The Political Will

Austin Knudsen painted Sen. Jon Tester on this opinion page last week as a dark money hoarder, as the one man in D.C. to utilize the seedy under belly of wealthy financiers to gain political capital. I was not impressed.

First off, while attacking a sitting Senator from Montana, for something Republicans support as hypocritical, he came off as, well, hypocritical. It would be like condemning him for supporting the second amendment.

Second, he provides nothing to back it up, but just layers on the buzz-words and the hypocrisy. In the present world ,political action committees can spend on whatever they want, so they do, so why do we still talk about it. Whether it is Democratic or Republican, it won't matter, people will be able to spend accordingly. It is not as Knudsen states Tester’s job to denounce, support or decry these committees. In short, just let it go.

The fact that Tester didn’t feverishly oppose people running ads that supports his agenda is laughable at best, but certainly not “appalling” as Speaker Knudsen would have us believe. Personally, I am curious to see what Mr. Knudsen has in store for Northeast Montana, and far less concerned with “dark money” issues that the Supreme Court has already laid out.

Politically, it makes sense for Tester to oppose Gorsuch on so many levels, political action committees being one of them, and the fact that he did is far less appalling than the attack here.

I think we have had enough negativity for two years. Let us try to focus on progress, infrastructure, and agriculture. I am sure Malta would appreciate infrastructure support for its water issues. I think most of Northeast Montana would benefit from someone finding out why Montana administers Medicaid at a deficit to long term care facilities. Maybe someone could stand up for why we are losing state agencies and jobs here in Northeast Montana or in all rural areas?

Just a thought. I look forward to reading some of your substance as a duly elected official for our region, but I digress.