Letter to the editor: Sermons or statutes? The Kim Dailey question

Voters in House District 85 are hearing a lot from Kim Dailey about restoring “moral values” and putting God back into public discourse. According to her campaign materials, that mission is central to why she is running for the legislature.

That may be a heartfelt belief.

But the job she is seeking is state representative, not moral referee for the Bitterroot Valley.

Legislators do not write sermons. They write laws.

In Helena, the work involves budgets, property taxes, infrastructure, water rights, education funding and election statutes.

It requires understanding statutes, constitutional limits, and how legislation actually affects people’s lives.

Dailey often emphasizes what she calls “20 years of legal expertise as a retired paralegal.” Yet during a recent lawsuit involving the Ravalli County Republican Central Committee, that expertise was put to the test.

The case, brought by Tony Hudson and reported by local newspapers centered on whether party officials could ignore Montana election law when seating precinct captains.

Dailey helped present three pieces of supposed legal justification to the court.

The judge dismissed them all.

Each one, the court noted, was opinion — not law — and therefore carried no legal weight.

That moment highlights the real question facing voters.

If someone running for the legislature cannot distinguish between law and opinion, how will they write laws for Montana?

HD 85 deserves representatives focused on solving problems, not delivering lectures.

Because when candidates campaign like preachers instead of lawmakers, the only people who lose are the voters.

Helen Sabin,

Corvallis