Feb. 11 – On this day in Montana history in 1961, one of Montana’s ugliest and most public fights between a legislator and a lobbyist ended with a legislative resolution that said Sen. William Cashmore, R-Lewis and Clark County, “reasonably believed” he had been threatened and intimidated by James Umber, president of the Montana AFL-CIO. The bitter dispute – that virtually tied up any legislative action for about a week – arouse over a bill proposed by Cashmore that would have required a secret ballot on union strike votes in labor disputes not covered by federal laws. Umber said” it would kill small unions in Montana.”