Capitol Letters

Dear Folks,

By now you’ve seen or heard of last week’s veto “branding” on Montana’s Capitol steps. I stood with several other Republican legislators in an upstairs window and watched the whole spectacle. None of us wanted to add to the crowd. We didn’t want to appear on television with disgust or revulsion on our faces.

What didn’t come through during the event was that your legislators have worked 60-hour weeks trying to structure essential funding for schools, retain sustainable social programs, protect citizens and their rights, provide opportunity for business, allow for sensible resource extraction and uphold the obligations of past administrations in terms of retirement funds.

To have a collection of bills “rounded up” and rejected so pompously, complete with propane fire and branding irons makes a travesty of the hard work behind these bills. What the governor is really burning is an opportunity to return many Montanans to work.

This public veto frenzy disregarded the 150 sets of eyes and good minds that invested hundreds of hours of scrutiny, debate, amendments, conferencing and finally concurring. Not to mention the support staff who research, coordinate, proofread and bring their professional experience to the process.

Let’s not forget the input of our constituents as an important factor. Email has made citizen involvement easy, and we receive plenty of pertinent comments on the bills from folks whose lives will be affected.

Of course there is disagreement. Fifty Senate and 100 House districts have different needs and resources. But this governor has capitalized on disagreement. Rather than encourage cooperation, he has polarized folks. So far he has negated 21 bills, and he says there will be plenty more.

The governor’s flurry of vetoes is likely on its way to the highest tally on record. In 2009, Schweitzer vetoed 11 bills; then the House was split 50-50, and the Senate had a four-vote Republican majority. According to Legislative Services records, the average number of vetoes by previous governors over the past 30 years was five per session.

Last week’s blazed bills — reducing administrative regulations on business, tort reform, provisions to attract medical specialists to Montana, restricting federal funding for abortion, just to name a few — should have been given the opportunity to work for Montanans.

If undesirable consequences result, future sessions address the problems. But our current governor has wrested power from the people’s legislative branch for a big publicity grab. If the event left you thinking more about Montana’s chief executive than our hopeful future, it served its purpose.