Ads against I-181 misleading

Editor,

Two weeks before the election, the MEA-MFT’s national organization dumped $528,000 into inaccurate and misleading ads against I-181, the Montana Biomedical Research Fund. This legislation could aid virtually every Montana family, covering everything from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, MS and strokes to diabetes, PTSD, depression, autism and addictions. One would hope that $528,000 at the last minute can’t dupe Montanans into voting against their own best interests.

Montanans need to speak, and the initiative process is our way to do so. The Legislature can then do its job and figure out whether and how they will fund this specific expression of the peoples’ will. If the AFL-CIO and other special interests then want to pursue their claim of unconstitutionality, they can do that, asking the Montana Supreme Court to do its job and make that determination. But the feasibility or constitutionality of I-181 is not a determination that the voters are, or should be, asked to make on this ballot initiative.

We have an aging population with ever-growing care costs — costs that will far outweigh the net expense of I-181. Montana currently is using very little of its bonding capacity, and several bonds will be retired in the next decade. The payback of the $20 million in bonds per year requested by I-181 is one-half of 1 percent of the state general fund. Given the current and projected costs of all the diseases and disorders that can be addressed with these funds, we can’t afford not to approve I-181.

Sara Walsh

Augusta