The Right Choice

“He has no real world experience,” “He can’t be trusted to lead.” All of those quotes are real things I read and heard after I announced my decision to run to be the Representative for House District 20 in Great Falls. However, my answer to those people is maybe I haven’t been around as long as my opponent, but I have been around long enough to know two things: what we are doing is not working, and my opponent has show time and time again that he is not fit to lead.

The world is full of hatred and negativity-especially in the world of politics. There is not one person who can radically bring back civility and compromise to the world of politics, but lately it seems as if nobody is willing to try. The same goes for my opponent as he has shown how time and again he is willing to promise one thing and do another without even debating or listening to the other side. Take Montana Senate Bill 72 for example, my opponent had given his word to the Great Falls Fire Fighters that he would at least vote to get the bill out of committee. When it came time to vote, he voted “No” and moved on as if he had done nothing wrong. In realty, Mr. Anderson had just cost health care to thousands of firefighters across the state of Montana, with the potential to leave families bankrupt, or even worse, it could have lead to empty seats at the dinner table.If elected, I will ensure that we can start for forge relationships with my colleagues on the other side of the isle because demonizing the right or the left does nothing but stall progress even further. (Education votes)

Which brings me to my main point, my opponent, even with his decades of experience as a school administrator is not fit to lead. In recent weeks, a tragic story from  Miles City disclosed how hundreds of young men were taken advantage of by a school trainer.

My opponent, who was Principal of Custer County High School (Miles City) at the time, failed to do anything but pass the problem up the chain of command, simply telling the superintendent, “He doesn’t know what happened.” How can a leader of a high school, the place where our children go to learn and feel safe, not know that one of his staff molested over 100  boys for over two decades? Hindsight is 20/20, maybe he felt by doing the minimum necessary by of telling someone who was more qualified to make a decision of investigating the allegations and eventually and firing the trainer that his work was complete. Mr. Anderson failed to follow Montana Code Annotated 41-2-201

(1) When professionals and officials listed in 41-3-201 subsection (2) know or have reasonable cause to suspect, as a result of information they receive in their professional or official capacity, that a child is abused or neglected by anyone regardless of whether the person suspected of causing the abuse or neglect is a parent or other person responsible for the child’s welfare, they shall report the matter promptly to the Department of Public Health and Human Services, Child and Family Services Division’s MONTANA’S STATEWIDE TOLL-FREE CHILD ABUSE HOTLINE, (1-866-820-5437).

(2) Professionals and officials required to report are:

(d) school teachers, other school officials, and employees who work during regular school hours;

Fred Anderson’s negligence allowed a now publicly confessed child predator to walk freely in the state of Montana. Worst of all, had Mr. Anderson told Miles City Police, the Montana Department of Justice or even just the families, the man responsible for these egregious crimes would be behind bars. Instead, he will likely walk free and the only closure the families and victims will get is insurance money from the school district.

Victims have spoken out saying, “Had it been reported, like the law says, it should have, that would have at least saved the kids who were harm after [he] was fired.” (Billings Gazette)  There is no excuse for failing to do your job as an educator and as a person of decent human dignity. He and I may disagree on policy, but at the end of the day we are both Montanans. He has been given his chance to lead at  Miles City, and House District 20 but has fallen short for both the Great Falls Firefighters and the decades and possibly hundreds of victims from Miles City in the words of the attorney for the victims, John Heenan, the whole ordeal is, “One of the biggest examples of gross negligence ever.”  

The choice is yours, new leadership that is fresh and looking to grow in experience and bipartisanship to create a Montana that we can all feel safe in and be proud of or another session with someone that has proven to be unreliable to constituents, families, and children.