(The following article by Jennifer McKee was posted on the Billings Gazette website on December 19.)
HELENA, Mont. — Gov. Judy Martz and former Gov. Marc Racicot have ties to the railroad company that Martz has said charges Montana farmers the highest shipping rates in the nation and that recently announced a rate increase expected to cost Montanans $5 million or more.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, which will increase grain shipping rates on Dec. 31, gave $50,000 to a political committee called People for Montana in 2000 that ran ads against Martz’s rival for governor in 2000, Democrat Mark O’Keefe.
Racicot, under whom Martz served as lieutenant governor, is now on the BNSF board of directors.
He was paid $57,000 in 2003, BNSF records show. In addition, he received 4,400 shares of BNSF stock as stock options.
Racicot did not respond to several phone calls seeking comment for this story.
Racicot is not involved in day-to-day decisions at the company, said Gus Melonas, a BNSF spokesman. Racicot was not involved in the decision to raise shipping rates for Montana farmers.
The raise in shipping rates has attracted the ire of many Montana officials, including Martz and Agriculture Director Ralph Peck.
On Wednesday, Martz sent a letter to the chairman of BNSF, Matthew Rose, calling the rates “ill-timed” and asking him to reconsider them.
Martz also called BNSF’s services in Montana “poor.”
Peck in a press release said BNSF “is boosting their bottom line on the backs of captive shippers – specifically grain farmers in the state of Montana.”
Up to three-quarters of Montana’s grain is shipped to markets in the Pacific Northwest on BNSF trains, said Jim Christianson, executive vice-president of the Montana Wheat and Barley Council.
The rate increase BNSF announced this month will charge an extra 6-cents-per-bushel, which would cost Montana farmers between $5 million and $8 million.
Martz has not contacted her old boss to see if he could do something to cancel the rate increase for Montana or to reduce the overall price of shipping grain, said Chuck Butler, a spokesman for the governor.
“Her communications on BNSF issues are in the proper chain of command and are to (BNSF Chairman Matthew) Rose,” Butler said.
Asked if BNSF’s political contributions put the governor in an awkward spot regarding the rate increase, Butler said, “This has nothing to do with politics. This has everything to do with representing the people of Montana.”