In his January 12 op-ed, State Rep. Brad Barker and his public relations firm tried once again to convince you, the reader, that he is the penultimate conservative and that you should just trust him and re-elect him to the legislature to represent Carbon County. Unfortunately for him, people like me exist and are willing to make sure the truth is also shared, so you can recognize the political spin of politicians intent on dodging reality and their voting record.
I spend every day in the Capitol during legislative sessions, and typically read about 1,500 bills to assess them for intent, effectiveness if passed, and whether they are in keeping with constitutional principles and the proper role of government. I observe the legislators as they work their back-room deals, and all too often, compromise themselves for political gain (sometimes financial gain). The 2025 session was no different in action, but what was different was the willingness of more people to call out politicians of either party for selling out to the highest bidder or violating their oath of office. Mark Twain was right that politicians and diapers need changing for the same reasons.
In my opinion, Barker was one of the most compromised politicians in the Montana legislature during the 2023 and 2025 sessions. I was an eyewitness to it all. Here is the reality behind the smoke and mirrors he’s presenting on stage.
He voted for the inaccurately titled property tax relief bill. All this bill did was shift the tax burden onto corporations who will pass the cost on to you anyway. If you enjoyed a little, albeit temporary relief, know that you could have enjoyed annual refund checks from a state managed “savings account” accruing interest and passing it on to the homeowners. It would have started at an entry level amount and grown year after year to the point where you owed very little, if anything. That bill was Senate Bill 90 and the people Barker ran around with all fought the this bill so they could pass a bad bill on to the taxpayers and spend the next year defending their actions, claiming the pig didn’t need lipstick.
He voted for an unaccountable “slush fund” rather than return $2 billion in excess revenue to the taxpayers. Apparently he doesn’t think you can be trusted with your own money.
He stated that the Montana Freedom Caucus is beholden to out of state entities and Washington, D.C. specifically. That is wrong, all funds for the Montana Freedom Caucus PAC are from in the state of Montana and there is no out of state organization or person driving their agenda.
He says he wants to protect the judiciary, but in fact, he voted against 10 of 17 judicial reform bills. He’s protecting them from reform, and from you, the people of Montana.
He state’s his voting record matches his promises.
- “Cutting taxes for Montanans.” Partially true, but fought against opportunities for much more substantive cuts because he’s a member of the big government solutions caucus. Their only solution is to grow government, and your tax bill.
- “Improving education.” Together with Rep. Bedey, both answer to teacher unions and not parents.
- “Sound fiscal policy.” Failed on property taxes, and voted to expand the general budget by 18%. The best example was the general fund bill that grew from $14.6 billion to $16.5 billion. How is that sound fiscal policy?
- “Protecting our freedoms.” Such a generic statement, yet all I saw in person was someone who was willing to work with bad Senate and House members and keep voting to erode freedom by making government bigger.
- “Ensuring responsible, transparent government.” This is hard to believe since he supported the unaccountable government slush fund that kept you from getting your money back. It’s also hard to believe considering how many back room deals he made to ensure true conservative and constitutionally aligned bills were voted down.
Barker is running in the typical crowd of compromised, big government politicians and his voting record and actions leave no doubt that this is true. In fact, he earned a freedom index score of 17 out of 100 during the 2023 session, tied for the lowest score alongside the radical leftist Rep. Zephyr of Missoula. If the voters of Carbon County spent time in Helena watching him on a daily basis, they would know that change is badly needed. Barker is barking up the wrong tree.
For those who might focus on Barker’s military service, I will raise you my nearly three decades in the Army, seven long deployments and many short ones, and hope that you would ask what makes the two of us different. I’m no politician, so I’ll tell you the truth.
Darin Gaub is a retired Army officer, author, and frequent guest on multiple national media outlets from Fox News to MSNBC.