Senate candidates blast Tester

Several Republicans looking to unseat Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., blasted him Sunday night at the Blaine and Hill county Republican central committees'

Lincoln-Reagan Dinner for not supporting the agenda of President Donald Trump.

The slew of attacks against Tester, a farmer from west of Big Sandy, comes as he is running for a third term to the U.S. Senate.

Tester is one of a handful of Democrats being targeted by Republicans in states Trump carried in 2016.

State Sen. Al Olszewski, R-Kalispell, one of five candidates seeking the party's nomination to take on Tester, said Sunday that he is often asked on the campaign trail how the Republicans will defeat Tester.

"And it is simple. We take him on on the issues and we make him accountable for how he voted," he said.

A Tester campaign spokesperson said in an email Monday, that Tester would continue to serve the people of Montana.

"Jon Tester has worked with President Trump to pass 12 bills into law for Montana, and he won't stop fighting for better schools and jobs, and for Montana's veterans. Jon will keep holding government accountable to Montana, and defending the Montana that three generations of his family have called home," Chris Meagher said.

Olszewski, a physician and U.S. Air Force veteran, said that Tester last voted like a Republican in the year running up to his election in 2012 but this year feels so confident that he will be re-elected that he is not moderating his voting record.

"And you know what? That has got to stop," he said.

Olszewski said that Tester claims to be a champion of public lands, but that

access to more than 200,000 miles of public land has remained blocked.

A patient recently asked him why he can't take his grandson fishing where his grandfather used to take him fishing when he was a child Olszewski said.

Olszewski also bashed Tester, who sits on the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, for a provision inserted in the VA Accountability Act that allows anyone who has served in the military for as little as a year to receive care paid for by the federal government even if that injury is not connected to their military service.

"I can tell you, that is going to mean there will be less money for those vets that are truly disabled and have PTSD, that have amputations they are going to have to wait in a longer line to get taken care of."

Three other candidates who were scheduled to speak at the dinner but were not able to attend due to road conditions caused by snowy weather.

Kevin Gardner, campaign manager for candidate Troy Downing, read a letter from his candidate to the crowd.

"Jon Tester will never be a vote in the United States Senate to protect life, to reduce your taxes, to repeal Obamacare or advance President Trump's America First agenda," Gardner said reading from the letter.

In the letter, Downing, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served in Afghanistan and a business man from Big Sky, said that having Tester in the Senate meaning "the American dream is at risk."

He said that Tester's vote against the Job and Tax Act 2017 was an example of how Tester is beholden to special interests rather than Montanans.

"Jon Tester has failed Montanans and is beholden to special interests," Downing said in the letter,

Downing added that Montana voters need to stop sending career politicians to Washington, D.C.

Blaine County Republican Central Committee Chair Don Richman read from a letter sent by state Auditor Matt Rosendale.

Rosendale, a former majority leader in the Montana Senate, touted his conservative record in the letter.

"You sent me to Helena to reduce spending, to reduce onerous regulations and defend your rights and that is exactly what I have done," he wrote.

Rosendale wrote that his office has been working to combat what he calls "the disaster of Obamacare."

He promised that there would be change if he gets the nomination and unseats Tester in the fall.

"No more will we have a senator that says no to tax cuts for the people of Montana, nor will our senator be placing the interests of illegal immigrants over the interests of our children and service people," Rosendale wrote.

"We need a senator who means business and will stand and take the tough votes for our state. who will do what they say they are going to do," he said.

He also mentioned the endorsements he has received from such nationally known lawmakers such as Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Rand Paul, R-KY, and Mike Lee, R-Utah as well as more than 30 Montana legislators.

Hill County Republican Central Committee Chair Andrew Brekke read from a letter from candidate Russ Fagg.

Fagg, a retired Yellowstone County District judge and former member of the Montana House of Representatives, wrote that his campaign is Montana-focused.

Fagg said he has the endorsements of former Govs. Judy Martz, Marc Racicot and Stan Stephens as well as former U.S. Reps. Rick Hill and Denny Rehberg.

"I am not seeking out-of-state endorsements or claiming that I need them to win in November," he said in then letter.

Fagg attacked Tester, saying the senator "showed his true colors when he did not stand and applaud during the State of the Union Address, when Trump recognized Preston Sharp, a 12-year-old boy who began an effort to place 40,000 flags at the graves of U.S. soldiers."

Fagg criticized Tester's vote on a bill that would cut off funds to sanctuary cities, municipalities that do not turn undocumented immigrants over to federal agencies. The bill failed to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

He said that a friend of his had recently told him that Tester had been "Pelosified," a reference to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a favorite target of conservatives.

"It's time for liberalism to go the way of socialism and be seen for what it is, a failed ideology," he said.