My Green Party campaign for Cascade County Commissioner 2002
Issues Summary
Here is a short summary of the issues which I have determined are most important to the voters of Cascade County.
I invite your questions, comments, and concerns.
1. Environment, economy and land-use policy
Sustainable economic development is the key to Montana's future. We cannot have a healthy economy without protecting the environment for future generations. A conservation ethic is essential to the management of public resources. We can halt global warming by a rapid transition to wind-generated electricity (converted to hydrogen for transportation and fuel cell use) in place of fossil fuels and nuclear power, strict fuel efficiency standards, passive solar building codes for new construction, and generous tax credits for retrofitting and conservation, creating thousands of permanent construction jobs in Montana. We can solve the endless conflicts over public lands by a moratorium on commercial exploitation (mining, drilling, logging) and the eventual repatriation of most public lands to Native American use, habitation, and control. This will increase the value of privately-held natural resources, while preserving the rest for the benefit of future generations. "Future focus" is one of the Green Party's 10 Key Values.
I favor state legislation and county-level prohibition of coal-bed methane development and production, which Gallatin County has already implemented. We may have a local superfund site due to improper cleanup of the Anaconda smelter area, along with thousands -- perhaps millions -- of tons of toxic waste dumped in the Missouri River over the years. I pledge to stop the coverups, and hold those responsible strictly accountable.
Agriculture vs. Corporate Monopoly Agribusiness
Federal agriculture subsidies should be limited to family-owned farms and the people who actually work the land, not absentee landlords and corporate agribusinesses. Subsidies should only be available to farmers who employ sustainable agriculture methods, produce safe food, and pay living wages.
We must act quickly to maintain the safety and quality of our agricultural exports. Thus, I favor county-wide encouragement of organic agriculture, banning genetically modified organisms (GMO's), and the discontinuation of chemical weed and insect control by the County. Chemical weed and mosquito abatement costs over $700,000 a year, while biological controls are known to work more cheaply and effectively.
2. Interlocal agreements and the hierarchy of authority
The issue of the Fairgrounds and other "interlocal agreements" has made us very aware of the need to maintain friendly, constructive working relationships between the City of Great Falls and Cascade County. There is more than enough blame to go around. In the last grant cycle, the City Commission rejected a valid application from the Indian Family Health Clinic to purchase office space, while approving one for a new fence for the Fairgrounds for a similar amount of money. This is the kind of "leadership" we have come to expect from our business-dominated local governments. In 2006, voters will be able to decide on whatever changes in local government are deemed appropriate.
On the state level, there is a financial crisis due to the erosion of our tax base. We must increase taxes for all who are able to afford them. Economic growth is dependent on excellence in education, infrastructure spending, and a reduction in poverty, substance abuse, and violent crime. In the past legislative session, the City and County hired lobbyists in Helena who supported nearly every corporate tax break and giveaway presented. As your County Commissioner, I will work closely with our delegation in Helena to make sure that mistakes like the hospital merger and the sell-off of Montana Power assets (policies which these two lobbyists, as former public officials, emphatically supported) do not happen, again.
3. The Cascade County jail mill levy, prisons policy, and the "war on drugs."
We opposed the construction of the new Regional Detention Facility several years ago, warning that it was part of a concerted effort sponsored by the prison industry, contractors, and suppliers who were "educating" voters and legislators to substitute punishment and incarceration for mental health care, jobs, and other welfare services and programs. I publicly opposed the Jail Mill Levy in June, and will continue to oppose the persistent efforts of Sheriff Strandell to increase his budget relative to other county services. By eliminating GED and drug counseling programs in the jail, he has demonstrated that his main interest is in maintaining current levels of crime, drug abuse, and incarcerations -- not in reducing them.
I will use the position of County Commissioner to support a drug policy of "harm reduction", which includes meaningful counseling, education, treatment plans, and community-based programs. Punishment and prohibition have increased the use of harmful drugs while drastically increasing law enforcement costs and violent crime.We oppose the mandatory minimum sentencing and "three strikes you're out" policies promoted by the prison industry. We now lock up 5-10 times as many people per capita as Western European countries or Japan.
4. Economic development and dependency on federal spending
Tax cuts and subsidies for the wealthy have not contributed to economic development. Local shopping centers, box stores, and other businesses are owned by out of state interests. They have put hundreds of local stores, restaurants, and others out of business, siphoning tens of millions of dollars out of our local economy.
