Beware of out-of-state special interests

For the decade-plus I have served, I have consistently refused to be intimidated into taking votes or signing pledges demanded by out-of-area special interest groups, insisting instead to always review legislation while listening to those I represent. Sadly, Montana, with its low population, is considered a "cheap date," thus is a favorite place for out-of-state "policy tanks" to lobby outcomes and do legislative experiments. Consider for example this past summer when Stanford and Dartmouth University used Montana's Supreme Court Race for a "political mailer experiment," sending in thousands of flier's intent upon measuring their ability to impact our judicial election outcome.

This month another out-of-state centered special interest group, Americans for Prosperity, founded by Kansas billionaires David and Charles Koch, began pouring resources into Montana to tell us how we should think. AFP has hired 11 staff members to "bully" the Montana legislature on certain policy issues. They are calling, mailing, and arranging meetings across Montana, attempting to "vilify" any discussion of a Montana-made Medical solution as "evil Obama Care" and targeting those that refused to sign their "pledge."

Imagine your legislator serving in the Capitol hundreds of miles away, while the AFP sends post cards to his neighbors back home, (with his face superimposed over Barack Obama's), inviting those neighbors to a local meeting to listen while out-of-state activists bash that Legislator. That happened in several Montana communities this month, and it is just not right.

An organization like AFP cares not that local hospital boards have asked for help keeping their doors open. They care not that charity care is bankrupting rural medicine. They care not that our lack of a rural solution to non-insured emergency room care is driving insurance premiums and health care costs out of reach.

Saturday, upon arriving home to watch my grandchildren's wrestling tournament, I was immediately approached by a couple local residents who received attack calls against local Rep. Christy Clark. The question I suggest asking these callers is, "Who is paying you to do this? Why is out-of-state money so involved in our local state affairs?" Or perhaps, "Could you tell me the name of my local hospital, where it is located, and a local doctor?"

I resent this foreign intrusion deeply. Decisions on complicated legislative issues are hard, often supported by some I represent, and opposed by others. It is the right of Montana folks to share their concerns and thoughts with me, and it is my obligation to listen and factor in their concerns. However, to have local folks misled by one-sided, twisted facts driven by a hidden out-of-state agenda represents a very ugly dark side of purchased politics.

Irrespective of your stance on this, or any issue, these intruders need to get out of Montana politics. I know that I now consider any issue or individual that AFP advocates for or against as highly suspect. To me these folks are on the same level as the predator who called my 89-year-old mother last week, pretending to be her grandson, supposedly trapped in a "bad situation" in New York, desperately needing her help, which was defined as $900 on her credit card. "Please Grandma, don't tell anyone." How despicable. ... It took my son calling, and me talking to her, to finally calm her down, but she is still very upset and confused.

Predators: Get out of Montana; we do not want you here. We can take care of our own.

My quote for this week is from Adolph Hitler, "If you tell a big enough lie, and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed."

It is my sincerest hope, and prayer, that the Montana Legislature will base its decisions on the truth, and what is best for Montanans.

(State Sen. Llew Jones is a Republican from Conrad.)