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Dear Sen. Brown, 

On Thursday at the Legislative Update at our courthouse, you asked the group, “Do you know who pays my salary?” Stacy (Vice Chair of Sanders County Republicans) and I (Chair of the Sanders County Democrats) blurted out in unison, “We do!” But you went on to try to correct us by explaining why it’s wealthy people who pay our salaries.

Sen. Brown, I beg to differ. You see, I feel Stacey and I do indeed pay your salary. Our commissioners aren’t paid by wealthy people. I’m a retired public school teacher; I wasn’t paid by wealthy people. The vast majority of us in Sanders County aren’t. We pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, work hard, invest in ourselves and our communities, and help others.

Greg Gianforte came from New Jersey and self-funded $7 million into his own campaign. His “Comeback Plan” wants you and me to bring his rich friends to Montana under the guise of necessary investment and allow them to use our beautiful state as their personal playground. He is telling you that wealthy people pay our wages and I think you’re being sold a bill of goods.

Montanans are fiercely independent and we help our neighbors. We pay your wages in Helena, Bob. We sent you there to support and speak for the fiercely independent and supportive neighbors back here in Sanders and Mineral counties. Tax cuts for the rich set up a feudal system of serfs who need to pay homage to an empowered, wealthy few. Resist this system, Bob! There is no future in it for you or for those you represent.

During this next legislative half, I ask you to make your voting decisions based on the working families here in Sanders County – support them, not the wealthy elite of Gov. Gianforte and his friends. Do due diligence on your legislative side of government, not as an extension of the executive agenda. Do not vote for tax cuts for the rich, but for tax support for working families. Support jobs in our hospital by keeping Medicaid expansion funding in our state’s budget to keep it up and running. Support the public school system and our teachers while protecting the tax dollars that fund them. Support the unions that provide working wages to regular workers, not the trust-fund elite. Support the responsible management of our timber and mining industries to provide jobs and protect the environment. Support investment in sustainable energy which will provide jobs for the future. Support our treasured public lands to keep them public and avoid making Montana into a private playground for the rich. Take our state’s Constitutional Preamble to heart and let that guide your decisions:

We the people of Montana grateful to God for the quiet beauty of our state, the grandeur of our mountains, the vastness of our rolling plains, and desiring to improve the quality of life, equality of opportunity and to secure the blessings of liberty for this and future generations…

Thank you for serving. Thank you for standing tall and speaking up for us all.

Mindy Ferrell,

Trout Creek