Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester

By Dustin Hurst ǀ Watchdog.org

HELENA — Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester has a press problem – or is it a problem with the press?

In his tough re-election fight with Republican U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, Tester is keeping his message tight – even if it means freezing media personalities.

George Ochenski, a top-flight progressive columnist for The Missoulian in western Montana, is the latest media man to experience Tester’s could shoulder.

Ochenski recently told talk radio host Aaron Flint that Tester’s campaign is giving him the cold shoulder after the columnist lobbed some less-than-favorable words the senator’s way.

“I was critical of some of his votes on the war funding,” Ochenski said June 13, “and basically that was it. I kind of got cut off from his entire operation.”

He said he still communicates with Tester’s people, though in a much, much less direct manner.

“I just write columns and I figure they read them,” Ochenski said.

Ochenski’s not the only media type sitting in Tester’s timeout corner. Flint himself, who hosts Montana’s only statewide radio talk show, said the first-term Democrat refuses to come on the show.

Tester spokesman Aaron Murphy gives Watchdog.org the cold shoulder on campaign issues.