by Tony Hudson, Stevensville
One might ask what motivates an individual to file a lawsuit regarding the Republican Party. For me, it’s simple. When there is a disagreement over the interpretation of a law, our system of governance resolves it in the courts of law.
I simply interpret the law as written . While I am no saint, even my hypocrisy has limits. But there are those among us who feel their character is so virtuous and their cause so righteous that the end justifies the means. They are so certain of their own correctness that if a law is broken or distorted, then obviously it must be a bad law.
For years, this country has been torn apart over questions of election integrity. None have been more vocal about it than the extremists in our own ranks. Election law is clear in order to effect the will of the voters in current elections,(13-38-205 MCA) Organization and operation of committee. (1) THE COMMITTEE SHALL MEET PRIOR TO THE STATE CONVENTION OF ITS POLITICAL PARTY AND ORGANIZE BY ELECTING A CHAIRMAN AND ONE OR MORE VICE CHAIRMEN.
Precinct committee positions are decided in primary elections by the voters of their respective parties. These men and women directly represent the voters ,in instances of vacancies at the county or state level, they are tasked with nominations to commissioners or the governor from members of their respective party.
This is the mechanism by which the state grants political parties the privilege of nominating candidates for public office. By law, this process must be open to the public.
Yet the MTGOP continues to conduct state conventions in violation of Montana law, interestingly, enough by those screaming about election integrity ..
Their justification, we are a private organization, we should make whatever rules best serve the moment . But what private organization is truly exempt from the law? Churches, corporations, and individuals are all bound by it. Why should political parties be any different?
When leadership believes it is so virtuous and its cause so righteous that the law becomes optional ..If we decide that statutes may be ignored whenever they become inconvenient, then power has no limits.
This is the oldest temptation in politics. Fortunately, our Founders understood it well. That is why they built a government not based on trust in the self-proclaimed virtuous, but on clear limits placed on the power of leaders.
The Constitution assumes that all of us , even the most righteous among us , must be governed by law.
If we ask the public to trust us with the institutions of government, we must first demonstrate that we are willing to govern ourselves according to the same rules we expect everyone else to follow.
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