Representative Barry Usher
Barry Usher is running as State Senator Elect for District 20. He won over Geraldine Custer in the primary. I was privileged to have the opportunity to interview him this past week. That full interview is available to watch on the Facebook page called Musselshell Media, or on YouTube under the title "Barry Usher, candidate for State Senate Dist. 20, full interview".
Barry has been the house district 40 representative for the last six years. Our house senator was termed out, Barry was ready to run for that position because he felt that he could represent the district. In Montana there are 50 state senators and 100 house members. Barry believes that the state government touches our local citizens much more than the federal government. He feels that the local Montana government is a great place to make a difference. He says "I do not like government, that is why I am involved in government". One of his biggest challenges is getting around such a huge district to meet people and present himself to them. Barry's biggest concern with the federal government is the economy and the deficit. Like most people, Barry doesn't see any end in sight with the federal government continuing to pass out money for frivolous spending. Currently Montana has a surplus, of which Barry feels strongly that this money is the peoples and needs to be given back to the Montana citizens. Barry was a member of law enforcement in his earlier career, and due to that, his particular niche as a representative is towards criminal justice. His political focus is primarily on the judiciary. His wife calls him "the Bill Slayer" because he has killed a lot of bad bills. He feels that he is making a difference because of the support of his constituents. He is able to vote on bills feeling that he is representing most all of his constituents.
One of the biggest things that Barry would like to bring to the attention of voters is the Montana judiciary. The Montana state supreme court is considered the most liberal supreme court in the United States. It doesn't represent the constituents of Montana according to Barry. He says the constituents of Montana may be 50/50 democrat and republican, but the Montana Supreme court falls more liberal that even most of our democrat constituents. He says the supreme court gets much of its campaigning money from trial lawyers. Most of the voters are unsure what to vote for when it comes to voting for these justices. "A good example is; you can send 150 legislators to Helena for session and we create laws. We have a lot of laws that are thrown out by the court. Three voter integrity laws that the legislators created for voter integrity were thrown out by the Montana Supreme Court. One was a voter ID law, one was a same day registration law, and the third was about collecting ballots, and getting paid to bring them to polling places." So those were three preventative laws that were created and thrown out by the court. He states that there were also three pro-life bills that were thrown out. Barry also is concerned because legislators subpoenaed records of the supreme court administrator, got the records to see if they were influencing legislation, found out they were, had documentation of that, and then they were sued and were told they had to give the records back and that the judiciary does not have to share records like the rest of the state. He says, "It appears they have made themselves their own little entity and they do not have to comply with open records laws". Regardless of the good bills brought forward by the elected official, the supreme court can shut it down. What Montanans can do, is vote for a better justice, if there isn't one, you can check the box "Do Not Retain" and then the governor can appoint one. Right now Barry feels that James Brown is a constitutional justice, and he says that Jim Rice was once a republican who may be more conservative if there is another constitutionalist within the justice. He hopes that people will remember BROWN,RICE on their ballot. Again, for the full video of my interview with Barry Usher, please visit the Facebook page titled, "Musselshell Media", and look for the video.
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