Letter: No Constitutional Amendments

When you receive your absentee ballot or go to the polls on November 5, you might ask yourself why there are so many proposed constitutional amendments on our ballot this year. 

Certainly, one reason is the enormous amount of out-of-state money pouring into our state this election with the overall goal of changing Montana to be more like California or Illinois.  Why is Illinois Governor Pritzger giving $500,000, California residents Gwendolyn Sontheim giving $1.1 million, and Deborah Simon and the Delaney family each giving $100,000?  Then there are the federal PACS like the Sixteen Thirty Fund, Unite America, and Article IV, all pouring huge amounts of money into our state to change our elections (public information available from the Commissioner of Political Practices office). 

I live in Montana because I like Montana.  If I liked the way things are done in California or Illinois, I'd move there.  Montanans voted to accept our Constitution as written by the Montana Constitutional Convention.  Should we be so quick to amend it?  Amending our Constitution is a significant and long-lasting change which should not be considered lightly.  The safe bet is to vote no on CI-126, CI-127, and CI-128 and leave our Constitution alone.

Sharon Nason

Clancy, MT