Meanwhile, up in Montana...
Cobb blasts governor during budget debate
By MIKE DENNISON
Tribune Capitol Bureau
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HELENA -- Emotions over Montana's budget crisis boiled over in an extraordinary display on the Senate floor Tuesday, as Republican state Sen. John Cobb ripped into Republican Gov. Judy Martz and his own party."I'm glad we only have a one-term governor down there," Cobb fumed after a 26-24 vote erased money Cobb had restored moments earlier to fund day-care for the working poor. "She's destroyed the human service budget. She's deliberately hurt people. She's irresponsible. ...
"This is the most ashamed I've ever been of the Republican Party," continued Cobb, an Augusta rancher who's argued repeatedly to restore spending to human-service programs.
Cobb predicted that Republicans' callous attitude toward human-service programs could help pave the way for Democrats to seize power in Montana for the first time in a decade.
"If this is the end of the Republican Party, it's about time," he said. "We have no new ideas. We just want to cut, cut, cut. We're just really being stupid about it. We can't even decide to fund anything any more. I'm ashamed to be a Republican."
I'm glad somebody is.