Year after year (in congress after congress) montanans have been blessed to be served by a very effective lawmaker, Senator Jon Tester. Jon has learned how to reach across the aisle to craft bipartisan solutions to the grave and complex problems facing America nationally and Montana in particular.
And don’t just take our word for it. The nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking has crunched the numbers and proven that Jon gets things done (gets bipartisan laws passed) way better than the rest of the members of our congressional delegation (and way better than American lawmakers overall).
How Good Are Our US Senators and Representatives at Advancing Their Bills through the Legislative Process?
Effective representatives and senators are good at moving the bills they sponsor (research, negotiate, write, and introduce) through the legislative process to become laws. An analysis of the effectiveness of our current and recent US representatives and US senators is prepared every two years by the non-partisian Center for Effective Lawmaking. A summary of the methodology used by the Center is as follows:
“To calculate the Legislative Effectiveness Score for each member of the U.S. House and Senate, we draw on fifteen indicators that collectively capture the proven ability of a legislator to advance her agenda items through the legislative process and into law. More specifically, to calculate Legislative Effectiveness Scores for the House, we identify the number of bills that each member of the House of Representatives sponsored (BILL); and the number of those bills that received any action in committee (AIC), or action beyond committee (ABC) on the floor of the House. For those bills that received any action beyond committee, we also identify how many of those bills subsequently passed the House (PASS), and how many became law (LAW).”
Below is a table that presents the Center’s findings about Montana’s members serving in both the Senate and House of Representatives for the 114th through 117th congresses. (A lawmaking effectiveness rank of 1 means that all other members of the member’s party are less effective than the member ranked # 1.) For the mid-year results for bills (HR. and S.) for the current (118th) congress, we pulled “to-date” data manually from the government’s Library of Congress website, Congress.gov.
Congress
Number
Sen Tester (D)
Sen Daines (R)
Rep Rosendale (R)
Rep Gianforte (R)
Rep ZInke (R)
118th 2023-2024
No. of bills sponsored so far
54
38
40
7
No. that became law so far
3
0
0
0
117th 2021-2022
Rank within party
2
25
22
No. of bills sponsored
63
50
26
No. that became law
13
0
2
116th 2019-2020
Rank within party
4
19
25
No. of bills sponsored
78
45
17
No. that became law
2
1
0
115th. 2017-2018
Rank within party
3
15
82
No.of bills sponsored
63
53
17
No. that became law
2
2
0
Who Is Our Only True “Lawmaking Workhorse” in Congress?
The Center also recently identified our Jon Tester as the senator with the longest streak (six congresses) of exceeding expectations in effective lawmaking.
To be fair you will note that the Center’s definition of lawmaking effectiveness only covers being good at conceiving, researching, negotiating, and writing bills and making sure that those bills successfully become laws. It does not cover being good at preventing Congress from getting things done. For example, our Senator Steve Daines was almost successful at orchestrating a filibuster of Jon’s Honoring Our PACT Act, thereby preventing a vote on the final House version in the Senate. When Montana and other veterans rose up in anger in large numbers, the bill eventually became law. The law provides healthcare for all generations of toxic-exposed veterans (and monthly compensation for veterans whose injuries prevent them from making a living). The other members of our congressional delegation at the time (Sen. Daines and Rep. Rosendale) cynically bragged that they voted for the PACT Act, but they fought its passage tooth and nail until it was clear the bill would pass.
So, in many ways, the 2024 general election will tell us whether Abraham Lincoln was correct when he said “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
The 2023 annual report for Bridger Aerospace has been released. In the report, the Company reported that it had a net annual loss of $77 million during 2023 and a long term debt of $205 million at the end of 2023. So, during the three years of its operation, the Company has lost 6 + 42 + 77 = $125 million, which to most Montanans (but maybe not to Montana’s oligarchs) would be considered “real money.”
To me, it is ironic that some of Tim Sheehy’s recent political ads bemoan our Federal government’s “reckless spending” when his Company consistently spends a lot more money than it takes in. Does that mean that he will fit right in as a senator?
