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CONrad Opens Mouth- Inserts Foot Again

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Anonymous

Guest
Burns criticizes firefighters, says they didn't heed ranchers
By JENNIFER McKEE
Gazette State Bureau

HELENA - Republican Sen. Conrad Burns chastised a group of firefighters over the weekend for doing a "poor job" dousing a 92,000-acre blaze near Billings, a state report shows.

Burns and the firefighters - members of the Augusta Hot Shots from the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia -were at Billings Logan International Airport awaiting flights, according to Burns and Forest Service representatives.

Burns approached the firefighters and told them they had "done a poor job" and "should have listened to the ranchers," according to a report prepared by Paula Rosenthal, a state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation employee who was sent to the airport to speak with the senator.

Rosenthal wrote in her report that she received word of an "altercation" between Burns and the Hot Shot crew. The crew had been in Montana working on the Bundy Railroad fire near Worden.

whole story- and e-mail responses... CONrad is really catching hell on this one....

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/07/27/news/local/45-burns.txt
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Econ101 said:
Press like that pretty much seals his fate---or should.

Yeah this one might top the "ragheads" comment- or his "n" word comment...You don't cuss out firefighters in public...I've never seen so many e-mail responses on a story before (140 already- almost half the Montana voters :wink: ) and its running about 20 to one to string Burns up.....

CONrad and the Montana Republican Party are doing everything they can to give away the US Senate seat.. :roll:
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Conrad apologizes- but its too little, too late- the damage is done.. I see this story has now made National news- CNN, FOX, etc... Old bumbling Conrad is at it again..
The story floating around is that some of the fires were on a couple of Conrads long term big money benefactors pastures, which he had been "tea" partying with for too long, and that the "inflammatory remark" removed from the final report was another racial slur....

Montana Republican Party- Why didn't you convince old Conrad to gently fade away into retirement, move back to Missouri, and let Rehberg have a chance :???: Denny would have been a shoein now.....


Report: Burns called firefighters lazy
Original account revealed; senator issues apology for altercation at airport
By CHARLES S. JOHNSON
Gazette State Bureau

HELENA - U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns pointed across the Billings airport Sunday and accused a member of an elite firefighting team of not doing "a God damned thing" and charged that crew members just "sit around" on the job, the original version of a state report said.

Most of Burns' highly critical comments, made to state employee Paula Rosenthal, were omitted from the version of her report released to reporters Wednesday and Thursday.

The Gazette State Bureau on Thursday obtained the original version of the "incident report" written by Rosenthal about her meeting with Burns. Rosenthal is an employee of the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and was the public information officer assigned to the Bundy Railroad fire near Worden.

On Thursday night, Burns, a Republican running for re-election this year, issued a written apology for his comments. He said he shouldn't have criticized the hard-working firefighters for how the fires were handled. Burns was at the Billings airport Sunday and approached some members of the Augusta (Va.) Hot Shots, who were also waiting to catch a plane. In what the report called "an altercation," Burns told them they had done "a poor job" fighting the 92,000-acre blaze near Billings and should have listened to the concerns of local ranchers.

His comments prompted some U.S. Forest Service officials at the airport to call Rosenthal to come to the airport immediately to meet with Burns.

Rosenthal's original report of the incident recounted how Burns pointed to a member of the Augusta Hot Shots crew across the airport waiting area and telling her:

"See that guy over there? He hasn't done a God-damned thing. They sit around. I saw it up on the Wedge fire and in northwestern Montana some years ago. It's wasteful. You probably paid that guy $10,000 to sit around. It's gotta change."

Rosenthal wrote in both versions: "I offered to the senator that our firefighters make around $8-$12 per hour and time-and-a-half for overtime. He seemed a little surprised that it wasn't higher."

Burns issued the apology after the Gazette State Bureau faxed his office a copy of Rosenthal's original report.

"In retrospect, I wish I had chosen my words more carefully," Burns said in a prepared statement. "My criticism of the way in which the fire was handled should not have been directed at those who were working hard to put it out. Without a doubt firefighters do the hard, tough job of battling one of Mother Nature's toughest beasts. I have nothing but admiration for them and the work they do.

