Lowdown Exclusive: The #MTLeg Social Calendar is back!

Back for 2013 the Lowdown will regularly publish the Legislature’s calendar of special interests-sponsored social events, dinners and mixers.

In 2009 Democratic House Speaker Bob Bergren ordered the social calendar posted on the leg.mt.gov website, making the calendar available to the general public for the first time.

That practice ended after the 2011 session, so I began posting the calendar on the Lowdown.

This year I’ve created a public Google Calendar that will list the social events for the month. I’ll update it each Friday throughout the session. You can access it online at this link or by clicking the calendar image above.

March social calendar

Is here.

Latest social calendar

Is here.

It’s good to be back

After a week off for what we in the biz like to call a “furcation,” I’ve resumed my reportorial duties at the capitol. It’s going to take me a day or two to dig myself out of a week’s worth of e-mail, voice mail messages, etc. I’ll post more in-depth stories later this week when I get caught-up.

In the meantime, here’s your latest Montana Legislature Social Calendar.

As always, feel free to drop me a line if you’ve got a tip or a story idea.

Oh, yeah. One more thing…

Thanks, Pack, for a great and memorable season!!

Social calendar

Here’s the latest iteration of the 2011 Montana Legislature’s social calendar. See anything of interest? E-mail me.

Your latest MT Legislature Social Calendar

As promised, here’s the latest iteration of the 2011 Montana Legislature Social Calendar. For previous calendars click here, and here.

Latest MT Leg social calendar

You can download the latest updated 2011 Montana Legislature Social Calendar here.

The calendar is now in an easy-to-read .pdf file. This should be a piece of cake to post from now on. Whenever I get an updated version I’ll post it here, so be sure to check back regularly.

Legislature’s social calendar, and other stuff

Below you will find the Legislature social calendar through February. You’ll notice it gets thin the further out you go. Events will continue to be added throughout the session, so each week I’ll update it in a blog post. I just got fancy new scanner which now makes the task much easier.

On another note…

I know I’m not the most prolific or consistent blogger and tweeter. Writing the Lowdown is secondary to my day-to-day reporting duties for the Great Falls Tribune. Sometimes I’m swamped with committee hearings. Sometimes I’m chasing down leads. Sometimes I’m just flat-out too busy to blog.

That said, I always encourage readers to submit tips and ideas for blog posts. It was a reader’s tweet that prompted me to post the Legislature’s social calendar online.

E-mail tips, story ideas or comments to mtlowdown(at)gmail.com.

Without further ado, the social calendar for the remainder of the session (click on images to see larger version):

Montana Legislature Social Calendar: Week 2

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ll try to publish the Montana Legislature’s social calendar here on a regular basis throughout the session. I’ll check with the Secretary of the Senate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to see if there have been any changes. Click on the image below to bring up a larger readable version:

2011 MT Legislature Social Calendar

A number of folks around the capitol have complained that the Legislature is no longer posting its social calendar online.

Legislators are regularly invited to brunches, mixers and after-hours events sponsored by special interest groups, lobbyists, and other organizations who have business before the body.

In 2009, in an effort to increase transparency, Democratic leadership decided they would post the Legislature’s social calendar on the leg.mt.gov website. It was an unprecedented move aimed at giving the public a better idea of the events lawmakers are invited to and attending throughout the session.

This year the social calendar is only available in hard copy and you have to ask for it.

I’ve heard speculation in the hallways that Republican leadership’s decision not to post the social calendar online might have something to do with Gov. Brian Schweitzer infamous “boozer” comments.

Serial capitol tweeter @JameeGreer wondered about that on Friday:

“And there's no online social calendar in the 2011 #MTLeg like in 09. Guess the "boozers" comment got to leadership?”

I’m not sure if that’s the case or not. I haven’t had a chance to ask Republican leaders about change.

However, in the interest of giving Lowdown readers the…well, lowdown…I’ve decided to post the legislative social calendar on this blog. Since it’s constantly changing, I’ll aim to post it here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The calendar is in hard copy, and I don’t have a scanner, so the best I can do is to take a photo of it and post it. Also, I can’t guarantee the accuracy of the calendar.

Here’s the calendar for Jan. 9-22 as of Thursday, Jan. 6 (click on the photo for a larger version):