Letters: Black, Marks and Bennett right choice for Montana law and order
One of the most important votes you will cast this year is for Montana Supreme Court. Most people ignore judicial contests, so your vote will carry extra weight.
Mike Black is by far the superior candidate. Black, a fourth generation Montanan, was raised at Havre in a railroad family. He enjoys the support of all seven of the retired Supreme Court Judges.
The incumbent whom he is running to replace was backed in her election by a dark-money group, the Montana Growth Network and is essentially a puppet for the Koch organization. Consequently, she votes consistently in favor of corporations.
Black has broad support among Montana lawyers who appear in front of the Montana Supreme Court. You won’t find any out-of-state dark money among his contributors.
The other judicial race is for Missoula District Court. The outstanding candidate is Jason Marks. He was appointed to a vacancy and now is running for a full term.
Judge Marks, along with eight other candidates, went through a thorough screening process with the Judicial Nomination Commission. Judge Marks then was interviewed by Governor Bullock and appointed as a District Court Judge.
As an attorney, Marks served as a public defender and as a prosecutor, supervising the Special Victims unit for 12 years. He brings that experience to the court especially when dealing with family cases.
Judge Marks is supported by of all the other four District Judges. He is measured, even minded and fair. His understanding of the law has long been appreciated and commended in the legal community and he exercises the utmost diligence in his rulings from the bench, balanced with understanding, empathy and compassion.
His opponent seems like a nice woman, but she has nowhere near the depth of experience of Judge Marks.
The superior candidate by far for Secretary of State is Bryce Bennett.
Bennett is a fifth-generation Montanan, who as a State Senator brought Republicans and Democrats together to pass important legislation.
Bennett worked with both parties to protect the healthcare of over 90 thousand Montanans and to keep rural hospitals open. He brought Republicans and Democrats together to keep out-of-state dark money from invading Montana’s elections, and he worked with Republicans and Democrats to defend access to our public lands.
Bennett was recognized by the Montana Chamber of Commerce for his pro-business record. As Secretary of State, Bryce will help small businesses, farms and ranches, and make sure all eligible Montanans get to vote with no voter suppression.
As a future member of the Land Board, Bennett will fight passionately to keep our public lands in public hands.
His opponent received her high-paying bureaucratic job after donating thousands of dollars to politicians. After “buying” her job she used her position to dole out high-paying jobs and government contracts to family members and friends.
She is aligned with anti-public access extremists, intent on privatizing and selling off our public lands.
Bennett is the best candidate and deserves our support.
Klaus von Stutterheim, Seeley Lake