John Sinrud

John Sinrud (born August 30, 1967, Edmonds, Washington, USA) is a Republican State Representative from Belgrade, Montana. Sinrud is the Chair of the House Committee on Appropriations. [ [http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=MMT35681 Project Vote Smart - Representative John M. Sinrud - Biography ] ]

History

Sinrud graduated with a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Montana State University in 1998. During his final year at the university, he was the president of the College Republicans.

Personal life

Sinrud is married and has two children. He attends a nondenominational Christian church.

Controversies

In December 2005 Sinrud's wife, Kim, was widely criticized for a letter to the editor that she penned in the "Bozeman Daily Chronicle". In the letter she complained that her husband was going to be away from her family as they prepared for Christmas--he would be serving their state 90 miles away in the State Legislature. She compared in just a little way of how the families must feel when their loved ones are serving Iraq and Afghanistan. [ [http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2005/12/16/opinions/sinrud-specsession.txt Bozeman Montana Local News ] ] Kim Sinrud later apologized in the "Chronicle" to those who misinterpreted her comments.

In 2006 Sinrud campaigned for U.S. Senator Conrad Burns, who is under investigation by the Department of Justice. [ [http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/10/19/news/state/40-taxes.txt BillingsGazette.com :: Burns: Tester raised business taxes ] ] Like Sinrud, Burns is not originally from the state of Montana. Sinrud supported Conrad Burns because Jon Tester and Governor Schweitzer increased the business tax in the State of Montana by $60 million per year and lied to the people of Montana.Fact|date=March 2008 Senator Burns still has not been charged with any crime by the Justice Department. Along with the investigation on Senator Burns, Montana's other Senator, Max Baucus, has admitted to campaign finance violations with Jack Abramoff. ["Bozeman Daily Chronicle", December 22, 2005.]

During a 2007 Audit Committee hearing (8-07), Representative Sinrud asked the DNRC, is it the state of Montana's responsibility to move fire fighters from the forest fire and make them protect structures in the WUI area or why not just let them burn?. In the hearing the costs were brought up since the Governor and the Democrats spent all the excess taxes in the previous session to the tune of $1.3 Billion, and wanted to know if the firefighters were protected and trained in structure fires!!Fact|date=March 2008 The question was asked in the context of firefighter safety and why the state should pay hundreds of millions of dollars to protect people's homes without ensuring the proper safety of those firefighters.

In what many Montanans would find an ironic argument, Rep. Sinrud wished that the budgeting process in Montana would be more broken up into 8 different bills similar to the federal government - one for each agency - which will allow legislators to vote not just one time but 8 different times for each agency budget. [ [http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/article/no_love_for_lawmakers_on_valentines_day/C8/L8/ No Love over Budget for Lawmakers on Valentine’s Day | Missoula | New West Network ] ] Sinrud responded by explaining that individual bills would allow more light to be shed on each spending area, giving more choice and control to the whole House.Fact|date=March 2008

In December 2007 Representative Sinrud was served a cease and desist order by the State of Montana Department of Labor and Industry for illegally practicing architecture (which was never proved) without a license. [ [http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/12/04/montana/a06120407_01.txt0978cpRTc helenair.com ] ] Sinrud responded by calling the issue a "political vendetta." [ [http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2007/12/05/news/30sinrud.txt Bozeman Montana Local News ] ] The bill in question is HB640 [ [http://laws.leg.mt.gov/pls/laws07/LAW0203W$BSRV.ActionQuery?P_BLTP_BILL_TYP_CD=HB&P_BILL_NO=640&P_BILL_DFT_NO=&P_CHPT_NO=&Z_ACTION=Find&P_SBJ_DESCR=&P_SBJT_SBJ_CD=&P_LST_NM1=&P_ENTY_ID_SEQ= Montana Legislature Detailed Bill Information] ] , which was sponsored by the Board of Architects; $4,000 was spent by A.I.A. to lobby the bill, [ [http://app.mt.gov/cgi-bin/camptrack/lobbysearch/lobbySearch.cgi Lobbyist & Principal Filing Service - Commissioner of Political Practices ] ] which died on the floor of the House.

References