For too long, Butte has been ripe for the picking when it comes to guys like Lyle Lanley.
Lanley, remember, is the monorail salesman on my favorite episode of “The Simpsons.” He rolled into town, and his folksy talk and catchy song convinced the people of Springfield to spend a bundle on the unneeded monorail as the streets of Springfield were crumbling.
So, that should sound familiar on a couple of fronts.
While baiting the people of Springfield, Lanley suggested that his monorail is more of a “Shelbyville idea.”
That would be like telling Butte, “This isn’t for you. It’s more of a Bozeman idea.”
Offended by the mention of the rival city, Mayor Quimby quickly answered.
“Now wait just a minute,” the mayor with the Kennedy accent said. “We’re twice as smart as the people of Shelbyville. Just tell us your idea, and we’ll vote for it.”
More often than we’d care to admit, our leaders have made us look like we are not twice as smart as the people of Shelbyville.
We were, after all, the community that nearly fell for Destination Montana, that proposal to turn Butte into the next Branson, Missouri — complete with wide-open gambling, six PGA golf course, a few major theaters, an amusement park and a business plan of “we’ll tell you later.”
The latest pie-in-the-sky idea was pitched to us three weeks ago by a recent Anaconda resident who somehow beat billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to the technology for a small nuclear reactor that was going to save our town.
Our chief executive jumped on board with the plan 100 percent. Oh, he denies that now, but the tape doesn’t lie.
“I have a father-in-law. He was a nuclear engineer, worked in an Idaho facility,” the chief executive said as Christian Barlow stood at the podium, still addressing the Council of Commissioners. “He was on nuclear subs. We talked about the eVinci reactors and stuff. And so, I’ve been learning a lot about it. This is real.”
While the chief executive and some of our commissioners were fawning over Mr. Barlow and his nuclear reactor, I was sitting in the audience doing some research on my iPhone.
I left the courthouse that night fairly certain that Mr. Barlow was just another Lyle Lanley.
Luckily, Tom Lutey, a reporter for The Billings Gazette, did a little research, too. He wrote a story showing that Mr. Barlow didn’t have a whole lot of truth in his presentation.
Lutey did that by doing a Google search and making a few simple phone calls.
Basically, Lutey’s work of journalism made it clear that we will see those golf courses, theaters, amusement park and a monorail long before we will see Mr. Barlow’s nuclear reactor.
At the next Wednesday’s meeting of the Council of Commissioners, the chief executive distanced himself from Mr. Barlow like a wet Clark W. Griswold trying to convince his angry wife that Christie Brinkley is ugly.
“Those were his words,” the chief executive said, admitting that the guy he brought before the Council of Commissioners was full of baloney.
Here’s the problem with revisionist history. It is really hard to pull off when you are on video. It is also hard to pull off when you are talking about a week ago.
Check Butte-Silver Bow’s YouTube channel, and you will see that the chief executive went on after declaring “this is real.”
“This is something that I can stand behind and I can support,” the chief executive said. “I didn’t sit back and wait to see if this is real or not. We went out and were looking to see, is this feasible for Butte-Silver Bow? We support moving forward.”
It is sad when a Lyle Lanley tries to prey on our city, or any city. It is even worse when our local government jumps in bed with the Lanley without even pulling out a smartphone to do a little research.
Not only does it make our city look like the laughing stock of the state, it hurts people when we give legitimacy to men who can be exposed by a simple Google search.
Case in point, the Mining City Tommyknockers. You remember that summer league baseball team that played at 3 Legends Stadium in 2021, don’t you?
The Tommyknockers were owned by Steve Wagner, who let his son Dane run the team as general manager.
Dane Wagner’s first order of business was not to put a quality product on the field. Rather, he wanted to install a hot tub on a platform just outside the left-field fence.
That, however, shouldn’t have been the first red flag that we might be dealing with a couple of Lyle Lanleys.
A simple Google search of Steve Wagner would have shown that he left a trail of cities in the United States and Canada feeling cheated and looking to recoup money from him.
A simple Google search of Dane Wagner would have shown that he wasn’t even 35 years old yet, but he claimed to have written 105 “worldwide bestselling” religious books. None of those books, by the way, were available to purchase because they never existed.
Anyone doing even minimal research wouldn’t have purchased a car from Steve and Dane Wagner. But our chief executive — first as parks director and then in his current job — gave the Wagners the key to the city.
That led to the summer from hell for the Butte Miners and Butte Muckers, Butte’s American Legion Baseball teams which were forced off their home field for much of the season. It also led to the summer from hell for the Tommyknockers’ unpaid players and interns.
We all heard the story of Steve Wagner stealing the tips from the interns on the night of the home opener. That was only insult to injury.
Many of the players and interns didn’t have a place to live — as they were promised — when they rode into town. They came from all over the country, and many had to live in their cars for extended periods of time.
Many more ended up sleeping on the floor of the Hennessey Mansion for most of the summer.
The players also didn’t get enough to eat. Almost nightly, you would see fans buying burgers or hotdogs for the hungry players during the game.
The players and interns quickly saw what the Wagners were all about. It took them less than a day to see that, but they stayed because they wanted to chase their dream of playing in the Big Leagues. A summer playing in a league that was billed as being on par with the Cape Cod League could help them achieve that dream.
Eventually, the players revolted, and the Wagners pulled the plug on the season.
Like with Destination Montana and Christian Barlow’s nuclear reactor, it was a black eye for the Mining City. Even worse, people were legitimately hurt.
The chief executive responded by passing the buck to the Wagners — just like he passed the buck to Mr. Barlow. Just like buying that nuclear reactor pitch, buying the Wagners’ line of bull wasn’t his fault, he said.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, hey it’s that guy’s fault.
Of course, we can see through that. We don’t buy revisionist history, especially when it was just a little while ago.
It is great to have an open mind. But we need to follow that up with some healthy skepticism and some critical thinking.
We need to stop falling for the Lyle Lanleys of the world. We have to stop falling for pie-in-the-sky schemes that the rest of the state can see right through.
It is time to stop passing the buck and elect a leader who will finally prove that we really are twice as smart as the people of Shelbyville.
— Chief executive candidate Bill Foley, whose father-in-law is a retired union electrician, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
The ButteCast with Bill Foley 