Letters to the editor Sept. 18

Kirk’s murder

Isn’t it interesting that after the assassination of Charlie Kirk there was no rioting, burning or looting? Compare that with the death of George Floyd.

— Jim O’Brien, Kalispell

Fisher for Ward 4

As voters in Kalispell consider the upcoming City Council election, it’s worth asking: what kind of leadership do we need most right now? To us, the answer is clear — leaders who listen, who stand up for the people they represent, and who have the courage to vote from their heart and conscience rather than bowing to special interests. Jed Fisher, candidate for City Council Ward 4, exemplifies that kind of leadership.

On issues that deeply affect our neighborhoods — whether it was the proposed Tronstad Meadows/Whitetail Crossing subdivision, the future of Main Street, the Flathead Warming Center, or the recent Begg Park apartment development — Jed has shown that he listens first. He takes the time to hear citizen concerns, weigh them carefully and then votes with integrity.

Jed Fisher doesn’t cater to developers or outside agendas. He represents the people of Ward 4 with honesty, forthrightness and accountability. That’s why we trust him to continue speaking up for us, and why we encourage our fellow voters to support him.

— Dan and Ming Munzing, Kalispell

Support Hunter for mayor

As a fourth generation Kalispell homeowner, I’m proud to endorse Ryan Hunter for mayor of Kalispell. Over the past six years, serving as city councilor for Ward 3, Ryan has provided valuable experience while infusing Council discussions with knowledgeable and thoughtful comments focused on responsible growth, public safety, and neighborhood integrity.

I support Ryan’s position that Kalispell taxpayers should not subsidize private development. Impact fees ensure developers cover the costs of upgrading infrastructure and services needed by their development. This prevents these costs from falling on taxpayers through increased service fees. Our City Council voted to cut water and sewer impact fees and raise taxpayer’s water and sewer rates to pay for it. I appreciated that Ryan voted no.

Likewise, Ryan supported raising police and fire impact fees as these critical services face growing demand, but the City Council majority chose instead not to raise them. As a landlord, I see Kalispell’s housing crisis affecting veterans, students, single working people, the elderly, families and people with disabilities. I could support limited impact fee reductions if they were assigned only to affordable housing projects, but remain opposed to subsidies for subdivisions of large, unaffordable homes.

It’s equally important to learn each candidates’ stance on general sales tax versus a tourist-targeted one. So far, Ryan is the only mayoral candidate opposed to a general sales tax, instead favoring only a tourist-targeted sales tax.

Kalispell deserves Ryan’s community knowledge, his advanced studies in urban planning and his record on our City Council proactively pushing for fair and responsible growth.  

Please vote for Ryan Hunter for Kalispell Mayor on November 4th.

— Becky Groose, Kalispell

Judicial temperament

Kindly allow me to rebut Steve Brady’s response to my previous letter. It is not clear that he understood my points.

First, fair and impartial are meaningless terms when it comes to interpreting the Montana Constitution regarding acts of the Legislature. What I tried to indicate as important is judicial temperament and whether it is overbearing or restrained, which does not negate independence. He has ignored this issue.

Second, the judicial election process is already heavily partisan and I provided the rationale for thinking so, which he does not contest.

Third, he provides no remedy for the inability of the average Montana voter to seriously vette a judicial candidate with regard to their temperament.

Finally, he does not address the issue of the potential for judicial tyranny to circumvent the will of the people. He seems to forget that a “zealous legislature” is elected by and responsive, first and foremost, to those people.

A judicial declaration of unconstitutionality, while having the force of law, is without any guarantee that it is proper or correct. For it represents an opinion largely, and often as we have seen even at the federal level, based on temperament. Since political, but not necessarily partisan, philosophy often shapes judicial temperament, it seems naive to deny that connection.

— Michael Boharski, Kalispell

Israeli government

Many citizens within our country are very concerned with the plight of the Palestinians living in Gaza. Certainly, the aggression of Hamas taken against the Israelis was and is horrendous and can only be condemned completely. However, the actions of the Israeli government are at least as bad or even worse.

The Israeli government claims it is not carrying out genocide, but claims rightly that Hitler and his associates carried out genocide against the Jewish people. 

Let’s consider a local situation closer to home in which a person murders another citizen. The murderer needs to be held accountable, agreed. But should his family also be punished for the actions of their family member? Should the neighbors of the murderer also be held accountable? Should the entire village where the murderer lived pay for the crime? The answers to these questions are obviously no! Netanyahu and the other members of the Israeli government are responsible for genocide and must be held accountable.

Our government is at least partially responsible for prolonging this conflict. We continue to provide money and weapons to Israel. Both political parties have had the opportunity to take actions to cut off weapons/funds to Israel, but have chosen not to do so. Shame on us, both Republicans and Democrats.

One final note, we must remember that while many individuals in Israel’s government happen to be Jewish, just as many of the individuals in Hilter’s regime were Christians, we should not blame Jews or Christians for the action of their governments. Rather we should focus fault on both of our own political parties and our leaders for their willingness to continue to sell weapons to and fund the government of Israel.

— Christopher Hagar, Bigfork