Support for Bedey

 by Dr. Marc L Sabin, ScD, Corvallis

Forrest Gump coined a phrase, “stupid is as stupid does.” 

That phrase accurately describes former Rep. Lyn Hellegaard’s January 20 response to David Bedey in which she attacks legislation written by Bedey.

She disagrees with him and continues to mangle, misrepresent, and malign bills she thinks she understands, but does not.

To help Lyn comprehend important and valuable legislation she obviously she does not appreciate or understand, and for Bitterrooters who are interested, here are the facts attending two bills by Representative Bedey that are continuously and improperly attacked by people such as Hellegaard: HB-402 and HB-275.

HB-402 was intended to revise Montana’s election registration laws, with a focus on how citizenship is verified for voter registration. The key provisions included:

• Requiring the Secretary of State to adopt rules for verifying citizenship status of new voter registration applicants.

• Directing the Motor Vehicle Division to assist in verification when an applicant provides a driver’s license in the application.

• Allowing a person whose citizenship status has not yet been verified to vote — meaning they can vote while verification was still pending.

• Providing rulemaking authority to implement the changes.

The stated intent behind HB-402 was to ensure that only U.S. citizens were registered while also complying with the provisions of federal law that allow legals to assert citizenship and vote if it cannot be proven that they are not citizens. You can read the NVRA at: https://www.justice.gov/crt/national-voter-registration-act-1993-nvra.

Here are the facts Hellegaard ignores: HB402, if passed would have been a crucial step in producing a means for “rapid” verification of citizenship. These tools would stand the scrutiny and testing that in the past have overturned other states’ legislation dealing with voting by non-citizens.

Bill 402 has been explained, repeatedly, in multiple forums, but Hellegaard ignores those explanations, and instead recycles the same debunked gaslighting claims she has always used. What Hellegaard doesn’t want and is not willing and/or able, to understand is that the National Voter Registration Act currently prevents states from denying ballots to people who registered but whose citizenship status is unverified. Bedey didn’t create that problem; he tried to solve it (see sections 5-10 of the bill).  

Similarly, HB275 did not give licenses to illegal aliens. It allowed lawfully present non-citizens to apply for short-term driving privilege cards, with the same testing and insurance requirements as citizens must do. This means safer roads. Got it Lyn? Do, or will, you understand? 

At some point, repeating the same falsehood stops being ignorance and becomes a choice, one that insults both the facts and the intelligence of the voters that Hellegaard claims to care about. 

Hellegaard’s problem isn’t just ideology. It’s also a lack of comprehension and a habit of reciting the gaslighting messages conveyed by her puppet masters in the various factions to which she belongs.

She is a sycophant and cohort of Sen. Theresa Manzella and former Representative and now state Senate candidate Kathy Love, both of whom have had HB402 explained to them in detail, only to have them repeate the same falsehoods they concocted to mislead Montanans. At some point, repetition stops being confusion and becomes willful ignorance and deliberate disinformation, both intended to deceive others. This insults the wisdom of the voters that Hellegaard claims to care about.

Hellegaard would have you believe Bedey is secretly ushering non-citizens into Montana polling places, with ballots in one hand and driver’s licenses in the other. She is trying to gaslight her constituents. Perhaps that explains why voters made her a former representative. The facts do not support her, so she doubles down on her falsehoods.

Hellegaard says actions speak louder than words. She’s right. Bedey’s actions and proposed bills are the result of serious legislating under real legal constraints. Her comments are fearmongering, slogans and a desperate grab for relevance.

 Montanans can read. They can think. And they can spot the nonsense in her fabrications.

David Bedey isn’t deceiving voters. He’s irritating disingenuous ideologues like Hellegaard, Love and Manzella and that, apparently, is his real offense.