Finley Warden is a follower, not a leader

At a recent Lake County Commissioners meeting, Finley Warden, who is challenging Linda Reksten for HD-13, shared his platform with our county commissioners.

Mr. Warden made clear he opposed the property tax relief bills Linda supported last session, and proudly named Senator Greg Hertz as one of his major supporters. Senator Hertz's own property tax bills didn't even make it out of the Senate.

When Commissioner Barron asked Mr. Warden directly what his solution to the property tax problem would be, he admitted he didn't have one. He listed ideas other people had brought and then agreed with a solution the commissioner suggested. That's a follower, not a leader.

Linda actually voted for a solution. The bill she supported gave 80% of Montana homeowners stable or lower property tax bills. It also started correcting a tax imbalance that had been growing for years.

While Montana homeowners saw a median 21% tax increase after the 2023 reappraisal cycle, NorthWestern Energy (the state's single largest property taxpayer) saw its property taxes drop $35 million from 2022 to 2023.

The 2025 bill Linda supported brought NorthWestern's taxes back up by over $26 million. Homeowners deserve a legislator who will fight for that kind of rebalancing.

My impression after hearing Mr. Warden is that he would side with a wing of Republicans who vote with party bosses rather than vote for the interests of his constituents, as Linda has done over three terms for property tax relief, public education, and protecting our rural hospitals. Mr. Warden made this impression very obvious when the commissioners invited him to stay for their monthly legislative meeting — and he chose not to.

If you can't even stay for the meeting, how are you going to represent all of us?

– Craig McClure, Polson