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Tired of Gianforte’s ads

I have Gianforte fatigue. When the last election ended, I was greatly relieved to see the end of the incessant, negative, misleading Gianforte ads. He is back again, dragging out the Nancy Pelosi boogeyman and trying to scare the hell out of people. The endless onslaught of attack ads has gone beyond annoying.

Statistics show that 58 percent of Montanans don’t hunt, and I am venturing a guess that many more would not consider prairie-dog hunting to be a desirable recreational activity. However, most of us like to hike, fish and recreate on our public lands and don’t want them locked up, sold, transferred or managed by anyone else. As much as he likes to deny it, Gianforte sued the state to deny access to public land.

They say clothes make the man. Gianforte’s extensive camouflage collection and very practical safety glasses won’t change the fact that he is a millionaire from New Jersey, trying to pass himself off as a real Montanan. I prefer a Made in Montana candidate who understands how hard it is to make a living here and tough decisions must be made when the bills add up. Rob Quist understands the importance of health care that works for everyone, and will protect women’s reproductive rights. He believes in equal pay for equal work and will not treat corporations as people. The choice is clear — a Montanan who will work for us or an out-of-state millionaire trying to buy a seat in Congress. My choice is Quist. —Jan Metzmaker, Whitefish

Gianforte, not Quist, is more like ‘Galloping Swede’

On Sunday, April 16, my wife and I returned home following services. I collected the paper and poured a cup of coffee and sat in my easy chair to read. Everything was fine until I read the opinion pages. One opinion caught my attention and I read and reread it. Then I retired to my library to locate an autobiography and refresh my memory.

The opinion piece, entitled “Vote for core Montana values,” was written by Mark Holston and was a comparison of supposed similarities between J. Hugo Aronson and Rob Quist. The more I read the talking points Mark presented the less Rob Quist reminded me of the Galloping Swede. In fact the similarities between Aronson and Greg Gianforte became clearer.

First, neither Greg nor Hugo was born in Montana. In fact Hugo was born in Sweden. When he landed in this country, he only had the minimum amount needed for immigration, $25. He had to go to work immediately to support himself.

Both men believe in the right to keep and bear arms with fewer restriction than the Democrats, including Rob Quist, want to impose.

Next we have two individuals who built successful companies from the ground up by hard work and innovative ideas.

Finally, both men employed Montanans and contributed meaningful work that produced taxes to help pay for the state’s infrastructure.

Mark wants us to believe that Greg is buying the office. He’s not buying any more than Gov. Bullock or Sen. Jon Tester. Look at Tester’s war chest. Where is his money coming from? Montanans? If Greg is paying his own way, more power to him.

I will close with a quote from J. Hugo Aronson’s biography, “The Galloping Swede.” When talking about the two-party system, he said, “But there’s one thing wrong with it now. The Democrats have too great a majority and I am trying to see if we can’t level that off a little.” —Richard Funk, Kalispell

Repeal of Affordable Care Act brings moral questions

I believe it is safe to say that soon what we have known the Affordable Care Act will be put to the knife and given an ignominious death. The question is, what has the ACA stood for in America, and what will its demise mean? This is not so much a political question as a social or ethical question — I am not concerned with the various bickering of opponents over blame or cause. Nor am I concerned with the ACA’s economics, or the efficacy of the ACA in meeting its stated goals (all of which are simply political discussions).

Healthc are means pushing back biology’s imperative of decline and death as long and wherever possible. In its simplest form, health care is society’s means of making life-extension, as well as quality of life gains, available to the individual. The Affordable Care Act introduced a novel concept into the landscape of political discourse. It proposed, and attempted to codify into law, the truly radical concept that all citizens should have affordable, quality health care regardless of all distinguishing characteristics (race, income, history, etc.). The repeal and partial replacement (if any) will carve out exceptions to the premise of ALL people, and will covertly substitute SOME people (i.e., tax credits do nothing for those who have no tax liability).

The uncomfortable question that I want to extend is, in the elimination of the Affordable Care Act and the introduction of some other program which is not predicated on the assertion that ALL Americans deserve adequate health care, but only SOME persons, which populations should now be explicitly excluded from the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Which marginalized population deserves a premature death? This is a moral question, not an economic question. I invite the community’s religious elders to weigh in first. Then politicians. —Steve Moore, Kalispell

Quist just a Bernie Sanders socialist

Local elections are here and we have a country musician running for Congressman Zinke’s vacated seat.

I like country music, if it’s good, but the liberals took Rob Quist, a failed musician with a trail of debt and mysterious visits to hospitals for over 15 years while performing and actually put an over-sized cowboy hat on him so that he could pass for a cowboy. According to published reports I have read, he sued a Kalispell doctor for malpractice, won money but is still in debt. He refuses to release the doctor’s name because it was part of the agreement for his settlement.

