MVP or MIA?

Chamber honor is warning sign

“Gas Tax” Garner was chosen for the Montana Chamber of Commerce MVP award for his voting record supporting tax hikes and enlargement of government bureaucracy. Examples of Republicans who scored well with the Chamber (based on their website) include backroom deals legislator Rob Cook of Conrad and Ed Buttrey of Great Falls. Ed Buttrey was the Republican who sponsored the big-government big-tax Medicaid expansion bill that passed in 2015 against the will of the majority of Republican legislators and most Montanans who want limited government and lower taxes.

The Chamber choosing Gas Tax Garner as MVP is a window into its function, and explains why my former husband called them the Chamber of Communism. A more accurate term might be fascism (close alliance between government and business).

The Montana Chamber of Commerce website states they function to facilitate public/private partnerships. Public/private partnership is another term for crony capitalism, pork barrel politics, and it benefits those businesses and business owners that are already privileged and corruptly connected to those legislators willing to sell their souls for their own aggrandizement.

If the Chamber gives a legislator a high score, chances are that legislator is a “hoodlum” playing this game on the backs of the taxpayers. —Mindy Breckenridge, Proctor

Garner thinks beyond party politics

I have been watching with interest the recent letters denouncing Rep Frank Garner. It appears some fuss has been undertaken by the Regiers regarding some sort of collusion on the part of Mr. Garner and some Democrats. Now I remember the elder Mr. Regier from his Evergreen days and know him to be of good character and so assume the same from his son. Again assuming the letters are not politically or personally motivated, then the issue seems to be about the new gas tax.

My own opinion is that as a state we cannot run in the red and must try to balance our budget. With a lack of revenue from various sources including the coal tax fund, some other way to improve revenue needs to happen. While no one likes a tax increase, this does seem to be the best way to spread out the tax. In our state, think of how many out-of-staters help to pay that tax, and why not, as they use our roads and infrastructure.

I find it refreshing that Mr Garner went across the aisle to find a solution. That’s not a politician; that’s a statesman. Remember Mike Mansfield ... When on the national level, the Democrats are the party of NO, as the Republicans were under President Obama, and the current Republicans can’t seem to form a consensus on how toilet paper should go on a roll, at least it’s refreshing to see someone who thinks beyond party politics. Thanks, Frank. —Jim Hodge, Kalispell

Chamber pick exposes crony capitalism

Frank “Gas Tax” Garner was voted Most Valuable Policymaker by the Montana Chamber of Commerce in August. In my opinion, this action exposes both Mr. Garner and the Chamber for who and what they really are.

Mr. Garner sponsored/carried the Chamber’s two highest-priority bills this session. HB473 was cunningly called “the Bridge and Road Safety and Accountability Act,” but let’s call it what it really is: the Gas Tax Bill. SB335 promoted public/private partnerships, where government subsidies (tax dollars) pay the chosen business owners, who in turn support the Chamber’s legislators (crony capitalism).

The Bible instructs civil leaders to do justice, hate bribes, and fear God. Given Mr. Garner’s known record (revealed in the 2015/2017 legislative sessions), he doesn’t fit God’s standard. While Frank Garner seems friendly and charming, that’s a deception. He’s not your friend if he’s responsible for your higher taxes; his charm doesn’t pay your bills.

The Montana Chamber of Commerce is also deceitful. It calls both HB473 and SB335 “infrastructure legislation” and “pro-business.” But government does NOT create jobs! Taxpayers pay 100 percent of the wages for government employees. “Public/private partnership” wages (like temporary security guards) are paid by government subsidies — which are paid by you and me (taxpayers).

The Chamber pretends to promote “entrepreneurship, workforce development, infrastructure, and business climate” with its legislation. It rewards legislators who vote for its legislation with high scores. But when conservative Republicans vote against one of their bills (such as HB473), their scorecards are impacted negatively. The reality is that both the tax-raising legislators and the Chamber are playing games on the backs of We the Taxpayers.

