Political Notebook for Sunday, July 6

By DANIEL PERSON Chronicle Staff Writer

Supreme politics

Republican attorney general candidate Tim Fox is taking last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down Washington, D.C.’s handgun ban as an opportunity to tout his own stance on the Second Amendment, and to urge his opponent, Democrat Steve Bullock, to do the same.

Fox, in a letter to Bullock, presented an 18-point outline of his position on gun rights and told Bullock he thought it “would be a great service to the voters if we could both present our gun rights positions side by side to see how things line up.”

Bullock told the Chronicle he had received the letter, but had not had a chance to prepare a response.

Fox said he believes “the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right, not a collective right” to gun own ownership and opposes “legislation restricting the possession, ownership, purchase, sale, and/or transfer of any semi-automatic firearm.”

He also pledged to protect public lands for hunting in Montana.

There’s one point that Bullock would almost surely disagree with, given his party affiliations; It’s Fox’s 18th point: “I oppose the election of Barack Obama for president of the United States due to his anti-Second Amendment beliefs.”

The Supreme Court June 26 ruling affirmed an individual’s right to own handgun and was celebrated by Montana’s entire congressional delegation and, to a certain extent, Obama.

The ruling “will provide much-needed guidance to local jurisdictions across the country,” Obama told the Associated Press.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain sounded off a much more boisterous celebration, calling it “a landmark victory for Second Amendment freedom.”

A chamber man

Republican U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., was honored by the Montana Chamber of Commerce two weeks ago when he garnered its endorsement for re-election over his opponent John Vincent.

Now, he’s taking in another honor from the business group -- the “Spirit of Enterprise” award.

The award is presented to members of Congress who vote well on “key votes” for businesses.

Rehberg “compiled a 90 percent score with the chamber last year and holds a cumulative 95 percent ranking during his tenure in Congress,” according to a written statement from Rehberg’s office.

“As Montana’s lone congressman, I work closely with the Montana business community to develop pro-growth policies,” Rehberg said in the release. “I’m honored to be receiving this award once again.”

Where’s the water

A committee created by the 2007 Legislature to make sense of Montana’s complicated water laws has released its draft report.

It was the first interim committee since 1995 to look into Montana’s water laws.

The draft recommends the state change the process for issuing new water permits to make it faster and easier to understand. It also recommends the state protect senior water-right holders with timely prosecution of illegal water use, among other recommendations.

The eight lawmakers on the committee included Sens. Larry Jent, D-Bozeman and Gary Perry, R-Manhattan.

A complete version of the draft report can be found online at www.leg.mt.gov/water. Comment on the report will be accepted through July.

Have an endorsement, challenge or victory to report? Send them and any other political happening to dperson@dailychronicle.com.

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