In June of this year, after much public discussion and many public hearings, the duly elected members of the Government Study Commission judged it prudent to allow voters to decide whether the election of County Commissioners should be partisan or non-partisan. However, on his third attempt in as many months, Study Commissioner Alan Thompson was successful in having that initial decision reversed.
The public understood the Study Commission’s job was to discover what county government-related issues are currently of interest to Valley residents, find what is permissible under current law, share and educate the public about their findings, and then submit those conclusions and suggestions to be voted on by Valley residents.
The reversal, so late in the process, leads some of us to wonder what has taken place out of public view. Should we assume that “partisan politics” and “behind-the-scenes coercion” were involved? That is certainly how it looks.
As it stands now and because that original judgment has been reversed, voters no longer have a choice in this important matter.
To be clear, the pertinent issue is not whether the Office of County Commissioner should be partisan or non-partisan, but whether that decision should be left to the voters.
Three members of the Study Commission have inexplicably decided that an individual’s “freedom to choose,” often touted by Valley residents and those very same Commission members to be of absolute importance, should not apply in this particular situation.
Unfortunately, it has become necessary to remind the members of the Study Commission that they were elected to positions on this Commission to (as defined by Montana State law) “study and compare,” not to make policy decisions.
Study Commission members should reconsider allowing voters to decide the question of partisan or non-partisan for the Office of County Commissioners, while keeping in mind that, any decision to remove the ability of Valley residents to vote is not democratic and does not allow qualified electors the freedom to make their own decisions. It is simply about control of the many by a very few.
Michael Hoyt
Corvallis