As my regular reader (Hi, Jeff — good luck with the ankle surgery!) will recall, I find great enjoyment and education in reading the regular Colorado Politics feature, the Out West Roundup, wherein we learn about what is going on in the other states that make up the great western United States.

And I admit it to always having had a fondness for the Big Sky state of Montana, though I also readily admit my affection for that state only runs from roughly late May through September. But even in the other frozen months, Montana is an interesting state, and a couple bits of news from there give me some reasons for optimism, at least in a way.

The first bit is an old teaching buddy of mine from the Air Force Academy Department of Political Science just ran for county commissioner in Yellowstone, Mike Waters. Mike flew multiple combat missions in his B-1 bomber in Afghanistan and is a nice guy. He is a far-right Republican, and we had many arguments during our time teaching together, but we never took it personally, and I believe we’ve always respected each other.

Mike and I also share a sad history, in that we both lost our first wives, far too young, to the evil that is cancer. That experience will bond you with another.

In any case, Mike and I also shared similar experiences after retirement from the military, to include both of us being staffers on one of our state’s U.S. senators’ teams, and we both ran for office. Mike, though, chose to win the GOP primary and then run in a race with no Democrat, and so he was elected as a county commissioner without any drama. He squeaked by with 100% of the vote, 50,704 to zero. Montana is also a pragmatic state, as is, I think, Mike. While electing hard-right folks, the voters also approved a state constitutional amendment to ensure a right to abortion by a wide margin, with 57% of voters favoring the proposal.

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Now, as I said, I disagree with Mike on, well, most issues. But I respect him tremendously. If I must have Republicans in office, I want them to be like Mike: honest, kind, smart and caring. I’m quite sure Mike would not fit in well with a certain now-convicted felon’s new administration, in that Mike would never bend the knee to President-elect Donald Trump on an issue of principle to him.

So, I want to point out the good people of Yellowstone County have a fine person representing them and I’m sure he’ll be out there doing his very best for his constituents. Sometimes, in fact most of time, in most elections, good people are elected, though that gets little attention from the national media. Congrats, Mike!

And another story from CoPo out of Montana is one I bet Mike and I would differ, as friends, on. The Supreme Court in Montana recently ruled, by a surprising 6-1 majority, the State of Montana was, in fact, violating the constitutional rights of residents to a clean environment. The court further ruled the state government of Montana had been systematically violating those citizens’ rights by permitting oil, gas and coal projects without paying any attention to the climate change implications of those acts. Wow, that’s pretty progressive and smart.

I admit, I’m pretty shocked and of course, delighted by the ruling. I’m shocked because of how deep red Montana is. Since 1952, Montana has gone for the Democratic presidential candidate only twice: four times in a row for FDR and once for Harry Truman. That’s pretty red and usually, a state’s “non-partisan” court system reflects the political landscape fairly closely, though interestingly, Montana’s highest court ties several other states in having the most “indeterminant” court members with three of the seven not falling directly into one party’s camp or the other.

So, good for you, Montana.

This ruling also illustrates an important, indeed vital aspect of the American judicial system, or at least it should: it doesn’t matter if you are powerful or meek, your constitutional rights don’t vary based on your wealth (or at least they shouldn’t, but the recent Trump rulings may give us pause on that one). The case in Montana, upon which the Supreme Court ruled, was filed in 2020, not by a powerful law firm or other major political player, but rather by 16 Montana residents, who today are only aged seven to 23.

Much as the far more famous case of Gideon v. Wainwright, where the U.S. Supreme Court took a case filed by an inmate with no lawyer, whose appeal was written in pencil on lined notebook paper. The inmate, long-time petty criminal Clarence Gideon, was arrested again and, when he could not afford a lawyer, well, he just didn’t get one, and was convicted of breaking and entering. The Supreme Court, in a manner the Montana Court seems to have emulated, reached way down in the basket of appeals and chose to review one that was of vital constitutional importance, and not just printed on fancy paper by a swanky lawfirm.

So, again, good on you Montana.

Ok, that’s enough from the Big Sky state for one week.

Finally, if anyone reading these words is both a citizen of Yellowstone County, Montana and has an issue with county government, please do feel free to contact Commissioner Mike Waters. Tell him Hal sent you. He’ll roll his eyes, but he will absolutely do what’s right to help you out.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.