Doubt about Company’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern
In an excellent example of “burying the lede,” on page 69 of that report, the independent CPA who audited the Company’s financial statements for 2022 and 2023 noted the following (my emphasis):
“As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company has suffered recurring losses from operations, operating cash flow deficits, debt covenant violations, and insufficient liquidity to fund its operations that raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans in regard to these matters are also described in Note 1.”
In Note 1 on page 75, the Company (under Tim’s signature) described the situation in the following terms (my emphasis):
“The Company is not in compliance with the DSCR [debt service coverage ratio on the $160 million in municipal bonds it obtained with the help of Gallatin County] covenant as of December 31, 2023 and management anticipates the Company to continue to not be in compliance with the DSCR covenant at future quarterly measurement periods in the next 12 months. . . . management anticipates that without additional cash funding the Company will not have sufficient cash on hand to fund operations. . . or to comply with the minimum liquidity covenant within the next 12 months, or until the Company begins to collect cash from its seasonal firefighting operations in 2024.”
The Company also mentioned that undisclosed “cost reduction measures” have been implemented and that further dilution of the value of its stock are under consideration (my emphasis):
“In addition to the cost reduction measures implemented in November 2023, the Company plans to seek additional cash funding through a number of potential avenues, including additional sales of our common stock through our at-the-market offering. . . and issuing additional shares of common stock pursuant to our shelf registration statement. These additional sources of working capital are not currently assured, and consequently do not sufficiently mitigate the risks and uncertainties disclosed above.“
Agreeing with the independent CPA, the Company admitted (my emphasis):
“Current and anticipated noncompliance with financial covenants and uncertainty regarding the Company’s ability to diligently prosecute the cost reduction plan and to raise additional cash funding for operations, including required interest payments associated with the Series 2022 Bonds, raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern within 12 months following the issuance date of the consolidated financial statements as of and for the period ended December 31, 2023.”
Inexperienced and Overpaid CEO
Reviewing the Company’s statement of operations, it is interesting to note that “selling, general, and administrative expense” more than doubled between 2022 and 2023, rising from $35 million to $83 million. One can only wonder if the unstated “cost reduction measures” will include reducing directors’ and executives’ compensation. For example Tim’s 2023 compensation has been criticized for being “above average for companies of similar size in the US market” with Tim being characterized as “inexperienced” as a CEO.
Number of Employees Decreases
It is unfortunate that the number of Bridger employees has decreased from 166 at the end of 2022 to 148 at the end of 2023. Whether that decrease is part of the Company’s “cost reduction measures” is also unstated. Montana needs all the wildfire-suppression capabilities and good-paying jobs it can get.
It was surprising and disappointing that the Company did not address the usual (and critical) topics of “corporate governance” and “executive compensation” in its 2023 annual report. On page 113 of the report, the Company stated that that information “will be filed with the SEC within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year. . . . in connection with the solicitation of proxies for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. . . . .” So, we may have to wait until the final days of April to see if the compensation that has been raining down on the Company’s executives (like Tim) while the Company’s cash reserves burn away will be curtailed by the Board of Directors (that the executives essentially control).
Dilution of Shareholders’ Ownership Percentage
The annual report noted that the number of issued and outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock increased by 14.6 percent, from 39,081,744 at the end of 2022 to 44,776,926 at the end of 2023. Thus, the existing public common shareholders’ ownership percentage of the Company decreased as a result of the Company’s issuing new equity during 2023, which is called dilution.
Revenue Received from Few Customers
The Company is still reliant on receiving most of its revenue from a few customers. In 2023, the Company reported that “Sales to our three largest customers in the aggregate represented 88%, sales to our largest customer represented 65% of our total revenues . . . and two customers accounted for 73% of accounts receivable. ”
Tim Would Face Significant Conflicts of Interest If Elected
The Company noted that as of the end of 2023 “the executive officers of Bridger and Mr. Matthew Sheehy (a co-founder and director of Bridger and the brother of Mr. Timothy Sheehy, the Bridger CEO), collectively beneficially [directly or indirectly] owned 53.3% of the outstanding Common Stock. . . . As a result, Bridger has a small number of significant stockholders who could significantly influence its business and operations. In addition, the BTO [Blackstone Technical Opportunities] Stockholders collectively beneficially owned 19.7% . . . of the outstanding Common Stock. . . .”
