Dark money, extremists

by Stephen Leuchtman 

Dark money placards are filling your mailbox, cluttering the ads on your YouTube feed. It  takes a moment, yeah, it’s an election year, but for crying out loud, it’s early March, why are  these people spamming me with political ads already?  

The address on those placards you’re getting in the mail are some made up group in Lewistown, but it’s really extremists from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas that are trying to  influence Montana elections with non-Montana values.  

The dark money, out of state extremists have launched a Civil War, and here in Ravalli County, we’re getting to see it up close and personal. They want to end a century of progress, and it isn’t good for Ravalli County, and specifically it isn’t good for Senate District 43, which is  why I’m running as a Democrat for that seat.  

The focal point of this stream of attacks on a four-term State Representative is Medicaid expansion. The out-of-state extremists are backing fellow out-of-state extremists like Kathy Love and Theresa Manzella, because they buy into the antirural, anti-Montana agenda of these rich out  of staters.  

Here’s the facts: Medicaid expansion covers roughly 30% of residents of Ravalli County.  

In 2024, Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital (Bitterroot Health) took in $141m in revenue,  and had $134m in expenses. Medicaid payments were 18% of the revenue ($28m). In itself, that’s the difference between a small operating profit and a huge operating loss. But it is worse than that, here’s why: Medicaid payments are really best understood as subsidies to help  hospitals make sure they don’t go broke. Hospitals are required to treat anyone who presents themselves. Without Medicaid expansion, there were over 40 hospitals in Montana on the verge of bankruptcy, prior to the Affordable Care Act.  

Extremists like Love and Manzella like to say they want to let the market take care of the distortions in health care policy. This betrays a lack of understanding: of how markets work and how people consume health care. It is fundamentally unserious and betrays their lack of seriousness about all policy.  

If you’re having a heart attack or a stroke, you don’t shop on ambulances or hospitals.  Most people can’t shop for even routine health care because prices are negotiated with insurers on an insurer-by-insurer basis, and hospitals won’t negotiate with individuals. In an emergency situation, time is of an essence, and too frequently, rural residents die of treatable conditions because of things like ambulance response times even with local clinics and hospitals.  

This is life and death for people in the south end of the valley. If you’re having a heart attack in Darby, out the West Fork, in Connor, or in Sula, the difference between living and dying  is rapid care to stabilize the situation. If we stripped the Medicaid expansion as Rep. Love and  Sen. Manzella have promised, Bitterroot Health will have to shut down clinics and cut back on  services. In the mid term, they may have to shut the hospital. To a person having a heart attack or  stroke in Darby or Sula, that’s likely a death sentence.  

For those of us from the Bitterroot Valley, the rise of people like Manzella and Love is puzzling, they don’t represent the community values we grew up with, where most of town  would turn up for a football game on Friday night in Hamilton or Corvallis or Saturday afternoon  in Darby. The only reason they have thrived is because of rich out-of-staters who want to fundamentally change Montana to make it more like their places. 

I am running for SD 43 as a Democrat, regardless of who my general election opponent  is, I intend to run a principled and reasoned campaign based on three simple concepts: tax fairness for working Montanans, rural health care and affordability. I have no illusions, though, if the voters of my district succumb to the dark money fearmongering aimed at my state  Representative, those same out of state billionaires will try the dark art of personal destruction on  me as well.  

You, as voters in District 43, and HD 84, 85 and 86, can tell them no. Say no to the politics of distortion and personal destruction. In all four districts, honorable public servants and good people are running against extremists funded by out of state dark money interests. Tell the dark money billionaires: you don’t represent me, I won’t let you hurt my community with your lies and half truths. The tactics of personal destruction and hatred won’t sway my vote.  

You have a choice, vote for people who actually represent your interests, not out of state  extremists, funded by billionaires from other places. 

Stephen Leuchtman is a Democrat candidate for Senate Dist. 43.