"My frustration came from meeting with landowners who were critical of the way the fire was handled. Whatever the reason, I should have simply thanked those who worked hard to put out the fire.

"I have since addressed my concerns to the proper officials about the way in which fires are handled. Please accept my apology for any hard feelings that my comments may have caused. I have the utmost respect for the job firefighters have done in Montana."


Full Story and email comments--This has to be one of the hottest stories the Gazette has received comments back on- over 200 on the original story and 75 on the apology and almost everyone wants to string Conrad up...

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/07/28/news/state/20-burns.txt
 

Hanta Yo

Well-known member
We were over there at the Bundy Railroad Cr fire, to try to save one of our neighbors house. Welllll, the talk from ranchers over there and from what we witnessed, Conrad had every right to say what he did. That fire could have been contained at 3,000 acres. It got to the point ranchers weren't listening to the "people in charge" and Musselshell ranchers built a fireline during the night to try to save Musselshell County. I'm sure Conrad was receiving calls 24/7 from those of us out here. The whole firefighting was ridiculous. :roll:

That fire could have been contained at 3,000 acres (Yes, I'm repeating myself)


Oh, BTW, I don't condone the cussing.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Hanta Yo said:
We were over there at the Bundy Railroad Cr fire, to try to save one of our neighbors house. Welllll, the talk from ranchers over there and from what we witnessed, Conrad had every right to say what he did. That fire could have been contained at 3,000 acres. It got to the point ranchers weren't listening to the "people in charge" and Musselshell ranchers built a fireline during the night to try to save Musselshell County. I'm sure Conrad was receiving calls 24/7 from those of us out here. The whole firefighting was ridiculous. :roll:

That fire could have been contained at 3,000 acres (Yes, I'm repeating myself)


Oh, BTW, I don't condone the cussing.

Hanta-- You don't go after the firefighters- and definitely not in public- if there is a problem you go to the supervisors...The firemen are under orders to not even issue comments while assigned to a fire- the reason they have a/ and called in the information officer in charge of the fire...

This is no different than the Senators that are criticizing our soldiers in Iraq- who are doing nothing more than following orders....

I'm sure there were problems on the fire- there is on most major fires-and I've been on fires where the feds have screwed up big time-- but over the 30 years I have been involved with the fire services they have been improved 10-20 fold-- especially the capabilities of the Dept. of State Lands...

But that doesn't give any Senator the right to arrogantly get into an altercation with a bunch of firefighters in a public airport...No matter who he thought he was going to impress...
CONrad again screwed up......

In the back of my mind I have to wonder if part of it wasn't triggered by the Montana Firefighters Assn coming out last week endorsing his opponent- Tester :???:
 

Hanta Yo

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Hanta Yo said:
We were over there at the Bundy Railroad Cr fire, to try to save one of our neighbors house. Welllll, the talk from ranchers over there and from what we witnessed, Conrad had every right to say what he did. That fire could have been contained at 3,000 acres. It got to the point ranchers weren't listening to the "people in charge" and Musselshell ranchers built a fireline during the night to try to save Musselshell County. I'm sure Conrad was receiving calls 24/7 from those of us out here. The whole firefighting was ridiculous. :roll:

That fire could have been contained at 3,000 acres (Yes, I'm repeating myself)


Oh, BTW, I don't condone the cussing.

Hanta-- You don't go after the firefighters- and definitely not in public- if there is a problem you go to the supervisors...The firemen are under orders to not even issue comments while assigned to a fire- the reason they have a/ and called in the information officer in charge of the fire...

This is no different than the Senators that are criticizing our soldiers in Iraq- who are doing nothing more than following orders....

I'm sure there were problems on the fire- there is on most major fires-and I've been on fires where the feds have screwed up big time-- but over the 30 years I have been involved with the fire services they have been improved 10-20 fold-- especially the capabilities of the Dept. of State Lands...

But that doesn't give any Senator the right to arrogantly get into an altercation with a bunch of firefighters in a public airport...No matter who he thought he was going to impress...
CONrad again screwed up......


Sorry, I have to agree with you. :)
 

Econ101

Well-known member
Going after the firefighters and not the supervisors is like Jane Fonda going after the servicemen and not the policy makers.

I know you didn't mean it Hanta, but Conrad should be smarter than that.
 

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