Thus, if Tim were to become one of Montana’s US senators, he would face significant conflicts of interest as a major stockholder in a Company that is reliant both on receiving most of its revenue from the Federal government and cooperation from Blackstone Inc., a firm that has $1 trillion of assets under management.
Warning: Take the above numbers “with a grain of salt” because the Company also reported on pages 35 and 36 that “A material weakness is a deficiency or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. . . . We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, which we are in the process of, and are focused on, remediating. . . . Although we plan to complete this remediation process as quickly as possible, we are unable, at this time, to estimate how long it will take, and our efforts may not be successful in remediating the identified material weaknesses.”
2024 Is an All-Hands-on-Deck Situation for the Company
Even if the numbers in the Company’s annual report are approximate, it is clear that the year 2024 is going to be an all-hands-on-deck situation for the survival of the Company. For Tim Sheehy, CEO of Bridger Aerospace, to be distracted at this critical time by his US Senate campaign is unfortunate. Both Bridger’s management and its outside, independent CPA auditor agree that the Company must be turned around, and soon. Relying on the wildfire situation to be worse this year than last is not a plan. Tim’s “vision to build a global enterprise to fight wildfires” is at risk. Why Tim wants to leave the battlefield so early in the battle is inexplicable and some would say inexcusable. He owes his employees, and himself, more.
I’m having a hard time believing that US Senate candidate Tim Sheehy is a “highly successful businessman,” as he’s characterized in the press. Any historical common stock price chart will show that on the day Tim’s business, Bridger Aerospace (Bridger), shares were first offered to the public (January 25, 2023), the worth of the business (share price times number of shares) in the stock market was $890 million, and today, the company is worth $221 million. If that sounds like success to you, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
Burning through Cash
One problem is that the business Tim manages keeps losing money, burning (pun intended) through its cash. Even before Bridger went public, it was losing lots of money annually. In 2021, the business lost $6 million. In 2022, it lost another $42 million. In 2023 (a year that Tim pointed out had “the shortest North American wildfire season in the past 20 years,”), the business appears to have lost even more than the $46 million it lost in the first nine months of 2023 (because annual revenue did not increase much since then, but expenses, like salaries and interest, continued to be paid). Bridger’s public stockholders (probably not a happy bunch) will find out the true extent of the 2023 loss in March.
No wonder that, at the end of 2023, Bridger’s cash reserve of about $38 million was apparently not enough to address the business’s near-term cash demands. So, on February 6, 2024, Tim’s business informed the SEC in a prospectus that it planned to issue and offer to sell $22 million of the $200 million of new common shares it had earlier warned shareholders that it might sell. These new shares will dilute (reduce) the value of each of Bridger’s common stock shares. How much you ask?
Dilution of Stock Value
According to the prospectus, even before the new shares are sold, if the business failed and all its tangible assets (like aircraft and hangars) were sold at their book (depreciated) value, the sales proceeds would not be enough to pay off its business liabilities (like its debt) and redeem its Series A preferred stock shares, much less produce enough money to pay anything to its existing common stock holders. In the example in the prospectus, if the new shares were sold at a recent price of $5.40 per share, investment in each new share would cause “an immediate dilution net deficit of $11.37 per share to new investors.” Thus, new stock holders would have paid $11.37 more per share than each of their shares would be worth on liquidation at book value of the business’s tangible assets.
