MDP Statement on PSC Special Session

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, February 16, 2022

CONTACT
press@montanademocrats.org

MDP Statement on PSC Special Session

More Questions than Answers

Helena, MT – Rep. Derek Skees circulated a letter to his fellow state legislators earlier this week asking his colleagues to support his efforts to call a special session to finalize district maps for the Public Service Commission (PSC) and to set up a joint special committee to investigate election integrity.

While redistricting the PSC maps is critical and constitutionally required before the upcoming November election, opening up the special session to launch a Big Lie committee would be a waste of time and our taxpayers’ money– costing a potential $500,000. 

The Governor and Republican leadership have expressed similar hesitancy with moving forward on a special session.

 The Montana Democrats have questions ourselves:

• How much is this going to cost the taxpayer – $50,000 to $500,000? How do you justify spending that much money on a conspiracy-based publicity stunt?

• Skees asked his fellow legislators to support Map #9 in his email. Where did Map #9 come from, and what happened to Maps #1-8? Why won’t Republicans tell us who drew Map #9? Having politicians draw district lines and cut deals behind closed doors in the dark of night violates the principles of open government listed in our Constitution.

• Why are counties and cities being divided for the first time ever on a PSC map? Instead of minor changes to bring the current districts into constitutional compliance, this complete re-map looks to be solely aimed at unfair partisan advantage. If cities are being divided like this for the first time ever, shouldn’t those communities have the chance to weigh in on the map?

• The PSC districts have been unconstitutionally malapportioned since the release of the 2010 Census. Republicans have had a decade to redraw the PSC the right way with public input, with Rep. Skees chairing the committee that should have done it. They failed to do their jobs for the past decade and now they’re asking the Montana taxpayer to foot the bill on a last-minute special session. Why didn’t they address this during previous sessions? 

• Which two districts would be up for election in 2022 on the map proposed by Representative Skees? Would Commissioners Brown and Fielder be assigned to the districts where they live, or where the majority of their 2020 voters live? Is Representative Skees trying to cut them out of their old districts so they’ll have nowhere to run in 2024?

• Rep. Skees is asking his colleagues to support a map that would combine the PSC seat he’s running for this November with one that Rep. Fielder lives in, which begs the question: what has he been promised in return? We know thanks to Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway, R-Great Falls, that he is ready to “wheel and deal”.

• And lastly, why is Rep. Skees advocating for an election commission to investigate an election that his party won? Does he not think they won fairly?

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