And as long as we're at it...

Below I question why we should take the editorial board of the Tribune seriously when they are clearly so one-sided in their thinking.

I thought about it a little more and just yesterday they gave us yet another reason to distrust them. These people are clearly idealogues and they are clearly willing to distort reality through omission or otherwise in order to make their point.

Case in point: Yesterday, the Tribune argued that passage of CI-97 would result in a lack of Montana state job training money, severly hampering our ability to promote economic development. (CI-97 is the Constitutional Initiative that would cap government spending growth based on inflation and population increases.)

The Tribune even manages to bring up Gov. Schweitzer's gargantuan episode of ball dropping in suggesting that CI-97 will prevent the legislature from funding job training programs.

First of all, I am not sure how I feel about CI-97. I have not had a chance to research it yet.

But I don't think it's ok for persons of influence (and, yes, that unfortunately includes the Tribune editorial board) to misrepresent reality to reach a particular result. There is nothing in the proposed language of CI-97 that would limit job training dollars. What the Initiative does is limit the growth of overall state government spending. What the Tribune does is assume that its ideological fantasy will come true: no other state spending program will have funds cut ever. If you assume that to be true, then yes, the Initiative could limit spending on training dollars.

But there is nothing to prevent the legislature from cutting some other program to increase funding for training while still staying under a CI-97 imposed cap. To suggest otherwise is simply disingenuous.

If I am wrong, please tell me. Otherwise, shame on the Trib.