Letters to the editor March 18

Judicial elections

A March 14 editorial by the Daily Inter Lake criticized two bills currently under consideration in the Montana Legislature authored by Sen. Keith Regier, SB 140; and Rep. Scot Kerns, HB 355. The Inter Lake argued that these bills would “allow politics to infiltrate our judicial process…”

The reality is that politics is always part of the election process. The question is, are the voters given an opportunity to openly and easily examine the candidate’s values or are those values to be hidden under the cloak of some non-partisanship mantra?

Sen. Regier’s bill would lift the veil from the way that candidates for vacant judicial seats are chosen in what is essentially, a partisan process. The Inter Lake praises the role of the Judicial Nomination Commission. However, since the residing governor appoints four members of the seven-person board, the governor’s appointees hold the majority vote and can readily confirm the chosen candidate.

Rep. Kerns’ bill addresses a flaw in the Supreme Court Justice election process. Every election year as the primaries approach, voters struggle to identify the core principles of all of the judiciary candidates. It is not a simple undertaking. Kerns’ bill would make that investigation much easier.

Keep in mind that electing Supreme Court justices as we do in Montana results in a political decision, one made by the voters. Why deny those voters the right to examine a candidates political leanings as well as their judicial experience? Not all qualified candidates share the same values. Every term the Supreme Court issues judgments that are in conflict with the reasoned judgment of many voters, some legislators, some judges and members of the executive branch of state government.

Rep. Kerns’ bill would provide the framework where all voters could determine which judicial candidate best represents not just the voter’s qualification expectations, but the citizen’s own deeply held personal convictions.

—Joseph O’Rourke, Columbia Falls

[Editor’s note: Gov. Gianforte on Tuesday signed into law SB 140 regarding judicial vacancies.]

Voice of conservatives

I was an unabashed listener to Rush Limbaugh’s radio show along with 19 million or so other conservative Americans and fear that there is no replacement. All liberal and most conservative strident voices don’t have Rush’s calm patience in dealing with callers nor do they have his grasp of what conservatism truly means . . . freedom. A freedom that we are quickly losing due to a level of censorship I never thought I would see in America.

Perhaps it is fortunate that he left for a better place before Big Tech, Academia, Government and Media, entertainment and sports joined to silence conservatism forever in this country.

I can no longer watch any television show (including police shows) without suffering through a lecture about how racist this country is, as if the United States is the only country to exhibit some degree of prejudice.

I would argue and Rush understood that there is NO systemic racism in this country, that by an overwhelming majority the American people are welcoming and tolerant, and that we have done much over the past 6 decades to assure equality of races.

Though not perfect, we are better than most. Perhaps the “systemic racism” liberals should look at some other countries before denouncing ours, tearing down statues and ripping names off buildings dedicated to our heroes, such as Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, and brainwashing our children into hating their own country.

Rush understood this false liberal narrative and fought to defeat it. Now he is gone, and, I fear, there is no voice as powerful as his to carry on this battle for the soul of our country.

—David Myerowitz, Columbia Falls

Right to repair

As our elected leaders determine their priorities during this new legislative session, they should keep the focus on helping our state’s vital industries, like agriculture. Our industry contributes $5.2 billion to the economy annually and, like so many other industries, has suffered after a tough year of economic downturn and the coronavirus pandemic.

One issue that our lawmakers should stay away from if they truly want to help our farmers, is called “right to repair.” Over the past few years, “right to repair” activists from outside the agricultural industry have pushed for this type of overly broad legislation that would harm farmers, falsely claiming it will give farmers the “right to repair” their farming equipment like tractors and combines.

In reality, nothing is further from the truth. It would be a major mistake for our policymakers to pursue this bad policy for several reasons. The most important being that farmers can already repair their equipment, which makes this legislation not only harmful but unnecessary.

Tractors and combines are more technologically advanced than they were in previous decades, and it’s because of this innovation that farmers can operate more efficiently. This also means that making repairs is not as simple as it used to be for equipment owners. Manufacturers diagnostic, replacement parts, and repair manuals for a vast majority of agricultural equipment to aid farmers in repairing their equipment.

Montana farmers have endured enough over the past few years and our lawmakers need to spend their time pursuing smart policy, not unnecessary policies like “right to repair”, to help our agriculture industry more quickly recover and prosper in 2021.

—Jared Saxelby, Marion