Senate District 44 candidates

by Jeff Darrah, Stevensville

With the arrival of the political season candidates are making their rounds and manufacturing justification for their voting records being called into question. 

I have followed comments recently made by some Ravalli County’s Senate District 44 candidates regarding their stances on House Bill 372, that would have strengthened Article IX, Section 7 of our Montana State Constitution. HB-372, if passed, would have gone on the ballot to allow Montana citizens to decide the issue.

Article IX, Section 7 currently reads that there will be an opportunity to harvest wild game and fish. There is a very big difference between providing an opportunity and making it a right. Twenty-six states in America have some sort of Constitutional right to hunt and fish, and Montana’s Article IX, Section 7 is very weak.

More than 20 sportsman and landowner organizations supported HB-372 including Montana Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, Foundation for Wildlife Management, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Back Country Hunters and Anglers, Outdoor Heritage Coalition, Safari Club International, Montana Outfitters & Guides Association, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, and many others. 

During the process the bill was amended to further strengthen private property rights, causing some opponents to withdraw their opposition. HB-372 has very similar language that Idaho and 16 other states have in their constitutions.

Rep. Rusk is on the Judiciary Committee where this bill was first heard and as an original sponsor of the bill, he cast his vote to pass it out of executive committee where amendments were added. The bill advanced to second and third reading, but something happened that caused Rep. Rusk to inexplicably change his vote to “no” on a bill he had endorsed as a sponsor of and a bill he voted yes on out of committee.  

To place HB-372 on the ballot 100 affirmative votes were required. HB-372 failed because only 94 Republicans voted for it and a few voted against it as did all the Democrats. It was a frustrating defeat and mystifying as to why some Republicans reversed their original positions.

Well, there were suspicions, speculation, and questions such as, what deals were made? Was there a quid pro quo? However, at the time there was no proof of what happened, so I chalked it up to politics.

But now, new information has emerged. Recently I attended a meeting on 3-11-24 sponsored by Foot Loose Montana in Missoula. During the meeting Bob Carter, a Democrat Representative from HD 98, stood up to speak. What he said explained what happened with HB-372 and the several defectors from the bill. Representative Carter stated that eight Democrats from Missoula worked with three of the Republican legislators from Ravalli County to kill 19 constitutional amendments, one of them being HB-372. Representative Carter stated that Ravalli County has three very moderate Republicans that they were able to work with. 

He then stated the Democrats of Missoula are in contact with some of these Republicans in Ravalli County because some of them are taking heat for their voting records.

It clearly makes me want to do more homework on voting records prior to the next election so I know who to trust. I can tell you that Senator Manzella sponsored and consistently voted for HB-372.

All HB-372 would have done is let the citizens of Montana decide what is right for Montana, but we were denied our chance to vote because a few Republicans were swayed by Missoula Democrats.