The truth matters

by Tony Hudson, Stevensville

Theresa Manzella, candidate for reelection in Senate District 44, loudly proclaims “Voting Records Matter.” Fair enough. So do ethics. But when it comes to ethical behavior, she consistently falls short.

Manzella’s boast of being a “Christian, constitutional conservative” is contradicted by the sleazy attacks on her political opponents she orchestrates on social media; her embrace of the John Birch Society’s unconstitutional hobbyhorse, nullification of federal law; and her totalitarian demand—which she makes as the de facto head of the Ravalli County “Republican” Central Committee—that Republican legislators (and candidates) swear an unqualified loyalty oath to the Montana GOP Platform, which is an affront to America’s Founders.

And don’t forget that last legislative session a bill (HB 412) had to be passed to plug a loophole in Montana ethics laws that Manzella willfully exploited during the 2022 campaign season.

During the current primary campaign, Manzella is at it again. Case in point is her attack on Wayne Rusk and other legislators for their support of HB 402, a bill that would have required verification of citizenship for those registering to vote. She claims that the motive of the bill’s supporters was to allow noncitizens to vote. This is dishonest nonsense.

Manzella neglects to share with you the following facts:

First, per federal law all a person need do to prove citizenship when registering to vote is sign a registration form—henceforth in the eyes of the law that person must be treated as a U.S. citizen until proven otherwise, and until then must be allowed to vote without any interference.

Second, efforts by other states, e.g., Kansas and Arizona, to require citizenship verification for federal elections have been struck down on constitutional grounds (the Supremacy Clause and the 14th Amendment). Consequently, some unknown number of noncitizens are voting in Montana’s elections and elsewhere across the country.

And third, HB 402 was carefully drafted to overcome the courts’ constitutional objections, so that noncitizens voting in our elections might be caught and punished—and others might be deterred from trying to do so.

HB 402 was supported by a few Democrats and many Republicans but in the end went down to defeat on the last day of the legislative session. So today we are back to where we started—no citizenship verification in Montana and as a result some unknown number of noncitizens continue to vote with near impunity in our elections. Manzella and her crew have offered no solution to this problem.  Instead, they have chosen to mislead you. Maybe that’s because telling the truth stands in the way of their political aspirations.