Vote for Russell, Vandyke
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Editor,
Length of service and who is “most qualified” is greatly discussed in the current judicial races. In connecting the dots, factor in money and special interest groups seeking political or personal advantage, and the real judicial qualification, which is ruling by the law of the land and the Montana and U.S. Constitutions, is ignored.
Judicial candidates should be non-partisan, but are they? The political administration in Washington appoints the U.S. Supreme Court justices who rule for life and the federal judges who are overruling the will of the people as expressed in the ballot box in many states. Is the Democrat governor’s game of appointing individuals to unexpired terms to give them the benefit of incumbency in upcoming elections non-partisan? The current U.S. Senate and District Court races are two examples. Did partisan pay-back influence the local court appointment?
No doubt length of service is influenced by the special interest groups whose campaign information, distorting or falsifying the facts, influences uninformed voters. A door hanger found in Helena recently promotes sitting Justice Mike Wheat as “the only candidate who will protect women’s health.” Women: what an insult to our intelligence. Another example, Justice Wheat pandered to the extreme environmentalists by casting the only dissenting vote in the issuance of 23 drilling permits.
If we are to remain a government of, by, and for the people, we must exercise our right to vote and try to know for whom and for what we are voting. To return our government to the balance of power essential to maintaining a strong and prosperous land, we must elect those individuals who possess the qualifications of serving all the people and the law to the best of their ability. I urge you first to vote, and secondly to vote for Mark Russell for District Court Judge in Lake and Sanders Counties and for Lawrence VanDyke for Montana Supreme Court.
Mimi Milheim
Dayton
