Our representatives take the time
Alex Strickland
Yes, Montana, it’s that time of year. The time when, if you listen closely, you can hear the sweet hum of your tax dollars being spent in far-off Helena. Heck, if you’ve got the right hearing aid, you might be able to hear them spending in Washington, D.C. Though in this economy it’s less of a hum, and more the sound of a handful of spoons in a blender.
Regardless of your politics, most people can agree that the era of Americans blindly trusting the government to do the right thing is behind us. This is, it seems, because the government isn’t terribly keen on doing the right thing anymore.
All that said, we are lucky in Montana to have excellent access to our state and national representatives. Here in Bigfork, new House District 9 Representative Scott Reichner is writing weekly columns during the legislature to help keep his constituents informed about not only what is going on, but how he’s thinking about it. Across the Lake, HD 11 Representative Janna Taylor does the same thing in our sister paper, the West Shore News.
At the end of both of their weekly columns they list their e-mail addresses and phone numbers. Scott gives his cell phone number!
It’s astounding and it says volumes about Montana and the kind of values and social structures we have here. It also provides an excellent opportunity for citizens to stay involved and to make sure their legislators know what the feeling is back home.
A little higher up, U.S. Senator Jon Tester hosted his monthly conference call with small newspaper reporters last week, continuing for 2009 what I consider an amazing tradition.
For reporters at large newspapers — and, in fairness, even for smaller ones — it’s not terribly difficult to reach Montana’s national representatives. But Tester seems to realize that reporters and editors at many of the state’s smallest publications wear so many hats that they may not have the time or ambition to ring him up. So once a month, he calls us. Last week about 10 reporters from newspapers I can promise you you’ve never heard of across Montana got to ask questions of Tester for about 40 minutes.
No, he didn’t tell us anything earth-shattering and some of his statements he obviously read from a sheet of talking points. But he took the time out of his schedule to make sure that small places like Bigfork had a way to interact with him.
I confess to having missed out on more of the calls than I’ve participated in, but it is a truly unique opportunity we have here, and all of us should take advantage.