County readies ballot question on roadless rule

The Flathead County commissioners are scheduled this morning to submit a ballot question about the federal roadless issue for the June primary election.

"I think it's important to measure the public's opinion on this," said Commissioner Gary Hall.

But how to measure an opinion on a complicated subject with a long history can be tricky when it comes to a single ballot question. Already, worries exist about how the question will be worded.

"What I'm hoping to see is something that is, most importantly, understandable … to people who may or may not have a lot of history or understanding of what's been going on in the valley," Hall said. "I don't want it to be slanted toward the preservationist folks or the multiple-use folks. I seriously don't want it to be leading."

By late Tuesday, Hall still was collecting suggestions about wording. He said there is some urgency, because commissioners Joe Brenneman and Bob Watne may not be available to consider the ballot question, which must be submitted to election officials by March 23.

So the commission is scheduled to consider the matter at 9:15 this morning.

Hall spearheaded the appointment of a task force that was charged with making recommendations to Gov. Brian Schweitzer about how roadless lands in the Flathead National Forest should be managed. Schweitzer is seeking input from counties and other organizations to form a petition with roadless recommendations that will be submitted to the Bush administration at the end of the year.

The committee was divided into factions: one that produced a majority opinion calling for "flexible" management of roadless areas and a minority calling for protection of roadless areas.

Members of the minority criticized how Hall is pursuing the ballot question.

Committee member Dave Hadden, who is also a field representative for the Montana Wilderness Association, said Hall has "betrayed" the trust of the committee by pursuing a county commission vote before the ballot question could be discussed and vetted by the task force.

At the last meeting of the task force, Hadden said, "what we discussed was that the language would have to be agreed to by everybody."

The task force was scheduled to meet tonight, after the ballot question is considered by the commissioners.

Hadden also said a ballot measure on the roadless issue easily could produce questionable results. "A ballot measure takes a very complex issue and reduces it to the lowest common denominator," he said.

Hall e-mailed task force members Monday, asking for input on several ballot question examples.

"I've seen some of the wording, and none of it I think fairly represents either side so far," said Lisa Bate, another member of the task force's conservation minority.

Bate also questions the value of poll results from a primary vote in an off-year election, which typically produces low voter turnouts.

But backers of the ballot question say the results will be informative. By having it on the June ballot, they say, Schweitzer can consider the results for the roadless petition he must submit by November.

"What has the governor been trying to do? He's trying to find out how people feel about this," said Richard Funk, a member of the task-force majority. "He has to have his information in by the first of November so this has to be a primary ballot initiative."

Roadless protection advocates commonly say they have massive public support, based on millions of comments that were submitted in support of a Clinton administration initiative that provided blanket protection for roadless areas. But critics of that plan say the support hardly represented an impartial poll of public opinion; rather, it was the result of well-orchestrated letter campaigns promoted by conservation groups across the country.

A better measure of broad public sentiment to the Clinton Roadless Rule, they say, was a straw poll question that appeared on ballots in the 2000 election in Flathead, Lincoln, Sanders and Sweet Grass counties. The Clinton plan was opposed by margins of more than 80 percent in all four counties.

But those results were called into question largely because of the way the ballot question was written. Critics said it was leading and confusing.

"The last ballot measure was so poorly worded that on the face of it, it was illegitimate," Hadden said.

Funk asserts that voters understood the question just fine, and they will understand any roadless question that appears on the June ballot.

"I believe that people in Flathead County are intelligent enough to read ballot initiatives and to understand them and to vote their opinion," he said.

Hall insists that he wants a ballot question that will withstand scrutiny. He says he wants it not only as an indicator for the governor, but also to serve as guidance for a pending revision of the Flathead National Forest's long-term management plan.

"I feel we need to ask the question one more time," he said, referring to the 2000 ballot question. "Especially now as we are looking at the forest plan revision, this is the perfect time to get it on the ballot."

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.