Cultivate the racist swamp through nepotism

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TAMMI FISHERMAN

The incestuous swamp of the Montana legislature continues to grow. Recently, three lawmakers left the Montana Legislative Assembly. The one who would rather take a motorcycle trip than participate in the cesspool that is the Montana Legislative Assembly. One who was bullied out of her seat, because she followed her conscience and the principles of the National Republican platform. Finally, we have Doug Flament who was forced to step down from his seat due to unexpected health issues. House District 29 straddles two counties in Montana, Fergus and Petroleum counties, so county commissioners from both counties vote to override the open seat.

Contrary to the vote which inaugurated Mr. Flament, the vote for the replacement of Mr. Flaments was divided and not unanimous. Why? Because Ed Butcher was one of the candidates. And Ed Butcher has a long and embarrassing history of racist rants and forced apologies. What’s worse? His own son, a Fergus County commissioner, voted for him.

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Butcher has been in Montana politics for a long time. While in the Legislative Assembly, he was known to wreak havoc on Native American representatives with his racist slurs:

2002: Senator Ed Butcher, who drew attention in the 2001 legislative session for declaring reservations to be ghettos where tribesmen are held in bondage, upped the ante by implying that many Indians on reservations are lazy and would rather collect welfare checks than work. They are unwilling or unable to work as normal outsiders do.

2004: Sen. Ed Butcher issued a written apology for derogatory comments he made last week about special education and racial minority students… When initially contacted about the remarks on Tuesday, Butcher refused to apologize. At last week’s meeting, Butcher said “vegetables,” or severely disabled children, should be removed from the mainstream school setting and transferred to regional central schools that can better meet their needs. Butcher said, “Teachers in Montana who leave the state for better-paying jobs elsewhere have to deal with Hispanic, Asian, and Black gang groups who terrorize schools.”

2007: Rep. Ed Butcher called supporters of increased funding for an American Indian education program “semi-literate.” Butcher wrote that the program was misguided and was “propelled by the ‘politically correct’ mob of semi-literate supporters”. He also wrote in his response that he was “astonished at the naivety of our educational community to join this ‘Indian Education Project’.” He wrote that an accurate picture of historical Indian culture was not possible because Indians were “hunter/gatherer peoples who would have had a limited vocabulary and relied on sign language for much of their communications.”

2007: Butcher was forced to apologize in the House on Friday after he called a Native American lawmaker a “chief” and questioned whether the committee chairman’s gavel wielded by Butcher constituted a “war club.” Butcher said he had an extra-large hammer and turned to Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Rocky Boy, a committee member, and asked if the hammer might be a “war club.” Then, shortly before the meeting started, but when Windy Boy was not present, Butcher declared that the meeting could not start because he was expecting “Chief Windy Boy”.

August 2022: Butcher pointed out that Native American legislators still vote for welfare and that most reservation legislators are unintelligent. “I won’t mention the other names that are IQs at room temperature,” he said. “Booking doesn’t necessarily always send its best and brightest.”

And now Butcher will join other racist lawmakers like the Speaker of the Houses’ father, Keith Regier, who believes (without consulting those involved) that Indian reservations must be eradicated. But let’s not forget: Butcher got the seat thanks to his county commissioner son voting for him. Ross Butcher recused himself before when his father’s policy was presented to the county commission, but not this time. Even though Baby Butcher got his vote through the county attorney, the onset of irregularities blazes like the sun, perpetuating the incestuous and increasingly racist Montana political swamp propagated by Montana’s new GOP.

Tammi Fisher is a lawyer, former mayor of Kalispell and host of the Montana Values ​​podcast.

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