Jon Tester for U.S. Senate

Senate President Helped Move State Funding to Rehabilitate Canal

Montana Senate President Jon Tester today rapped Senator Burns for failing to introduce legislation to get the St. Mary Canal project moving to ensure water for the Milk River basin on Montana’s Hi-Line.

“Senator Burns pledged to get this critical project moving, but so far he has not delivered for Montana farmers and irrigators who count on this water to make their living,” Tester said. “It’s time to elect a senator who will fight for Montanans, not disgraced lobbyists like Jack Abramoff.”

Tester said that if he is elected he will work hard to ensure that Congress provides funding to restore the St. Mary Canal, an aging system in danger of failing. The system provides critical water supply for agriculture and communities in the Milk River basin.

Senator Conrad Burns has claimed that the St. Mary’s canal rehabilitation project is a top priority. Yet, to this point, Burns has made little progress in getting the more than $100 million needed to complete the project. In fact, this spring, Senator Burns pledged to craft and introduce legislation to initiate the rehabilitation of the St. Mary’s canal. The time to introduce legislation draws short with no St. Mary’s bill from the senator.

In the 2005 Montana Legislature, Tester helped provide state funding to move the project forward. And Tester was a chief sponsor of a successful resolution that urged Congress and the federal government to advance the St. Mary project.

Meanwhile, the St. Mary’s working group, composed of irrigators, recreationists, tribal representatives, and municipalities, continues to collaborate with State and Federal agencies on this important project for Montana.

As a U.S. Senator, Tester said he will be a determined voice for the project and work together with these grass-roots representatives to get the job done.

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An interesting piece on campaign finance and the U.S. Senate race in the Missoulian today.

Mike Dennison at the Lee State Bureau did some digging in campaign financial disclosure reports and found some statistics that shed light on the candidates and how they conduct their campaigns. Conrad Burns has collected nearly $800,000 from corporate CEOs, and nearly $2.6 million from PACs. In response, the GOP trots out the same tired line about supposed out-of-state funds behind Democratic campaigns.

The GOP’s oft-repeated mantra is flat-out wrong about the Tester campaign. Jon Tester has raised over 63% of his funds from Montanans.

Tester has collected plenty of smaller contributions because he appeals to working folks who don’t have a lot of money, said campaign manager Bill Lombardi.

???It’s just a lot of working Montanans who support Jon Tester, a farmer and a working guy,??? Lombardi said.

The Tester campaign also has made a special effort to solicit campaign funds online, resulting in many $25 and $50 donations from Montana and all over the country, he added.

Your support has made this campaign more about montana than interests out of state. Check out the article for more on the U.S. Senate campaign Montanans built.

We began the day like any other on the farm, with a strong cup of coffee and an early start on the tractor.

I’m proud to share our new television ad “Out Here�.

Introducing my home and way of life is a great way to start a face-to-face conversation with voters across Montana. This ad is truly about the life I live and the work I do each day, farming the same land my grandparents homesteaded in 1916.

It’s also about the change I’ll bring to Washington, helping improve the quality of life we all enjoy here in Montana. I’ll push for concrete steps to create jobs in communities across the state by developing clean energy projects like wind and biodiesel. And I’ll stand up to the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance companies to make health care affordable and available to every family.

The most important way to get our country back on track is by ending the ethical bankruptcy in the halls of power. We need new, honest leadership with the integrity and backbone to say and do what’s right, in every circumstance.

It’s simple: ethics don’t come in and go out of style. They’re permanent.

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Jennifer McKee of the Montana Lee State Bureau took some time to interview Jon and write about the campaign awhile back and her candidate profile appeared in Lee Newspapers today.

The piece is a straightforward and sometimes surprising glimpse inside the day-to-day life of the Tester family and the campaign for the U.S. Senate.

Unseating Burns is not the only reason he??s running for Senate, Tester said. It??s not even one of the top reasons.

Tester is running because Big Sandy public schools used to need three bus routes to pick up all the farm kids; now the farm kids barely fill up one. Working families used to have a shot at being middle class; now they??re treading water.

Tester is running because a couple of weeks ago a single mom called him up. ???She??s a Big Sandy girl,??? he said. Her daughter survived childhood brain cancer and now requires shots that cost $6,400 a year.

Insurance doesn??t cover it.

???When I think about prescription drugs, those are the kinds of faces that pop into my mind,??? said Tester.

Check out the Billings Gazette for the complete story. The Gazette also has Jon’s answers to key personal and political issues.

Jon: After three generations on this land, I know just how much Montana’s worth fighting for.

I helped Brian Schweitzer change politics in Helena, and I’ll bring the same kind of change to Washington.

Create jobs. End Conrad Burns’ kind of corruption. And stand up to insurance companies to finally get every family health care.

I don’t look like the other senators, but isn’t it time the senate looked a little bit more like Montana?

I’m Jon Tester and I approved this message.