new spirit of collabora-
Bison with ear
tags weather
the winter
behind several
layers of fence
at the quaran-
tine facility near
Corwin Springs,
just north of
Yellowstone
National Park.
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tion, particularly with environmentalists, traditional opponents
on many issues. He talks about building a “trust factor.”
The association has some catching up to do.
“They’ve been pretty aggressive against the conserva-
tion community,” said Craig Sharpe, executive director of the
Montana Wildlife Federation. He said his group has reached out
to them many ti mes, seeking “handshake” deals.
“It seems like any time we do, we get our fingertips burned,”
he said.
Though he took an aggressive position when he addressed
the association’s annual convention in December, Schweitzer said
he respects its leadership for “coming to me and saying we want
to work with you. Looking for all ies to help them stay competitive
shouldn’t surprise anyone.”
When Burns lost to Sen. Jon Tester, the association lost a
key ally, one with a critical seat on the Senate Appropriations
Committee. Shortly afterward, i
been financing much of its oper
But the association isn’t goi
126 years, since before Montana
vigilantes were not just accept
taking heat f rom members over b
taking heat from animal rights
It’s enduring skepticism from en
figures. It’s trying to figure a pa
either leery of or ignorant about
In the past, it’s faced world
ing government, calamitous w
survived all of that.
“We’ve always found a wa
Rice said. “And we’re certainly
changed.”
But the association isn’t going anywhere. It
for 126 years, since before Montana was a s
time when vigilantes were not just accepte