Rusk a contender for House District 88

Local Republican Wayne Rusk has filed for the legislative seat in House District 88 located in the north Bitterroot Valley. Rusk is 52 years old. He has lived in the Bitterroot for 30 years. He and his wife Carrie have been married 25 years and have two children.

He currently serves as co-chair of the Ravalli County Collaborative, and is Elections Vice-Chair on the Republican Central Committee. Rusk is an avid hunter and fisherman.

He is a self-employed tradesman with deep roots in the Stevensville community and brings a lifelong interest and several years of local involvement to the race.

“I met a lady at CJ’s last weekend who knew my great-grandfather,” he said. “He was a baker, and also worked in real estate—long before the boom. In my youth I recall him relating a story of his being bucked off his horse when the engineer tied the whistle open on the train to celebrate the end of World War I. He could remember when the Titanic sank, and the day Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic; I would query him at length about it, captivated by the history he had witnessed in his 92 years.”

Rusk is running on a platform of fiscal conservatism. He is pro-Life, and a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment. He believes in responsible forest management and is against mandates. 

Rusk is a Constitutional conservative who says he will bring an optimistic spirit to the challenges we face in Ravalli County and beyond.

“I grew up in the 80’s, when the Republican Party was firing on all cylinders,” said Rusk. “As a party, we need to remember that conservatism is a set of proportions, as well as a set of principles. Reagan understood this, and it commended him to the American people. He achieved unprecedented bipartisan support for true conservatism.”

“As a Constitutional conservative I stand for the most liberty that is consistent with law and order,” said Rusk, “in sharp contrast to my single issue opponent, who, in his own words, is for ‘nullification, nullification, nullification.’”

What is nullification?

“Nullification takes its rise from a profound misconstruction of the 10th Amendment,” said Rusk. “Intended as a general assignment of powers and responsibilities at the tail end of the Bill of Rights, the 10th Amendment is instead hammered into the anti-legislative agenda of extremists to both the far right and the far left. Nullification is as foreign to the Constitution as the rule of law is to lawlessness. It has always been (and always will be) ruled unconstitutional—for obvious reasons, and it nearly cost us our nation at the Civil War. This is not case law, it is the law. Remember, just as sin, when it matures, brings forth death, so nullification, when it matures, brings forth secession, and the death of a nation.”

“Meanwhile, back within the pale of the Republican platform,” said Rusk, “I am a Constitutional conservative who is committed to both the spirit and the letter of the Founders, and will never support ‘silver bullets’ that promise a quick fix by a radical few.”

When asked to account for his optimism amid the seemingly insoluble questions we face, Rusk stated that the answer is writ large on the back of every dollar we spend (In God We Trust): “Immediately after the Civil War, our forefathers realized that while it was Lincoln’s leadership and the Union Army’s valor that won the war, it was the  hand of Providence that kept us together. They insisted on keeping the fact before our notice on every bill and every coin.”

Rusk will face Alan Lackey in the Primary Election on June 7th. Mail ballots will go out on May 13th.

The candidates will be speaking at the Lincoln-Reagan Dinner on April 16th at the First Interstate Building in Hamilton. Rusk has tickets available for anyone interested in attending.

“I am running to unite the conservative community of Ravalli County—and beyond,” said Rusk.

Rusk invites people to reach out if they have questions or comments. His number is 406-370-8486. “Let’s talk,” he said.