In all my 26 years as a legislator, I have never seen a legislative rules proposal as potentially devastating to Montana citizen-ratepayers as Republican state Senator Steve Fitzpatrick’s recent joint rule proposal. This rule would hamstring the Constitutional Office of the Consumer Counsel, which has worked for nearly 50 years to protect Montana consumers, especially in energy rate cases. If adopted as a joint rule, the Counsel would be forbidden from testimony for or against a bill unless allowed by an affirmative vote of 3 out of 4 of the legislative Consumer Committee’s 4 members, a...