City and county governments supported energy deregulation, sell-off of local Montana Power assets, lowering property taxes on the dams, and the construction of the new gas-fired plant north of Great Falls, which triples the cost of our electricity, while the cheapest hydropower is sold out of state. Our natural gas prices will increase dramatically when this power plant goes on line. My opponents remain silent on this policy, when they are not actively supporting it. Our only remaining option is to support I-145 to buy back the dams and keep the cheapest electricity available for local businesses and consumers.
We need to promote local investments in renewable energy, processing and distribution for local agriculture products, exportable professional services, and "value added" manufacturing which we own and control. Co-ops and worker-owned businesses should be given preference in every case.
5. Military Spending and the Malmstrom Doomsday Machine
We must begin extensive planning to "convert" Malmstrom Air Force Base to peaceful, productive purposes, and make sure our congressional delegation supports this effort. We have no interest in the phony "war on terrorism," and nuclear weapons make us less secure and a target for terrorists who would otherwise leave us alone. I have a number of ideas, including but not limited to the following: a Native American University, International Peace Academy (with Cold War Interpretive Center), and/or home base for an "Ecological Defense Corps" which would monitor and enforce environmental policies (a revival of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930's). These could bring in the same federal dollars without the negative consequences of being "a nuclear garrison town."
6. Public radio, free public television, and the cultural infrastructure
We are the only Montana city without free, broadcast PBS and Montana Public Television. In 1992, I organized a local effort to obtain a translator for Montana Public Television. KUSM from Bozeman promised it by 1994. As a County Commissioner, I will begin immediately to obtain cable-free educational television for Cascade County and the surrounding area. [One of the few "issues" listed here which has actually been accomplished. PHS-2018].
I have been a public radio fan and volunteer announcer since 1971. I volunteered at KUFM, Missoula in 1979, and was a founding member and later Vice-president (1987-89) of the Great Falls Public Radio Association. I encouraged (and volunteered more than 500 hours to bring about) the expansion of KGPR to become an independent local public radio station with additional signals from KUFM, KEMC, and a Native American station on their own frequencies. Most Montana cities have a choice between two or more public radio stations, and an independent local station would greatly facilitate economic development and educational and cultural opportunities.
I have long been an advocate for increased support for the broader cultural infrastructure of libraries, museums, Native American culture centers, community bands and symphonies, public broadcasting, lyceums, community theater, book discussion groups, and other lifelong learning opportunities.
6. Labor and incomes policy: living wage, minimum wage, and welfare spending
The rapid widening of the distribution of income over the past three decades has dramatically increased the number of people -- especially families with children -- living in poverty. The rich got richer, and the poor got the shaft. In order to be comparable to what it was in the 1960's, the minimum wage should be increased to at least $7.50 an hour. A "living wage" for a single parent with one child in Montana is calculated to be about $9.00 an hour, along with free, comprehensive health care, day care, and other essentials which most civilized countries provide. Local "living wage" ordinances have been enacted by nearly a hundred cities or counties nationwide.
Here in Cascade County, we must provide for our people, regardless of what other levels of government do or fail to do. By continually promoting military and law enforcement spending instead of decent wages and social services, our local governments have been highly irresponsible in serving the needs and interests of our people.
7. Campaign and election reform
We must always put good government above partisan advantage. Green Party candidates do not take PAC money from corporations or special interest groups. We advocate a reform called Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) which allows us to give first and second choices, thus ensuring that a vote, say, for Ross Perot would not have benefited Bill Clinton. We also favor "fusion" where one candidate can be nominated by more than one party, and proportional representation which gives all significant parties seats in the legislature. We support access of all qualified candidates to debates, and an equal playing field for media campaigns which are uniform and subject to veracity checks and rebuttal. We oppose commercial advertising for and against candidates in the broadcast media. Elections determined by saturation advertising are not democratic.
Vote Yes on I-145 to Buy Back the Dams!
It is vitally important that you vote YES on I-145 to Buy Back the Dams and provide Montana residents and small businesses with the cheapest electricity available. More than 99% of the $2 million plus advertising campaign against I-145 is provided by the two out-of-state corporations which have raised our electricity rates by $300 million over the next 5 years. They are lying to us with money they stole from us. We can reverse this abuse of corporate power. We must face the fact that the Legislature in Helena (along with the Montana Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO) are dominated by corporate lobbyists who have robbed us of our cheap electricity, our clean and healthy environment, our tax base, affordable health care, and our quality public education system.
Don't let them get away with it! The dams have already been "taken over," and tax rates for these out of state corporations were drastically cut in the last Legislature. I-145 will increase our local tax base from electricity generation, and restore ownership to the people of Montana. Don't be fooled by false advertising. Yes, they can legally lie, and there's nothing we can do about it except to vote YES on I-145. [No good news on this front. I spent hundreds of hours on this issue, with no positive consequences.]
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