Now that Sen. Max Baucus has been given the president’s nod to ship off to China as our next ambassador, Montana is in a unique situation and one that does not happen very often. Montana’s soon-to-be placeholder senator will be the 60th senator in history to fill a seat in the upper chamber, without having been elected by the people. In my mind, this is just not the Montana way.
I understand that Gov. Steve Bullock needs to find a suitable replacement, but that is what elections are for and this process should not be a tool for Washington politicians to handpick our next senator. Bullock should appoint a temporary senator who is focused on the job at hand, not the next election. We, the people of Montana, will make our decision on Nov. 5, but if the governor is to pick “his guy” to give him a leg up in both the primary and the general election, then we, the voters, are really not being treated as the electorate that these men and women claim to represent.
Caroline Solomon
Bigfork