The political candidate forum last week was attended by 16
candidates—and two elephants.
As candidates, we discussed childcare, Sheep Creek Mine,
rural hospitals, land use and growth, exempt wells, local
option taxes, wildfire mitigation and management, and tax
increment financing. Across every topic, one reality dominated
the conversation: none of these issues can be addressed
without money—how to find it, manage it, tax it, or stretch
what little remains.
What stood out most was the long list of unfunded or
underfunded needs: water quality data and EPA/USFS review
for Sheep Creek Mine; funding for childcare, Medicaid,
Medicare, septic tank waste disposal; and credible, sciencebased
water data for exempt wells, among many others.
The first silent “elephant in the room” was impossible to
ignore: a projected $300 million federal shortfall in Montana’s
state budget next session, combined with cuts to the EPA and
USFS, rural hospital funding under the so‑called “Big Beautiful
Bill,” and DOGE’d cuts rippling through local, state, and
federal agencies.
The second party “elephant in the room,” however, appeared
unwilling—or unable—to acknowledge that the first elephant
existed at all.
Paid for by Archie for HD 86, P.O.Box 824, Hamilton, MT,59840