Montana Public Trust Coalition

Dear Editor,

As election day approaches, members of the newly formed Montana Public Trust Coalition would like to remind you of the reckless efforts of some of our political leaders in the last Montana Legislature. You may not be aware of this, but our 1972 Constitution codified much of Montana's historical success directly into our Constitution. These include our right to privacy, our right to a clean and healthful environment, our right to know what our elected officials are doing, and our right to participate in our government prior to a final decision being made. In the legislature's case, this is the right to hear from the public their concerns about proposed bills before they are passed. Most importantly our state constitution states that "all political power is vested in and derived from the people. All government originates with the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted for the good of the whole." Unfortunately, certain politicians in the last legislature ignored their oath to our constitution and did not follow it. This is proven by the many laws that were passed in the last legislature that have been overturned as unconstitutional by state and federal courts.

In addition, the Public Trust, including public lands, waters fish and wildlife belong to all of us regardless of status and must not become private property to be bought and sold. An example of how Montana citizens were ignored and the Public Trust eroded was a bill that overturned a citizen's passed initiative that banned guaranteed nonresident hunting tags to outfitter's nonresident clients. This bill was passed into law in the last days of the legislature. Nonresident hunters hunting under an outfitter gained an unfair advantage over the rest of the nonresidents that remained in a lottery system for their hunting licenses. This bill had no public hearings, despite a similar proposed bill failing earlier in the session because it was overwhelmingly opposed by the public. Other bad bills like the one to get rid of prescriptive easements and landowners being able to sell their property to whom they want, failed. Unfortunately, sending the same people back to Helena will mean many of these bad bills will be proposed again.

The Montana Public Trust Coalition formed in response to these assaults on the public trust. A grass-roots coalition from across Montana and across the political spectrum have asked all legislative candidates if they will promise to defend our constitution (as required by their oath of office) and the Public Trust. They need to remember that they work for us and not wealthy special interests.

Please join us in reaching out to all legislative candidates and asking them to defend our constitution and to not devalue the public trust. Most importantly this includes our right to hunt and fish and a clean and healthful environment.

You can see the pledge, our story, our supporters and sign on to our efforts here: https://www.montanapublictrustcoalition.com/

Please help defend Montana and her Constitution and the Public Trust.

Sincerely,

John Daggett

Glasgow, Mont.