LETTER: Sheets for Senate Dist. 7

Why Mark Sheets, a Democrat, for Senate District 7? As a Republican I kept asking myself this question. Divisive political issues like gay rights, abortion and immigration will be or have been decided at the national level.

Montana issues like health-care coverage; allocation and control of water resources; and the downturn in the production of natural resources like coal, oil and natural gas should be among our main concerns. In SD7 we need updated communication systems, better roads and bridges, and to find ways to keep our community hospitals and clinics functioning, plus a favorable economic environment to stimulate businesses to move here with their jobs.

Sheets recognizes the need for all forms of energy production and does not place green energy above the others. He understands that copper mining is necessary to develop wind power for transmission lines and windmill turbines and that coal is important because of its abundance and as an inexpensive power supply.

He recognizes the need to streamline the education system to reduce administration costs. He has been a firefighter and understands the need for better forest management and the necessity to harvest timber for forest health. And he understands the importance of better access to health care for our veterans.

To be elected Mark Sheets needs votes from across the political spectrum — Democrats, Republicans and independents. He will seek the common ground across all the political issues that will best serve all of us, not single-issue agendas like the transfer of federal land to the state, a concept unsupported by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and Congressman Ryan Zinke.

It’s time for change. We need a senator who will place the needs of SD7 citizens at the top of his list and devote his time and energy to that purpose. Mark Sheets is that man. —Linda Haywood, Thompson Falls