Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg’s lawsuit against the Billings Fire Department over the loss of trees and ground cover on his property during an 1,100-acre fire in 2008 is stalled, for now anyway. While Rehberg has filed the lawsuit, he has not yet taken the next step of serving it. Michele Braukmann, the attorney representing the city, said “I understand they don’t plan to actually serve the city (with the lawsuit) until after the election”.
So after next week’s election, we may hear more from U. S. Congressman Rehberg. Meanwhile, his spokesman refused to comment on the lawsuit when asked by the Billings Gazette. His attorney said the election has nothing to do with the inactivity of the case.
Is it possible that Congressman Rehberg thinks that publicity about his lawsuit against the Billings Fire Department over the loss of some vegetation would influence some voters? Might they think that he was just looking at the city as having deep pockets and is hoping to supplement his congressman’s salary of $174,000 a year?
Our previous articles on Congressman Denny Rehberg’s lawsuit:
- 7/15/2010 Billings Fire Chief disputes Rep. Rehberg’s allegations
- 7/13/2010 Representative Rehberg talks about his fire department lawsuit at firefighters’ meeting
- 7/7/2010 Followup on Montana Representative’s lawsuit against Billings Fire Department
- 7/5/2010 Montana lawmaker sues fire department for loss of trees during fire
UPDATE @ 6:30 p.m., Oct. 28
Based on his personal financial disclosure statement for calendar year 2009 filed with the U.S. House in June, U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg has a net worth of between $12.2 million and $57.6 million.