Voters need to remove from power legislators like Mr. Garner, who vote for expansion of government and increased taxes and who participate in backroom deals. —Julie Dockery, Kalispell

The Bible and leadership

When pondering Frank Garner winning the Montana Chamber of Commerce MVP Legislator award, I think of the contrast between Mr. Garner’s qualities and God’s biblical recommendations for governing political leaders.

The Bible says lawful leaders are to love justice, hate bribes, and fear God. Where is the justice in a man involved in Helena politics who advocates raising our taxes through backroom deals and making threats to promote himself and his agenda? Where is the fear of God in a man involved in such “corruption”? Could it be Mr. Garner in being influenced by benefactors of legislation that provides government subsidies to the privileged few and at the same time sells the taxpayer down the river?

Mr. Garner has been exposed. By supporting such a man, the Chamber of Commerce is thereby connected to his shenanigans. It is said Frank Garner has a nice smile, a friendly face, and a charming manner. Note, this can be said of all successful con artists. In order for God’s requirements for proper leadership to be met and political corruption squelched, voters need to remove from political power Mr. Garner and his ilk. —Brenda Hambrick, Lakeside

Garner does right thing for constituents

Frank Garner is one of the clearest thinking of our local representatives to the Montana Legislature. Letters to the editor attacking him, especially the one that started things, authored by Rep. Matt Regier, warrant counterpoint.

Highways and bridges get disproportionately more expensive to repair the longer maintenance is delayed. Knowing this, Garner actually worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to fashion a reasonable bill in a terribly tight budget year to address that issue. Vital road work wasn’t going to happen without the bill. Montana State GOP Chairman, Rep. Jeff Essmann and 57 of our 100 representatives had this figured out as they also voted for the gas tax bill. Matt calls Garner’s reasoned work party disloyalty. Others jumped on the bandwagon.

The worst kind of RINO is a Representative In Name Only; a so-called representative so bound up in party politics that they fail to see and represent the best interests of their constituents. Matt Regier, Carl Glimm, Mark Noland and Greg Hertz are our local representatives who helped needlessly cost the state half a million dollars when they blindly followed a partisan party call to oppose Senate Bill 305. That bill would have authorized a write-in ballot for our recent fill-in election behind Rep. Zinke. Following their party directive and the irrational logic of Secretary of State Corey Stapleton, they voted against a money-saving bill supported by 54 of 56 of the county election officials in the state. These four also voted against the best bill available to help our roads.

When the Republican primaries come around, I hope we can find some folks who can think through problems. Frank Garner has shown he can do that; some of our other local representatives, not so much. —Steve Brady, Kalispell

Attacks on Garner will only hurt GOP

These attempts by the so-called self-appointed “ REAL” Republicans to purge the party of everyone who doesn’t agree right down the line with their own list of issues is not only tiresome but self-destructive. Keep it up and Flathead County will no longer be Republican.

Politics is a numbers game. On the first day of a legislative or congressional session, the majority party gets the chairmanships, appoints the committees and sets the agenda.

We need a bigger tent not a smaller one. If an individual thinks he’s ever going to have a Legislature where every member reflects his own agenda on every issue, he’s incredably naive.

Frank Garner is not corrupt. Some may not like his votes on a gas tax and Medicaid, but he voted with the party on many other issues. Grow up! —Mitzi Anderson, Whitefish

Helping the rich get richer

Until now, I have not given much thought to the Montana Chamber of Commerce. But when the Chamber chose “Gas Tax Garner” as their MVP legislator of the 2017 session, they got my attention.

I knew the word commerce had to do with business and that Frank Garner is in the business of selling himself. So that part made sense. But how could the legislator who votes for big government and higher taxes and makes backroom deals be good for businesses in general?

Then the light bulb went on when I looked up the definition of commerce: the activity of buying and selling, especially on a large scale. Now I get it, because I know that businesses thrive on the largest scale when they are subsidized by the government via our tax dollars. And that the legislators that promote elite business owners gain in both power and wealth. That’s how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer: the “behind the scenes” deals between legislators and their chosen few wealthy influential business owners.

The Chamber of Commerce and “Gas Tax Garner”: a logical combination. —Frances Young, Lakeside