Montanans learned this week that Jon Tester isn’t all he cracks himself up to be. Tester promised Montanans he’s “not in anybody’s pocket,” but news outlets have taken him to task after the AP exposed him for taking more money from lobbyists than just about anyone else in the Senate.

While Senator Tester said the claims were “bull,” it turns out the only one full of bull was Jon Tester, when he promised to give Montana “the greatest representation, not encumbered by high-dollar lobbyists.”

Here’s what they are saying….

Washington Examiner: Tester “likes to condemn money in politics almost as much as he likes to accept campaign cash from lobbyists”

“The Montana Democrat likes to condemn money in politics almost as much as he likes to accept campaign cash from lobbyists. Tester rails against Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision which allows corporations to make political contributions, then Tester cashes checks from corporate lobbyists… Tester wants his constituents to think of him as that one farmer they sent away to Washington. The aw-shucks senator talks about how corporate money drowns out the voices of “a rancher from Sidney, a nurse in Kalispell or a schoolteacher in Anaconda. But the truth is that the senator from Big Sky Country knows how to work a big room and how to work over a corporate lobbyist like the best of them.”

Townhall: Numbers will be “hard for [Tester] to explain”

“Tester originally claimed it was “bull.” But it will be hard for him to explain the numbers. He received almost $400,000 from lobbyists during the last election cycle, followed closely by another Democrat, Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH)…. But, it seems to be a pattern. Tester took the top prize again for lobbyist cash in 2012, when he received over $500,000.

Associated Press:  “Tester became enmeshed in the same corrupt Washington establishment that he promised as a candidate to fight”

“Republicans contend that over his two terms, Tester became enmeshed in the same corrupt Washington establishment that he promised as a candidate to fight… The Republican group got it right — Tester was the top recipient in Congress of money from lobbyists for a time, according to campaign contribution data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.”

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