It doesn’t appear that a Democrat can win the District No. 1 county commissioner general election with the climate of a disadvantage of a 70-30 voter split for the Republicans.  This seat will, ultimately, be decided by which Republican wins the June 3 primary battle between Cal Scott and Phil Mitchell.

Knowing this, why would Democrats not cross over and vote in the Republican primary instead of their own primary? After all, the other Democratic races have candidates running unopposed and there is no sense to vote for them until the general election anyway. One of the Democrats running for commissioner could even drop out of the running as a personal sacrifice.

So, the only question for Democrats is which Republican candidate will be representative of all the people of Flathead County, and not merely represent a select few Republicans?

If the three Republican county commissioners do not represent all the people, those in the unrepresented minorities in Flathead County will have to resort to civil disobedience or court litigation to have their voices heard and get a fair shake.

That will cost the county money it does not have, resulting in the necessity to raise property taxes to cover those unplanned on, unbudgeted costs. Does anyone want property taxes to go up? No? Me neither. So let’s be careful who we vote for in this county commissioner race.

In my opinion, Mitchell is surrounded by advisors who are very extreme in their attitudes to favor the wealthiest, elitist, fringe members of our local society and special interest groups.

If collectively, as a behind-the-scenes consortium, they attain this office of commissioner they will place their boot heels on the throat of those who are the middle class and downtrodden amongst us.

For one example, expect a continuing polarized political war between the county and the city of Whitefish over issues like the Critical Areas Ordinance, the doughnut area, and the Highway 93 corridor zoning regulations entering and exiting Whitefish. We already see litigation over those issues in the courts currently…which is unaffordable.

From what we know about Scott, he has spent his entire 40 year career in finance and the real estate businesses whereby he has developed his independent, individual attitude for the protection of property rights, water claims rights, and represented all people equally as his professional licensures required him to do. He is his own man.

I worked alongside him at Ted Dykstra Real Estate where he also served as the president of the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors and chaired their Government Affairs Committee that I also was a member of. In his spare time, Cal taught classes at Flathead Valley Community College to inform the general public of their property rights, which I attended.

While serving his current term, as the incumbent in this race, he has an open door policy for everyone in the county, and publishes his personal email address and cellphone number to all. He tries to resolve issues personally, in attempts to avoid costly litigation, by listening to all the people.

In his capacity as your county commissioner, Cal attends meetings involving national forest management planning committees for the protection of our wildlife and lakes and rivers, which I also serve on and have observed his valuable contributions.

He also is tireless in his endeavors to help the less fortunate and needy women and children among us, as well as our returning military service personnel requiring assistance in assimilating back into civilian society. And unlike his political rival, Mitchell, he makes his own decisions and has been a civil servant for all of the people.

Now I am not a Republican, and Scott will always be a Republican, but as an independent I do recommend the highly experienced incumbent, consummate professional Cal Scott for re-election to reasonably represent all of us.

Cut this article out to save it for the June 3 primary election and to show it to all of your friends.

— Bill Baum, Badrock Canyon