Letters to the editor Aug. 9

Wolf hunts

Our family opposes the Fish and Wildlife Commission’s policy on wolves: it has gone too far in its attacks on wolves. 

The recently released wolf population estimates show the wolf numbers are far lower than previously reported. It’s a cruel, wasteful policy to move forward with a plan to kill hundreds of wolves across the state. Many Montanans want the commission to scale back the killing and protect sustainable wolf populations.

Wolves are a native wildlife species that deserve to be managed as such. The continued pursuit of a drastically lowered wolf population is not based in science and undermines the value of this species. The commission is catering and kowtowing to select interest groups.

Snaring, night hunting and baiting have no place in native wildlife management and are far outside of fair-chase ethics.

We strongly oppose the increased wolf hunting and trapping quota.

— Ruthe Heimel, Whitefish

Drug discounts

There are two Montanans when it comes to hospital finances. One is the handful of large systems that have mastered a federal drug discount program called 340B. The other is every small hospital in between, the ones actually holding rural health care together.

340B was built for the second Montana. Drug companies are required to sell medicines to safety-net hospitals at deep discounts, so the savings can stretch care in places that need it most. But nothing in the program requires the money to end up there, and increasingly it doesn’t. The bigger systems collect the discounts. The small hospitals watch from a distance, the same distance their patients already drive to reach them.

Most Favored Nation pricing won’t close that gap. It’s aimed at foreign price lists, not at a Montana problem, and it risks the drug research that produces tomorrow’s treatments in the process. With members of Congress home this month, that distinction is worth making clearly.

The fix that matters is closer to home: define who 340B is for, and hold every hospital collecting its discounts accountable for where the money goes. With an election ahead, that’s worth asking every candidate to commit to.

— Thomas Collins, Columbia Falls

Pressure campaign

The control and money of the political elite is at an all-time high during the 2026 Senate race in Montana. 

Sen. Steve Daines waited to submit his resignation up to the very last minute so he could anoint his successor GOP nominee. On the Democrat side, a lot of us were feeling more optimistic: we had choices. So we voted gladly and chose our nominee: Alani Bankhead. 

But meanwhile a bitter Jon Tester, unable to process his previous loss with dignity, was manipulating the puzzle pieces behind the scenes to his desired outcome — a pressure campaign to get the nominee to drop out to support the independent candidate, Seth Bodnar. The wealthy and powerful are convinced they know what’s best for us, and that our vote doesn’t matter. 

They starved the Bankhead campaign of resources that are the rightful due of a nominee. They pull the strings and gaslight us that a problem they created in the first place is actually our fault.

I have had the pleasure of talking with Bankhead several times and found her to be warm, approachable, reasonable, deeply kind and absolutely not a pushover. She has been dealing with a pressure campaign from hell with incredible grace and intelligence and resilience. She told me she thinks it’s her job to earn trust. 

She has been nondefensive and straightforward when I’ve asked her difficult questions. She is tremendously electable because of these leadership qualities. And she is a warrior for justice against child predators — with a proven history of holding them accountable. 

She has my absolute support, and I know I’m not the only one. Bodnar might be a nice guy, but the attempts to pressure us to accept an outcome outside the democratic process is obscene. 

Alani Bankhead is the best candidate for the Senate.

— Rebecca Miller, Kalispell