Guest opinion: Check their voting record before casting a ballot

I’m a fourth-generation Montanan well into my eighth decade. I’ve watched about half of this state’s history firsthand and studied the rest all my life. The most important political event in that history was the 1972 Constitution. It broke the copper collar of Anaconda and Wall Street and guaranteed us rights most Americans envy: privacy, open meetings, access to public documents and a clean and healthful environment.

The 1970s was an era of vision and reform. The federal EPA was created. Our state Environmental Policy and the Major Facility Siting Acts were enacted. But the latter has been weakened eleven times with exemptions, shortened reviews, and reduced public participation. Our governor thinks regulations born from past mistakes, frauds and abuses are “needless red tape” and appoints administrators to get rid of them. Opponents of Quantica’s Broadview data center found that recent legislatures kneecapped their ability to object. Groundwork for data centers has been quietly laid.

Some local legislators don’t hide their contempt for our Constitution. In 2021, then-Rep. Derek Skees of Kalispell called it a “socialist rag.” Session after session, laws to hinder voting, reduce public participation, get between doctors and patients (privacy), and weaken water and air protections (health) have passed and our courts have thrown many of them out as unconstitutional. Frustrated by losing, some legislators now want partisan courts. So much time and taxpayer money is spent on partisan crusades instead of solving problems.

So, I looked up my own state senator, Mark Noland. I had to dig; he doesn’t do candidate forums or answer the Inter Lake’s candidate questionnaires. 

He voted for most of the unconstitutional bills. In 2025, he sponsored the perennial right-to-work bill. It drew two supporters and nearly a hundred opponents, and moderate Republicans joined Democrats to kill it. Organized labor built the American middle class. Ask our Logan Health nurses how wise anti-union legislation is.

Then I checked his opponent, Patrick Fitzpatrick. Hmmm. A 32-year Navy career in healthcare, including command of a Navy hospital. Real experience with budgets, management and operations. A written platform on affordability, health care, veteran support and food security; issues our recent legislatures have mostly ignored. An easy decision for my vote.

Elections matter, a lot. Check how your incumbents vote on the things you care about. We won’t see different results if we keep sending them back.

Bill Dakin lives in Bigfork.