Yet Another Prospectus
In another prospectus that Bridger recently filed with the SEC, Tim’s business warned potential investors of the proposed resale by “selling stockholders” of “up to an aggregate of 8,825,729 shares of [Bridger] common stock” associated with Bridger’s acquisition of the wildfire situation awareness software company Ignis Technologies, Inc. Bridger will not receive any of the proceeds of the resale of its stock. As of January 25, 2024, there were outstanding 48,634,591 shares of Bridger’s common stock, of which 18% are owned by the selling stockholders. Hopefully, they will not all rush for the exit at once.
Mother Nature Always—Always—Bats Last
It’s amazing that while Tim’s business thoroughly discloses to potential new investors that climate change is going to generate new revenue, Bridger’s managers (including Tim) are not capable of preparing for the wild swings in weather that are a defining aspect of that same future. Has Tim forgotten the military adage “no plan survives contact with the enemy,” in this case, climate change? I like the way our current senior US Senator, Jon Tester, described the reality of climate change: “I am a farmer, and that means I’m beholden to science. I also know that Mother Nature always—always—bats last.”
Designed by Ultra-rich Republicans to Enrich Sheehy
At this point, it appears that the difficult-to-understand financial structure of Tim’s business was designed by ultra-rich MAGA Republicans to transfer money from the pockets of US taxpayers (via the Department of the Interior) into the pockets of Bridger’s inexperienced and overpaid directors and managers (like Tim) during the good years when the planet is burning and our Big Skies are choked with smoke. In the bad years when our skies are clear, money is transferred from the pockets of unsophisticated Wall Street stock buyers (who do not appear to understand the complex structure laid out in SEC filings) into those same directors’ and managers’ pockets. It should be no surprise that over half of the wealthy members of Bridger’s board and management team come from the oil and gas and the real estate development industries that are driving climate change and benefit from the Trump tax cut.
Sheehy Surrenders
While I’m sure aerial firefighting can be exciting, a lot of work lies ahead for Tim in making the business profitable, to continue to attract new investors and grow Bridger’s stock price. Is Tim giving up on his duty to Bridger’s shareholders (and employees) as the business feverously burns cash? If Tim becomes Montana’s junior senator, would he similarly surrender when the going got tough?
Preparation for the jury trial of the purchaser of Ascent Vision Technologies LLC is proceeding on schedule. As we warned in an earlier post, the trial of the military contractor, CACI, (whose local office is located in Belgrade) is scheduled to begin on April 15, 2024, in the middle of Sheehy’s campaign to take the job of Montana’s senior Senator Jon Tester. CACI supplied civilian interrogators at the now infamous Abu Ghraib prison during the invasion and occupation of Iraq by the US.
Relying on the same strategy the Trump uses, CACI lawyers have been trying to avoid or delay, delay, delay a jury trial since the original case was filed in 2008. For your scrolling pleasure, here is a listing (available on Pacer.uscourts.gov for Case #: 1:08-cv-00827-LMB-JFA) of those efforts since the District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema ordered (on October 2, 2023) that a trial occur.
Plaintiff’s lead attorneys:
Baher Azmy
Center for Constitutional Rights
666 Broadway
7th Floor
New York, NY 10012
212-614-6464
212-614-6499 (fax)
bazmy@ccrjustice.org
Mohammed M. Alomari
Azimuth Legal Services PLLC
24300 Southfield Road
Suite 210
Southfield, MI 48075
248-281-6299
248-864-8554 (fax)
malomari@azimuthlegal.com
Please forward this message to other Montana voters who don’t want a US Senator, Congressman, and President to be elected who are determined to take away our hard-earned Constitutional freedoms and sell off our public lands.
Selfish Sheehy Faces Campaign Karma
If you though it was bad enough for Tim Sheehy to earn millions running a Montana company that charges US taxpayers to put out wildfires caused by the climate change that the $4 billion oil and gas pipeline company run by his older brother, Matt, helps to create, think again.
Tim and Matt also made tens of millions abandoning the employees of another of their Montana companies. That happened when they sold their company to the US government/military contractor CACI (informally pronounced khaki) that supplied civilian interrogators who abused (arguably tortured) Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib prison during George Bush’s deceptively-promoted, under-resourced, and ill-fated US invasion of Iraq.
