Letters to the editor Aug. 16

Forstag a radical liberal

Democratic congressional candidate Sam Forstag very clearly wants Montanans to think that he’s just a regular guy cut from the same cloth as them. His campaign website has pictures of mountains. He’s described as a smokejumper. He wears Carhartt.

However, his career as a liberal lobbyist — which is much more extensive than his smoke jumping stints — was spent working for far-left organizations and fighting for radical policies deeply unpopular with most Montanans.

After Forstag moved to Montana from Portland, he registered as a lobbyist for the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, among other progressive organizations. The list of popular, conservative, common sense bills he lobbied against in the Montana Legislature is quite extensive.

Forstag fought against prohibiting minors from receiving transgender mutilation surgeries, against legislation to remove sexually explicit material and drag queen shows from public schools and libraries, against requiring local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, and finally, against prohibiting biological men from competing in women’s sports.

Furthermore, Forstag has received the personal endorsements of socialists Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders. In fact, both flew all the way out to Missoula to campaign for him. And it’s no wonder: Forstag is campaigning for universal (i.e. taxpayer funded) healthcare and housing.

We don’t need to elect a radical California liberal pretending to be a regular, salt of the earth Montanan. Put simply: Sam Forstag does not share our Montana values. He is a far-left Portland liberal through and through, and no amount of Carhartt can cover that up.

— Keith Regier, Kalispell

Party power

As a former Montana resident, I love it when the Democrats say President Trump is a threat to democracy when they ignore the people’s elected primary choice is pushed out and “the party” chooses the candidate for the general election. Also, a presidential candidate (Harris) is appointed without primary election.

— Frederick Krueger, Virginia Beach