Republicans cannot govern. They have proven time and time again that they are utterly incompetent.
Recently, Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen had to be threatened with legal action before she would do her job and send Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights their ballot petition. She acted just minutes before a deadline set by the Montana Supreme Court. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen had to be sued over the same proposed ballot issue. The pair did everything possible to avoid doing what the law and the Montana Constitution requires them to do, incurring court costs that will be paid by Montana taxpayers.
Their actions follow a string of lawsuits stemming from the 2023 Legislative Session. Instead of focusing on helping Montana and its citizens, the Legislature passed bill after bill that violated the Montana Constitution. An injunction has been issued against two “affordable housing” bills and three bills that would restrict access to abortion have been declared unconstitutional. At least one bill was overturned by the Supreme Court because it contained two separate issues when the Constitution clearly states that bills can only contain one topic. It seems that the goal of the last legislative session was to waste taxpayer dollars rather than do anything to address looming increases in property taxes, the housing shortage, and any number of other issues that plague Montana residents.
In addition, our Republican leaders have removed over a hundred thousand people from Medicaid coverage, many improperly, and have made the process of re-applying incredibly difficult; they’ve outsourced Montana jobs to other states; and our Superintendent of Public Instruction has failed so spectacularly at her job that even her own party has called her to the carpet.
It’s time to vote them out, Montana. It’s time to vote them all out. As gubernatorial candidate Ryan Busse says, “Montana, it’s time to get your state back.”
Amy Weeks
Columbia Falls