On April 15, 2024, a jury trial will begin in the federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to decide CACI’s corporate accountability and financial liability associated with the Abu Ghraib scandal. Now a huge corporation, CACI has been fighting in court for over 15 years arguing mainly not about whether the abuse or torture happened (some of them are on tape), but rather whether and how much three of the innocent Iraqi detainees should be awarded as damages for CACI’s illegal conduct, conduct that has triggered over 20 years of PTSD in the detainees.
After the sale, Tim went on a buying spree, purchasing luxury Montana resort properties and a 20,000 acre Montana ranch (the cowboy hat and the horse were extra). Now the CACI employees Tim abandoned are left to face the stigma of working for a company whose name will once again be dragged through the mud, as it was at the time of the publication of the terrible photographs of the Abu Ghraib scandal we all saw in the media. The Montana election will be held on June 4, 2024 and the general election will be held on November 5, 2024. So, during his campaign, Tim will now be distracted not only by the lawsuit filed against him for crashing an airplane into a US home as a student pilot, but by a trial smearing the innocent CACI’s employees he has left behind as he got rich. The karma chickens have come home to roost, right in the middle of Tim’s campaign.
Both of the companies that Tim and Matt founded were designed to enrich Tim. Matt and Blackstone, Inc., an early MAGA-connected investor in (at least) the wildfire fighting company, set up the companies to “groom” Tim to look like a successful businessman. No political contributions were necessary to enable Tim to “self-finance” his campaign to become Montana’s next junior US Senator. Montana’s current junior US Senator, Steve Daines, and Trump (who are tied in the smarts department) either to have had the wool pulled over their eyes or to have looked the other way in anointing Tim as the MAGA candidate in the race.
Montana voters want authenticity and competence in their elected leaders. Jon Tester fits that bill. Tim does not.
Please use this information in your ads and letters to the editor. I disclaim any copyright, so you have my permission.
As a veteran, I respect Tim Sheehy’s service to our Constitution and his willingness to pilot wildfire fighting aircraft, but I believe his serving as one of Montana’s US senators would be inappropriate for the reasons given below.
Betting on Climate-Change-Driven Increases in the Wildfire Suppression Market
Republican and Trump supporter Tim Sheehy wants to take the job of Montana’s very effective Democratic senior US Senator, Jon Tester. Tim is a major shareholder in his aerial wildfire fighting business, which is now a publicly-traded corporation. This article looks at whether Tim’s business dealings would be appropriate for a US Senator.
After Tim earned a BS degree in history at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, his career as a Navy SEAL was cut short (medically terminated) by an training-related injury in Hawaii. When Tim moved to Montana in 2014, he, with his older brother, Matt, founded two businesses, one of which was Bridger Aerospace LLC. Privately-owned Bridger Aerospace LLC rented crewed airplanes to the Federal government for use in fighting the wildfires that are becoming more frequent and devastating due to climate change.
Because veterans owned at least 51% of the LLC and Tim was in control of the day-to-day operations of the business and served as the highest-ranking officer of the business (CEO), the firm qualified as a veteran-owned business, giving it a competitive advantage in bidding for Federal contracts. Businesses owned by service-disabled veterans are granted additional advantages over their competitors. Those advantages do not explain how the LLC was reportedly able to “undercut [its competitors’ bids] by 30 to 40 percent and buy aircraft to flood the market with very little profit motive.” Nor does it explain that why “there are three other small Air Attack [fire surveillance] companies in [USFS] Region 1 who have thrown in the towel since Bridger showed up on the scene.”
Company Reported Significant Losses in 2021 and 2022
Company Merged with an Invested-owned Blank Check Company in 2023
In January 2023, the LLC merged (combined with) a SPAC called Jack Creek Investment Corp. to form a publicly-traded business called Bridger Aerospace Group Holdings, Inc. (Bridger) (Jack Creek Road is the “back door” access to Big Sky and Moonlight Basin luxury resorts from the Madison Valley.) SPACs are known as “blank check” companies because they raise money from investors to buy a private company before identifying who they intend to target. Once the SPAC decides on and discloses its target, it works to merge with that company and bring it to the public stock market, avoiding a more traditional initial public offering, or IPO. The merger with Jack Creek infused a reported up to $345 million into Bridger. The initial price of a Bridger share collapsed from $22.08 per share to a low of $3.67 per share in early February 2023.
