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Dear John xxxxxx,
In case you missed it, please read and share A.J. Otjen’s letter to the editor!
A.J. Otjen: GOP gives us horrible choices to send to DC
August 25th, 2022
In Montana, east or west, the Republicans give us horrible choices to send to Washington. In the west we have the affable ambitious empty brain that is Ryan Zinke. So ambitious that he is not immune to corruption to achieve power. So affable that his exaggerations of his resume become outright lies. So empty that his plan is nothing but dog whistles and old headlines. He associates himself with heroes like firefighters and medal of honor winners, trying to deflect us from the albatross that he hung around his neck named Donald Trump.
In the east we don’t even have affable. Matt Rosendale is that guy, that type of neighbor that wouldn’t call you to let you know your beloved family dog was on his property. No. He would just shoot it. Then he would brag about his rights under “Article II.” He often gets that mixed up with the Second Amendment.
On August 9, 2022, Zinke posted, “As of today, we are in a police state where the FBI and IRS can do whatever they want without cause…Outrageous and Shameful.”
Rosendale said, the DOJ “has been weaponized to go after the Left’s political opponents.”
Both of them lie to inflame the ignorant. They know the FBI had a warrant based on evidence to search the former president’s home. But our Montana Party is all in with autocracy and corruption. They have to lie to cover up failure and the horrific behavior of those with whom they associate. Their only option is to divide angry sycophants from civil society and drive them further down into the abyss of hate.
There is no integrity, no honor -- no home for respected, thinking Republicans.
It would be Montana’s shame and embarrassment to send Zinke, a man who has failed us twice to Washington. The rest of the country would think we are dumb hayseeds that have been conned again by a lying but affable, failure.
Worse it would be our guilt to send Rosendale back with a record that contributes to the craziest of the crazies, now known for aligning himself with conspiracy theorists like Marjorie Taylor Greene. His record is nonsensible. He voted against the House resolution in support of Ukraine. He racked up one of the worst records on veterans in the Montana legislature. According to the League of Conservation Voters, “Matt Rosendale poses such an enormous risk to Montana’s public lands that LCV Victory Fund put him on the Dirty Dozen — the list that targets some of the most anti-environment candidates.”
But there is hope. In the east, many Montana Republicans including Dave Lewis, Marc Racicot and Bob Brown endorsed Gary Buchanan, an Independent long time Montana successful business leader, Commerce and Banking Director and fisherman.
In the west, Susan Good Geise, who served as chair of the Republican Party in the early 1990s endorsed Monica Tranel, a real Montana rancher, Missoula attorney, and Olympic athlete. As Zinke barely won the Republican primary, we know almost 60% of Republicans want someone else. Tranel is an extremely attractive someone else.
Other Republicans like Daines and Gianforte would endorse a rattle snake if it’s a Republican. They have no choice with a home full of vipers. That is how most Republicans think and vote.
I’m in the east and proudly support Gary Buchanan. He will go to Washington and redeem us, all of us, as a state with intelligence and integrity. A big state, a home, soon to be known as independent.
A.J. Otjen traces her Republican roots to her great-uncle Theobald Otjen, congressman from Wisconsin in 1905, and her grandfather William Otjen of Oklahoma. She teaches courses at the College of Business at Montana State University-Billings and has a PhD in social sciences.
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