I just moved to Kalispell and have thought a great deal about which politicians should get my vote. As a proud new resident of Montana, I want to know that I’m voting for politicians who represent Montanans and our interests.

A tool that helped me make up my mind is a nonpartisan website of fundraising data, www.opensecrets.org, which collects data from candidates’ mandatory federal reports. On this site, any citizen of any political persuasion can find out, for example, which Russian-born oil magnate is giving to which presidential candidate, or which Wall Street executive has given to his rival.  

This website helped me decide who deserves my vote for our one precious congressional seat. After only a few minutes looking at OpenSecrets data for the campaigns of Denise Juneau and Ryan Zinke, my conclusion came quickly: When it comes to who is paying the bills, there is something stinky about Ryan Zinke.

Let’s just set ideology and partisanship aside for a few minutes. To which politician does my vote and voice matter more? To Ryan Zinke who has raised $3.5 million from wealthy donors? Or to Denise Juneau, who has raised only $1.1 million? Since we only have one congressperson, I think my vote and voice is worth three times as much with the person who has only raised one-thirds the funds from wealthy donors. This isn’t politics, this is math: I get more bang for the buck with Juneau.

But the devil is in the details. I just moved here and I want a congressional representative who represents Montana. It seems clear who has bigger incentives to represent Montana: Where Zinke gets 78 percent of his funds from outside of the great state of Montana, Juneau only gets 38 percent from outside of state. It’s sad that money matters so much in our democracy, but I’ll vote for someone who is more likely to serve my state and not outside interests.

But let’s follow the money right to its source. Of all those firms who have showered generosity upon Zinke, donors from Oasis Petroleum have given him the most at $20,200. (That’s almost half the median household income in Montana!)

There is no organization who has given Juneau that much, so we have to get creative. She got $10,000 from teachers, $10,000 from firefighters, and $10,000 from electrical workers. I know teachers here in Montana, I know fire fighters, and I have already hired an electrician in my three months in Montana. I’m less bothered that Juneau has been bought by these interests, but I am much more bothered that Zinke is bought by Oasis Petroleum, an $800 million company based out of Houston, Texas. Where are the Montana values in that?  

By contrast, League of Conservation Voters gave Juneau $5,749. It’s obvious which candidate is going to be more on the side of conserving our natural wealth and beauty, which draws tourists and the $4 billion they bring to our economy and the almost $300 million they pay in state and local taxes. (http://www.voicesoftourism.com/research/)   

The problem I have with Zinke is that individual donors at a Texas oil company carry more influence than my vote. I don’t live in Houston! I live in Kalispell, Montana, with regular people — like teachers, firefighters and electricians — who live, work, spend and pay taxes here, unlike a faceless corporation a thousand miles away that is only responsible to shareholders. I’ll vote for Juneau. At least she’s funded by my neighbors.

Beer is a resident of Kalispell.