The three local Republican races, Tim Harmon v. Pam Holmquist, Don “K” v. Keith Regier, and Jean Barragan v. Derek Skees, represent the split in the Republican Party. Pam Holmquist, Keith Regier and Derek Skees are the Tea Party candidates who represent about 20 percent of Montana Republican voters. Tim Harmon, Don “K” and Jean Barragan represent the other 80 percent of Republican voters.
In 2015, Tea Party representatives mostly opposed the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Water Compact, the infrastructure bill, and Ryan Zinke for Congress.
Holmquist, Regier, and Skees opposed the bipartisan water compact. They did not understand the key question of the compact, which was: “Will Montana benefit more with or without the compact?”
Commissioner Pam Holmquist signed a letter that opposed the water compact. The letter shows she did not understand the legal issues of tribal water rights. The governor’s legal counsel wrote a devastating and correct rebuttal to the Commissioners’ letter.
Rep. Regier led the compact opposition. Regier did not reply to attorney Helen Thigpen’s in-depth reply to his written questions about the compact. He opposed the compact because he could not edit the compact, he did not “have enough time” to read the compact, he thinks Republicans should always vote opposite to Democrats, and he did not understand the compact was a bipartisan bill.
Regier killed the infrastructure bill because he thinks the state should pay with cash rather than with bonds. By contrast, Don “K”, who understands business and finances, would have considered using bonds to fund infrastructure.
Regier and Skees did not support Ryan Zinke for Congress in the final 2014 election.
In 2014, Republican voters did not understand which candidates were Tea Party candidates. As a result, Tea Party legislators had almost enough votes to kill the water compact. That should be a wake-up call to Republican voters.
Ed Berry
Bigfork