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With inflation raging into the double-digits, gas and diesel prices at all-time highs, and mortgage hikes devastating borrowers, men and women across Montana are tightening their respective belts and looking for ways to save a few bucks wherever they can. Sadly, while the people of Montana are practicing conservation, the State of Montana Corporation, via its corporate employees, is living the high life on your dime. (Ed Note: The fact that the State of Montana, your county, your city, and your township are all incorporated is a topic of another article, and so much more critical as it pertains to your liberty than you probably realize.) Now, back to the fleecing.
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Fresh off of her visit to NorthWest Liberty News last week where she exposed over $16.5 Billion in payments from the Montana corporation to unknown recipients, corruption researcher Debbie Westlake once again joined host James White for her weekly visit to the show and dropped more financial bombs, specifically as it pertains to the outrageous numbers published concerning the lodging accommodations of the Montana corporate employees while traveling.
The numbers below, originally published in the Broadwater County News, give a quick snapshot of travel expenses in August 2022.
Previously, we have shown how the State of Montana spent 23.9% of all credit card payments in July were towards travel. A breakdown for August shows a 2.6% increase to 26.5% in travel expenses over July with many government agencies spending your tax dollars far too often at luxury hotels across the country.
Total credit card payments in August come to $4,978,457.34. From that, travel expenses total $1,319,329.64. The Department of Transportation spent the most at $331,073.44 with DPHHS coming in second at $249,265.33. Payments such as the DEQ spending $448.14 at the Guest House at Graceland in Nashville TN, FWP spending $911.00 at Gaylord Opry Resort (Opryland), the Department of Commerce giving $4,226.25 to the Amway Grand Plaza in Grand Rapids MI, or the Department of Agriculture paying $1,509.21 to stay at the Hilton St. Louis Ballpark where you can watch the game at Busch Stadium without ever leaving your room. Evidence also shows 2 payments for $91.95 each to Rail Europe, whose website touts you can “buy train & bus tickets for the UK and Europe the easy way”.
West Palm Beach FL, Lexington KY, Ft. Worth TX, Aspen CO, Niagara Falls NY, Scottsdale AZ, Calgary AB…. the list of places they go is never-ending but when you have everything from DPHHS staying at the Hilton at West Palm Beach FL ($211.31) to the DNRC at the Hotel North Pole in Alaska ($3,894.48) you have to wonder, just exactly WHAT are they doing with our money?
The following is a breakdown of how much each department spent on hotels, airfare, taxis/Uber/rental cars, and such for August 2022. All entries were posted in the credit card payment section of transparency.mt.gov as of 8/22/22.
26.5% of total cc payments went towards travel
Board of Public Education – $0.00
Commissioner of Higher Education – $16,257.12
Commissioner of Political Practices – $0.00
Dept of Administration – $28,213.29
Dept of Agriculture – $53,246.72
Dept of Commerce – $32,110.47
Dept of Corrections – $90,405.29
Dept of Environmental Quality – $38,805.28
Dept of Fish Wildlife & Parks – $55,712.51
Dept of Justice – $76,567.81
Dept of Labor & Industry – $59,114.47
Dept of Livestock – $13,959.51
Dept of Military Affairs – $21,633.79
Dept of Natural Resource & Conservation – $93,634.29
Dept of Health & Human Services – $249,265.33
Dept of Public Service Regulation – $4,519.68
Dept of Revenue – $30,224.44
Dept of Transportation – $331,073.44
Judicial Branch – $48,034.95
Legislative Branch – $5,366.17
MT Arts Council – $3,463.02
MT Historical Society – $3,427.27
MT Public Employee Retirement Fund – $0.00
MT State Fund – $6,466.07
MT State Library – $2,533.23
Office of Public Instruction – $15,200.07
Office of the Governor – $7,047.96
Office of Secretary of State – $566.02
State Auditor – $19,307.80
Office of the State Public Defender – $2,98.17
School for the Deaf & Blind – $6,461.01
Teacher’s Retirement Board – $3,732.40
TOTAL TRAVEL – $1,319,329.64
TOTAL CC PAYMENTS FOR AUG ’22 – $4,978,457.34
Keep in mind that the numbers above are not for the year but just for August 2022. While most men and women of Montana stayed at budget hotels or national chains if they could even afford to travel this summer, employees of the Montana corporation stayed at the finest, most luxurious hotels in America, all with taxpayer money. I have inserted an image gallery with photos of the hotels that were paid for by you.
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You can watch the full 12-minute interview from last Thursday with Debbie Westlake by clicking the video link below.
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Uber What?
5-Star hotels with panoramic views are not the only items that the employees of the Montana corporation are fleecing you on, but travel to and from those swanky digs is also costing you big money. Below is a screenshot taken from the Montana checkbook that highlights a $1000+ Uber ride. One has to wonder how many days you could rent a car for that same price.
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Although the exact details surrounding the $1000+Uber payment are not fully known, upon first learning of the charge while he was live on air, Montana Representative Brad Tschida(HD97) called for the person responsible to resign immediately. You can hear Representative Tschida’s comments by clicking the video link below.
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Keep in mind that we are only beginning to expose the financial waste by the Montana corporation, as Debbie Westlake will be a guest on NorthWest Liberty each Thursday at 11:46 AM exposing similar kinds of wasteful spending. You can tune in live to NorthWest Liberty News each weekday from 10 AM – 12 PM by going to:
About Author
I own an addiction treatment facility where we have at least 10 open CPS cases at any given time and alot of our clients have financial abrriers that makes it hard for them to get to trestment or to see thier kids or to even get back and forth from work, all things CPS requires of these parents in their treatment plan and we cannot get CPS to even help these clients with $40 gas cards. They state they don’t have the funds.