Candidates' Forum A Disappointment

I attended the candidates' forum on Thursday evening, April 26. I fully expected to come away knowing which person for Montana's legislature I intended to endorse and who I intended to vote for. I planned to choose the candidate with the strongest passion for agriculture; the candidate who laid out his or her action plan for agriculture complete with details as to how he or she intended to implement the plan and what top agricultural priorities he or she intended to tackle first.

Imagine my stunned disbelief when NONE of the candidates even mentioned agriculture in their initial statements. Sure, they all want to keep oil and gas money here at home; of course we all want that. Sure, they had ideas as to what they planned to tackle, and certainly they understand the impact oil has had and continues to have on eastern Montana, but the word 'agriculture' never even got lip service.

It took Don Steinbeisser, a member of the audience, to stand up after all candidates had finished speaking and gently chide the entire group of them for failing to mention Montana's number one industry: agriculture. Steinbeisser kindly pointed out the fact that none of the candidates mentioned agriculture or talked about any action plans to work for agricultural interests.

Of course, once Steinbeisser had pointed out the obvious, candidates fell all over themselves assuring the crowd that most definitely they had agriculture as their number one priority, of course they wanted to help agriculture and of course they felt passionate about agriculture and would do all they could to aid agriculture if elected.

So, if they all feel so strongly about agriculture, how come they never bothered to mention it without being asked?

I still have no idea who I will vote for or who I can endorse as a candidate. I would very much like all these passionate advocates for agriculture to lay out a priorities list for agriculture along with an action plan as to how they intend to implement their ideas.

I also need to know which candidate, if any, will come down on the side of agriculture should there be a conflict of some nature between oil interests and agricultural interests.

Agriculture will be here long after oil has packed its bags and moved on, unless of course all of eastern Montana becomes asphalt, scoria and pump jacks. We need to elect candidates who understand the importance of agriculture and who are willing to come out swinging for agricultural interests.

Candidates, lay out your plans and let us know what you do or do not intend to do for Montana's number one industry.