Rob Quist looks conservative, but supported Bernie Sanders for president, because Hillary wasn’t radical enough. Well, he’s still in debt, and complains that his Republican opponent shouldn’t be trusted because he’s a businessman. You might ask, what kind of a businessman? One that made several million dollars from scratch, without lawsuits, or handouts. That would be Greg Gianforte.

Even so, Quist wants to apply his Bernie Sanders give-away programs on the rest of Montana if he becomes a congressman. In fact, Crazy Bernie Sanders will actually be here, in Montana, wearing his own cowboy hat, chaps, and a six-shooter in just a few more days. I sure hope we don’t get “super-delegated” while we’re not looking.

Next time he writes a song, Rob Quist might want to consider this one: “Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play, where never is heard an encouraging word while liberals get fatter by the day!” If I have to vote for another loser, posing as the Marboro Man, I would much rather eat my six-shooters. That is, if I’m allowed to keep them! —Mike Donohue, Kalispell

Please keep Gene Lyons

To answer Jim Walker’s April 18th question, our household’s readers enjoy Gene Lyons’ liberal and “dogmatic” column. Not every Flathead Valley resident clings to a Republican mindset, and it is refreshing to read something that doesn’t conclude with the “time for liberals to get over it” mantra!

After the experience of the last 100 days of President Trump, it is sad to find continued misinformation being spread to glorify him. John McCain may not be Mr. Walker’s favorite war hero, but Lyons’ recent column points out he may be one of the few senators able to bridge the divisiveness which has permeated Congress, and brought governmental action to a near standstill. The torture McCain endured as a POW is easily researched, and he has admitted to the propaganda tapes he was coerced into making after being imprisoned and tortured for five and a half years. Who can be the judge of a person who has endured so much? He certainly does not deserve the derision of a man such as Donald Trump.

Mr. Walker does not like Lyons’ “denigration” of Trump’s education and business dealings. After transferring to Wharton as a junior, Trump was never on the honor roll or at the top of his class, as he has often bragged. (Politico.com) His business journey started with inherited wealth, but he has bankrupted a business at least six times, one for over $500 million, another for over $53 million. (FactCheck.org) Much of what he promised on the campaign trail was bragging and lies, and he spends our tax money golfing in Florida almost every weekend, while dodging requests to reveal his own tax returns. And finally, the obvious Breitbart news quote that 90 percent of America’s counties were won by Trump has been proven to be completely false, according to AP news and FactCheck.org. Counting sparsely populated counties, such as those in much of Montana, does not erase the fact that, in the popular vote, almost 3 MILLION MORE PEOPLE chose Trump’s opponent. (Cook Political Report)

So please, keep Lyons’ column, and let us enjoy writing by a Ph.D. graduate from the University of Virginia, a National Magazine Award recipient, and provider of humor and humanity for Montanans who may not find much of either in the current political climate. —Joan Gates, Kalispell

SB97 and why elections matter

So many people are extremely upset about Gov. Bullock’s veto of Sen. Regier’s SB97 (“Prohibit Application of Foreign Laws in Montana Courts”).

How can he reject a bill that passed both the Senate and the House of Representatives? Well, he can, because he is the governor of Montana. If all the Montanans who voted for President Trump would have voted for Greg Gianforte, we would have had Gov. Gianforte and SB97 would now have been signed into Montana law.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is another example of “Why elections matter and have consequences.” Please think about this when you vote in the upcoming “special election” on May 25. —Caroline Solomon, Bigfork

The ‘choice’ voters face in next election

In reading the most recent letters to the editor, it becomes apparent that Republicans and Democrats who “get out the vote” are going to do so along party lines. So, I am reaching out to independents and undecideds.

There are two choices:

Voting FOR a successful businessman who has brought hundreds of great paying jobs to Montana, who wants to protect our borders, who believes strongly in the Second Amendment, who will not sell off our public lands, who is fiscally responsible and who injects his wealth back into Montana. What is wrong with being successful? Shouldn’t we all strive to be the best at what we do?

OR voting AGAINST a fine musician who I hear advocates gun control, who wants to increase taxes to 80 percent, who wants open borders for people who, conceivably, may not assimilate or share American values, who wants the single payer health plan, who has had numerous judgments filed against him for failure to pay his bills and who is for the socialist policies of Bernie Sanders and will be a lap dog for Nancy Pelosi.

We are voting for a person to fill an extremely important position, and it must not be taken lightly as we truly need someone who can hit the ground running and have the intellect and drive to “catch up” and digest the multitudes of information resulting from the vacancy of Rep. Ryan Zinke.

My trust and vote go to Greg Gianforte. —Larry Ashcraft, Polson