To County Commissioners:

by Archie L. Thomas, Corvallis

I have never witnessed a greater lost listening opportunity than by Representative Zinke’s delegation during the 1/28/26 commissioners’ meeting. The disregard for public input or listening was palpable. In these times what did the commission expect when 50 members of the public attend a meeting expecting an interaction with a congressional delegation and public comment is limited to four people?

 Dan, you had a commitment requiring meeting adjournment and Jeff was on vacation so no further formal county business could be completed. It is understandable why early adjournment was required. This meeting could have been turned into a town hall format allowing meaningful public input. Instead it became a headline selling newspaper article that missed the reality of unresponsive local government spiced with unneeded law enforcement involvement.

Why did five of Zinke’s people, when attending a local meeting, stand in the hall, not introduced by the commission or themselves and ignore 50 people under the excuse of a busy schedule? Were they too busy or ashamed to be identified to the public? Three delegation members were from Washington DC, they really made this trip to Montana not allowing time in their schedule to listen to the voters? I suspect taxpayers paid for this delegation plus travel expenses to be in Hamilton. 

This public escalation falls squarely on Greg’s and the delegation’s management of the meeting after adjournment. I assume the delegation’s minimum purpose was to inform the county about the status of legislation and funding affecting county operations. The public witnessed a short verbal love fest between Zinke’s delegation and Greg. Greg’s concerns about legislation and funding shortfalls were not followed up by meaningful questions requiring concrete answers.  Nor was the public asked for input. If Greg’s inquiry of the delegation ran long would they have said, “Sorry Greg, we need to go”? A public comment period could have been implemented as the love fest was already cut short due to the public’s presence.

Contempt shown by the Zinke delegation, indifference and disinterest shown by the county commission, exemplifies why American citizens feel they have no control or say.