In May 2023, five officials and directors of the business purchased a combined total of $3.7 million of Bridger stock, with Tim purchasing $1.4 million of the total. Matt, a successful businessman and CEO of an oil and gas pipeline company (Tallgrass Energy), at one point owned 21.4 percent of Bridger stock, worth about $55.8 million. Bridger later reported that Blackstone Inc. (discussed below) was an early investor in the LLC.
Tim and Matt Sell Ascent Vision to Military Contracting Firm Being Sued for Torture
We can only wonder if any of the cash for some of these stock purchases (or other of Tim’ assets) was derived from the sale of the other business that Matt and Tim founded (Ascent Vision Technologies LLC) for a reported $350 million to a military contracting firm called CACI International in year 2020. CACI became infamous for supplying “a total of three dozen [civilian] interrogators” (page 155) of which no “more than ten interrogators [were] assigned and working at Abu Ghraib prison” in Iraq during the Iraqi detainee abuse scandal in 2003. Twenty years after information on “three CACI employees was forwarded to the army general counsel for determination of whether they should be referred to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution,” (page 415) CACI is still in court defending lawsuits brought by allegedly abused Iraqi detainees. (12) [In his 780 page book entitled Our Good Name, CACI’s retired-Navy CEO Jack London asserted that “none of CACI’s people were in the abuse pictures” taken at Abu Ghraib in 2003 and aired in April 2004. (page 178) Neither were CACI employees shown in the photographs of an Iraqi detainee taken at Abu Ghraib after his capture and initial interrogation by the Navy SEALs, further interrogation by the CIA, and death in 2003 that was labeled a homicide.] Ironically, the subtitle of chapter 24 of the 780 page book Our Good Name is “Methinks thou does protest too much.” (page 291)
Company Purchased Additional Super Scoopers at $32 Million Each
In the first half of 2023, Bridger made significant capital investments in airplane hangars, additional Canadian-built fire-suppression aircraft called Super Scoopers (at $32 million each) and in the acquisition of a second smaller company that rents crewed smaller aircraft to federal, state, and provincial governments. Bridger reported a net loss of $63.7 million in the first half of 2023 compared to a net loss of $19.4 million in the first half of 2022. The 2023 net loss was attributed to the fact that “considerable winter snowpack and wet spring conditions pushed out the start of the US wildfire season by approximately six weeks.” Tim appeared to be hopeful that the delay in the start of the wildfire season would “push the core wildfire season into the fourth quarter,” allowing the business to meet its financial goals. Would that sentiment sound appropriate coming out of the mouth of a US Senator?
Company Burns Through Its Cash in 2023
Bridger’s net losses totaled over $100 million through the first six months of 2023. During the first half of 2023, Bridger had a net cash “burn rate” of over $5 million per month. At the end of the first half of 2023, Bridger had a total cash balance of about $25 million and its outstanding invoices totaled about $12 million. So, at that point, Bridger’s cash reserves would be exhausted in five months (or seven months if its invoices were paid in time) unless Bridger borrowed more cash (adding to its over $200 million of debt, which includes $160 million in taxable municipal bonds) or sold more stock (thus diluting the value of its existing stock). At that point in time, Tim was in a challenging spot as Bridger’s CEO.
Right on schedule (on October 17, 2023), Bridger announced that it was planning to sell of $70 million more of its common stock to the public. Bridger stated that it intended “to use the net proceeds of the offering to finance the cash purchase price for four additional Super Scooper aircraft from the Spanish government and for the previously announced acquisition of Bighorn Airways, Inc., and the remainder for general corporate purposes, including funding the upgrade costs for the acquired Super Scoopers and other working capital needs.” Then, a week later, oops, Bridger terminated the planned offering “due to market volatility and conditions” (that included Bridger’s stock price dropping to $4 after news of the stock offering was released).
