Democrats denounce gun mailer

HELENA - Backed by a dozen law enforcement officers and county attorneys, House Democrats on Tuesday chastised the Montana Republican Party for recent mailings related to gun-rights legislation.

The mailers targeted three freshman Democratic House members, including Rep. Doug Cordier, D-Columbia Falls, who stood with the law enforcement officers at a press conference in the Old Supreme Court Chambers.

The three lawmakers were among those who voted against House Bill 340, which broadens the definition of self-defense in the use of a firearm.

The mailer shows a woman in a body bag, with the words, "Is this your neighbor?"

It then goes on to portray those who voted against the bill as being "anti-gun" and that they believe "using deadly force to defend yourself against a criminal makes you a criminal." The mailer urges recipients to contact the legislator.

House Minority Leader John Parker, D-Great Falls, asserted that the mailer was offensive and misleading, and particularly inappropriate to be sent while the Legislature is in session.

Rep. Bill McChesney, D-Miles City, said the mailer sent to his constituents resulted in a series of "threatening and hostile" messages on his home answering machine.

Rep. J.P. Pomnichowsky, D-Bozeman, said she got a call saying, "You're dead wrong and maybe you should be dead."

Republican House members immediately denounced the mailers after learning about them late last week. Speaking on the floor,

House Majority Leader Michael Lange, R-Billings, called them "garbage."

"We certainly appreciate that our colleagues on the Republican side apologized," Parker said.

Cordier earlier explained that he strongly supports gun rights and the Second Amendment, but he voted against HB 340 after hearing from law enforcement officers.

"It's something that puts law enforcement personnel at higher risk, and that's the side I weighed in on," he said. "We already have a good self-defense law in Montana, and I didn't see how this would appreciably improve that."

Following the press conference, House Speaker Scott Sales said that after learning about the mailer last week, he immediately contacted state Republican headquarters demanding that the mailer be dropped.

"We got a commitment from our guys that that's it," he said. "We don't agree with how that was handled."

But Sales said he can cite multiple examples of the Democratic Party targeting GOP candidates with "salacious" and offensive campaign materials, including one related to spousal abuse.

He charged that Democrats are trying to "get as much mileage" politically out of the SB 340 mailer as possible.

While the mailer was offensive, he said, the bill is still alive in the Senate with proponents asserting legitimate arguments.

Later Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, Sales demanded an apology from a Democrat who interrupted him and cursed at him while he was talking to a reporter.

Rep. Brady Wiseman, D-Bozeman, agreed his comments went too far and apologized on the House floor.

The incident took place after the press conference about the mailers.

As Sales talked to a television reporter, Wiseman looked on - then interrupted.

"Bull--," Wiseman said, repeating the word again before being quieted by a spokeswoman for the Montana Democratic Party and walking away, according to onlookers.

In less than an hour, Sales stood up on the House floor to demand an apology. The Bozeman Republican said the House needs to maintain its decorum, and said he was taken aback by Wiseman's actions.

The comments "did indeed fail to meet the mark of statesmanship," Wiseman said in a brief apology on the floor. "It will not happen again."