by Pat Earnest, Stevensville
Sam Forstag recently removed his endorsements by Bernie Sanders and AOC from his website, trying to distance himself but his legislative record proves that he supports all the crazy things like defund ICE, eliminate private health insurance and raise your taxes. His lobbying at the Montana legislature shows that he wouldn’t protect girls sports, but he would allow gender-transition procedures for minors and drag shows in schools and libraries.
Sam Forstag says that he is a “working class” smokejumper and union leader. But public records reveal different. He made over $200,000 lobbying for far left-wing organizations, involving protests against law enforcement, against deportations of criminal illegal aliens and for making Montana a sanctuary state. He has lobbied against harsher penalties for cop killers, against stronger penalties for fifth and subsequent DUI convictions, and against penalties for drug dealers when the drugs they distribute cause a death.
Forstag’s lobbying income comes from fighting for Montanans to pay higher taxes and while lobbying for the City of Missoula, Forstag fought against legislation to provide property tax relief and lobbied against the voters having a say in local levies. He opposes limits on local property tax increases as well as a constitutional amendment to limit increases in property values and taxes. Is that helping Missoula people stay in their homes? He says he would have voted against no tax on tips and overtime, no on expanding tax relief for Montana seniors Social Security and against making the Child Tax Credit permanent. Sam Forstag needs to go back to Portland and give up on advocating for radical policies that would increase costs for Montanans and go against everything that we fight for.
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