Company Has Few Controlling Shareholders Including Blackstone Inc.
The prospectus for the terminated offering revealed that “as of September 30, 2023, the executive officers of Bridger and Mr. Matthew Sheehy (a co-founder and director of Bridger and the oil and gas industry brother of Mr. Timothy Sheehy, the Bridger CEO), collectively beneficially own 41.3% of the outstanding Common Stock, assuming no shares of Series A Preferred Stock have been converted.” and “In addition, the BTO Stockholders collectively beneficially own 21.5% (assuming no shares of Series A Preferred Stock have been converted) of the outstanding Common Stock as of September 30, 2023.” and “BTO Stockholders” means “certain direct and indirect equity holders of Bridger Aerospace Group Holdings, LLC that are affiliates of Blackstone Inc.” and “As of September 30, 2023 there were 60 holders of record of our Common Stock and 4 holders of record of our Warrants.”
Company Continues to Burn Through Its Cash in 2023
Bridger’s net losses totaled over $94.8 million from the beginning of 2021 through the first nine months of 2023. During the first nine months of 2023, Bridger had a net cash “burn rate” of over $4 million per month. At the end of the first nine months of 2023, Bridger had a total cash balance of about $34 million and its outstanding invoices totaled about $25 million. So, at that point, Bridger’s cash reserves would be exhausted in six months (or 11 months if its invoices were paid in time) unless Bridger borrowed more cash (adding to its over $200 million of debt, which includes $160 million in taxable municipal bonds) or sold more stock (thus diluting the value of its existing stock). In its third quarterly report for 2023, Bridger reported that it was backing away from acquiring the second smaller crewed airplane company mentioned above. This decision reduced Bridgers’ near-term cash needs and providing cash to cover “off-season” cash losses in 2024.
For the first nine months of 2023, Bridger’s fire suppression revenue (mainly from renting crewed Super Scoopers) comprised 86 percent of Bridger’s total revenue, with 13 percent of Bridger’s total revenue comprising aerial surveillance revenue. Because Bridger’s smaller competitors provide only aerial surveillance and Bridger’s insider and Wall Street investors are allowing Bridger management to incur large net losses, it is easy to understand why Bridger can underbid those smaller competitors.
Piloting Super Scoopers Is Dangerous Work
Americans have great respect for our first responders, especially firefighters, and rightly so. Piloting a Super Scooper airplane, like Tim and Bridger’s employees do, is dangerous work, with 14 of the aircraft having crashed to date, leaving a world-wide fleet of about 160. That is one reason why Bridger appears to be one of only four “for-profit” businesses in the world in the crewed super scooper rental business, with essentially all of the other super scoopers being owned by governments. And the stockholders of Bridger (for good or for bad) may be at the forefront of the rise of a privatized and profitable aerial fire suppression industry, along the lines of the privatized military industry described in the book Corporate Warriors.
Tim Joins the Ranks of the American Oligarchs of Boz Angeles
Tim understands the risky nature of (and liabilities associated with) piloting twin-engine seaplanes, having been a student pilot in one of them that crashed, killing his instructor. Tim and all of Bridger’s other pilots are to be admired for taking on that risk to life and limb in fighting wildfires for the benefit of the public. Tim recently already purchased (with Matt and another veteran) a 20,000-acre Montana ranch and a cowboy hat (Little Belt Cattle Company) and multimillion dollar luxury resort mansions (on Flathead Lake and in Big Sky), joining the ranks of the American oligarchs of Boz Angeles and other “groomed” Republican candidates who are able to “self-finance” their political campaigns.
