Pressure mounting on Montana Democrat

An Editorial yesterday morning in the Billings Gazette:

Gazette Opinion: Fallout from Baucus’ poor judgment

What was Max Baucus thinking?

That his personal relationship with his state director, Melodee Hanes, wouldn’t matter when he forwarded her name for consideration as Montana’s U.S. attorney?

Whatever hope of privacy Baucus and Hanes may have had vanished when he recommended her for an important appointed office... the conflict of interest or at least the appearance of conflict is inescapable. All of Hanes’ legal and organizational credentials have been obscured by the label “senator’s girlfriend.”

Thus, for this lapse in good judgment... Baucus gained a scandalous distraction while he is working to shepherd major health care policy legislation through the Senate.

Editorial, Billings Gazette, Dec. 9:

There is no longer a fine line between acceptable personal and public behavior of our politicians. Voters expect them to act responsibly both in out of public view. Sen. Max Baucus has now had to reveal that he used his significant influence to recommend his lover Melodee Hanes for the U.S. attorney for Montana position.

This was happening while both of them were married and carrying on their illicit affair with impunity. His belated admission that this relationship began in the summer of 2008 is simply unacceptable on its face. In the statement issued by Ty Matsdorf, his spokesman, he says that Hanes and Thomas Bennett, her ex-husband, divorced in December 2008. Baucus and his ex-wife, Wanda, announced their divorce in April 2009.

Baucus has now exposed himself to be heartless as well as a scoundrel.

Sen. Ensign was forced to resign his Senate Republican Policy Committee chairmanship for doing the same thing. I am calling on Baucus to immediately resign from the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee. Your personal and public life is an open book and you are ridiculing the voters of Montana by staying in office.

Meanwhile, the GOP Chairman Will Deschamps from Helena sees the scandal growing back home.

From the Billings Gazette:

Montana Republican Party Chairman Will Deschamps insisted the issue was "gathering more and more steam."

"Ethics and morality still count," he said.

However, Baucus has his defenders outside of Montana.

Democrat Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada quipped to reporters "it's a non-scandal."

And Newsweek defends Sen. Baucus. From Kate Daily, Columnist, Dec. 10:

Look, I’m all for ethical standards, and obviously this raises many eyebrows. But it also reveals a nasty habit of denying the intellect, experience, or merit belonging to the sexual partner of someone in power. There seems to be the impression that Hanes is a piece of ass totally unqualified for the position, and that Baucus nominated her in lieu of shelling out for concert tickets or a tennis bracelet. The phrase “staff-member girlfriend” makes it sound like she earned her taxpayer-funded paycheck by providing back rubs and listening to Baucus talk about his day.

In fact, “girlfriend” is not Hanes’s primary identity... As Baucus's office points out, she’s an expert on child-abuse prosecution, and has tried more than 100 jury trials.

Hanes sought a position for which she was a qualified candidate... sometimes, the best person for the job also happens to be the person on the other side of the bed.