Legislators need to serve constituents, not party bosses

Republican Party bosses - Senator Matt Rosendale, State Chair Jeff Essmann, and Representative Keith Regier - in sworn depositions and press releases, hope to justify why their lawsuit to limit voter choice by closing primaries has merit for Montanans.

These “bosses” lament that they need to reduce voter choice in order to force elected Republican legislators to better follow their directives. Regier voiced that the actions of those not voting with the party were “demoralizing” to those that fully embraced top down control. Rosendale felt there was a “distressingly low amount of discipline” exhibited by “dissidents” that were not blindly obedient to the bosses. Finally, Chair Essmann went on record by stating his intention to limit voting to a declared cadre of ‘loyal’ party members.

In an effort to defend their actions, the party “bosses” consistently point to four key policy areas to illustrate “dissident” behavior:

First, to justify their opposition to the Water Compact, the party bosses have attempted to paint support as a Democrat position. If this characterization were true, why were Montana’s well-respected Republican leaning agricultural and business groups strong compact supporters? The better question is why the party bosses ignored Montana groups like the Farm Bureau, Stockgrowers, Grain Growers, and the Chamber of Commerce?

Second, the bosses opposed legislation to enhance transparency and reduce dark money electioneering in Montana. As polls measure huge bipartisan support for transparency, the real question is why do the party bosses support dark money?

Third, the bosses defined support for a Montana medical plan as a Democrat position. Again, if this were partisan, isn’t it odd that most Montana’s rural hospitals, many with Republican leaning boards, were adamant that without a timely solution rural hospitals would be forced to close. Why did the party bosses choose to align with Kansas based American’s for Prosperity instead of heeding Montana voices?

Finally, the bosses were actively complicit in lawsuit and legislative efforts to eliminate the influence of Montana’s historically independent voter base. Why would the party bosses seek to reduce the influence of the voter while further empowering themselves?

An examination of the supposed sin of “dissidence” reveals a common theme. “Dissident” legislators put their conscience, their constituents, and the groups that represent Montana constituencies first - ahead of the directives of the party bosses and out of state advocacy groups like Americans for Prosperity and American Tradition Partnership. Shockingly, it appears the sin of dissidence occurred when legislators honored their constitutional obligation to represent their constituents instead of the desires of their party bosses.

Let’s be brutally honest. The party bosses are asking the courts to limit voter choice in primaries in order to transfer power and influence from Montana voters to themselves. They are part of a court lawsuit because they know that legislation to close primary voting is so offensive to Montanans that it would never pass. Ironically, this request for “legislation from the bench” is being made by the same “bosses” that previously spent much of their time discrediting just such court actions. It appears that hypocrisy is unbounded by those seeking enhanced political advantage.

The most famous American “dissident” was Thomas Paine. His publication, “Common Sense” was the seminal work that fueled America’s revolt against remote authoritarian “bosses” and their foreign ideologies. I ask that Montanans show the same “common sense” when evaluating the actions of party bosses Rosendale, Reiger, and Essmann. Their work to limit voter choice and to intimidate elected officials into strictly adhering to their prescribed party line voting must be emphatically rejected.

 Montana will remain the last best place as long as legislators put their constituents and consciences ahead of party bosses.

— Jesse O’Hara is a former Montana State Senator and Republican activist