Blackstone’s Chief Executive Is MAGA Supporter
Tim’s reported total yearly compensation is $4.90 million, comprised of 9.2 percent salary ($450,800) and 9o.8 percent bonuses, including company stock and options. He directly owns 18.68 percent of Bridger shares, worth $71.07 million. As a Director, Matt’s reported total yearly compensation is $1.83 million and he owns 18.27 percent of Bridger shares. Individual Bridger insiders own 52.3 percent of Bridger shares, a venture capital/private equity firm (Blackstone Inc., an early investor in Bridger when it was a private LLC) owns 21.5 percent, institutions own 11 percent, private companies own 8 percent, and the general public own 7.3 percent. Blackstone’s Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman is “Wall Street’s top political donor” and “has been an ardent supporter of Trump and Republican causes.” Does that sound like “grooming” to you? (23) After Blackstone, Spain-based energy-gas corporation Enagás, and others recently took Tallgrass Energy private at a cost of $4 billion, Tim’s brother Matt returned to Tallgrass as CEO.
Get Rich Quick Tim Would Have a Conflict of Interest If Elected
As a candidate seeking to be Montana’s junior US Senator, however, Tim faces an ethical dilemma. How can Tim, as a major shareholder in Bridger, not face an apparent (or real) conflict of interest as a US Senator? How can Tim abandon the Bridger employees and stockholders (including the brother who arranged for Tim to get rich quick) as they struggle to make Bridger profitable and climb out from under the large debt burden that Bridger faces? Most Americans want to stop the human-caused climate change that is increasing the extent and destruction of wildfires, and (ironically) increasing the size of the aerial wildfire suppression market. Bridger uses the fact that climate change is increasing its potential market in selling shares of the business to investors. This conflict of interest is compounded by the fact that Bridger’s contracts with Federal agencies produced over 99 percent of Bridger’s revenue in 2022.
If Tim cannot see the conflicts of interest he will face if he becomes a US senator, then the voters of Montana will have to let him know that they do see the problem and encourage him to focus on his current day-to-day responsibilities, including moving Bridger and Little Belt Cattle Company towards profitability. Tim’s book, Mudslingers, was released on December 12, 2023. In his 2023 political contributions, Tim describes his employer as “Little Belt Cattle Company” and his occupation as “cowboy.” If Tim takes Jon’s place, he will reportedly be one of the wealthiest members of Congress. You can review Tim’s reported assets and sources of income here.
Cautionary notes:
The financial analysis presented above is based on the documents Bridger has filed with the SEC. In Bridger’s initial Quarterly Report for the first quarter of 2023, filed with the SEC on 5/12/2023, Bridger management stated: “Our management evaluated, with the participation of our current chief executive officer and chief financial officer (our “Certifying Officers”), the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of March 31, 2023, pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our Certifying Officers concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of March 31, 2023, due to the material weaknesses described below. . . . We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, which we are in the process of, and are focused on, remediating. The first material weakness is related to properly accounting for complex transactions within our financial statement closing and reporting process. , , . Although we plan to complete this remediation process as quickly as possible, we are unable, at this time, to estimate how long it will take and our efforts may not be successful in remediating the deficiencies or material weaknesses. . . . ” Similar statements were made in Bridger’s Quarterly Reports for the second and third quarters of 2023. So, apparently, outside investors are supposed to take Bridger’s financial statements “with a grain of salt.” Or are these words what Trump calls a “worthless statement clause”? Tim is one of Bridger’s Certifying Officers.
With a fist bump on the floor of the Senate, Senators Daines and Cruz celebrate the Republicans blocking what might have been the final Senate vote on the Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022 . Another Republican senator tells Senator Daines “Well done” suggesting that Senator Daines orchestrated blocking the vote. Turn on full screen for best view.
After the failed vote, Senator Tester (D-Mont.) took to the Senate floor to remind his colleagues why the Honoring Our PACT Act is important and how the Senate appropriation process works.
The next day, Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) took to the U.S. Senate floor to slam Senate Republicans for blocking passage of the Honoring our PACT Act, legislation to expand health care benefits for veterans. The bill had passed a month earlier by a vote of 84-14, but due to a procedural error, the Senate took a vote to fix the error, which failed by a vote of 55 to 42.
