Daines: Withdraw from group opposing tallies
Dear Senator Daines,
Please withdraw from the group of senators who are planning to vote against counting electoral votes when Congress is expected to certify duly elected President Biden. As you are aware, no credible allegations have been documented by dozens of state and federal courts, governors, state election officials and the departments of Homeland Security and Justice. I am confident that you are above such political stunts which spit on our citizens and Constitution.
Your colleague Mitt Romney said it well: “The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic. The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it. More Americans participated in this election than ever before, and they made their choice.”
Certainly you need not be reminded that your oath of office requires that you defend our Constitution. To cripple the impact of our vote is to swim in a sewer of dictators.
Put another way, “What would Putin do?” Well, he’s laughing at the contempt some Senators are demonstrating in “trumping” our American sense of justice and respect for the law. Don’t make the despots laugh harder.
Dr. Frank Seitz
Bozeman
Daines’ move tells voters where his priorities lie
Your support for disrupting the Electoral College count this Wednesday is telling all voters that the collective voice of the electorate is meaningless if it does not match what you and your
Republican sycophants to Donald Trump want.
It appears that you are unable to distinguish between evidence and conspiracies. That is frightening, given that you were elected to serve the people of Montana. There has been no credible evidence of voter fraud. States have certified their results, some even basing their results on full recounts. And dozens of courts have upheld the results.
Every voter in Montana now knows that whatever you want, that will be your pursuit. To heck with focusing your time and efforts on the needs/wants of the people you represent. You have chosen
to undermine the democratic right of the people of this country, with phony claims of worthy intent.
It is sad we elected someone who behaves like a 2-year-old who didn’t get his playmate’s way, especially when we have over 1,000 Covid deaths and hundreds of Montana citizens needing
economic relief. Start doing your job instead of making a fool of yourself.
Kathryn Allen, PhD
Bozeman
Daines’ push for audit a disingenuous move at best
Sadly, our own Sen. Daines has decided to challenge the validity of the 2020 election, indicating he will not agree to certify the Electoral College results in the Jan. 6 meeting of the US Senate. That, despite 60 failed lawsuits by Pres. Trump and various Republican entities challenging election outcomes. That, despite certification of state election outcomes by all 50 governors, many of whom are Republican.
Sen. Daines has chosen a dangerous path that threatens all Montanans and all Americans. How? By needlessly impeding a peaceful transition of power. To ask for a 10-day audit to examine election results as we are on the cusp of a new administration—a disingenuous move at best, given the well-documented evidence disproving any voter fraud—leaves the rest of us— that is, we, the American people—in a state of flux and anxiety.
Further, this action threatens our national security, sending a signal to the rest of the world that we are woefully vulnerable and hopelessly divided.
Finally, and most importantly at this particular juncture, it exacerbates the new administration’s ability to respond effectively to the pandemic in a timely and life-saving manner.
Sen. Daines wrote that “an unprecedented number of Americans have significant doubts about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election results.” I would say that he and like-minded colleagues are complicit in sowing these doubts among their constituents. By condoning willful ignorance, Sen. Daines and others can advance personal and party agendas rather than advance the well-being of ordinary Americans. This is exactly what he is doing in refusing the accept the Electoral College results.
I, for one, am weary. I would ask Sen. Daines to cut the political drama, give us all a break and get to work putting this country back together again.
Brook Merrow
Bozeman
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letters to the Editor 1/6/21
Daines fails to represent all citizens of Montana
I’ve never been more disappointed or angered in our political system than I was when I learned that one of my sitting senators, representing the state of Montana, decided to participate in an effort to challenge the will of the American people. The fact that you’re undermining this nation’s democracy by challenging the electoral process borders on sedition.
Please don’t use the ploy that you are only doing so to protect our democracy against the illegalities of voter fraud.
There is no ideology here. There is no moral compass, strictly partisanship.
If what you say were true, why doesn’t the Senate hold hearings when there are actual cases and evidence of voting fraud? Or why doesn’t the Senate seriously look into voter suppression, an act which seems to occur during every election? Do those things, but don’t hold an election, where the will of the American people have clearly spoken, hostage.
No, you are doing this simply because you are trying to ingratiate yourself, not to the American people, not to a country, not even to a party, but to one man, Donald Trump. This in and of itself is un-American and unconstitutional. This is an act to overthrow the will of an American election. For that sir, you cannot be commended.
You are trying to bring the United States of America under the subjugation of one man. You need to either reverse course or step down from your position as Senator. You are supposed to represent the entirety of the citizens of Montana, whether they voted for you or not. In this effort, you have demonstrably failed.
Clint Nagel
Bozeman
Daines’ commission push won’t solve anything
I am disappointed that Senator Daines would join a small group of senators to support the erroneous claims made by the outgoing president: that his reelection was stolen. Sen. Daines is supposed to represent all Montanans, including those like myself who would argue public information available to us all has verified the legitimacy of the votes including those in the states Daines feels he needs to create an election commission for! Creating yet another committee will not satisfy any outstanding questions; litigation in the courts has not seemed to dampen your rhetoric.
Satisfaction will come to the American people when we recognize that doubt, instigated by the current president and his supporters is being fanned by die-hard senators wanting more
commissions, etc. Can elected officials please put down their destructive tongues and learn to communicate with intelligence, patience, keen-listening, and a real, sincere desire to help our
country heal and evolve?
Judith Diana
Bozeman
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letters to the Editor 1/7/21