Jon Tester Visits Glasgow on Senate Campaign

By SAMAR FAY, Courier Editor

Jon Tester's "Real Energy, Real Change" Senate campaign came to Glasgow Tuesday, drawing an estimated 150 people to the Elks Club for a listening session.

Tester, a Democrat from Big Sandy, hit hard on the energy, health care and Iraq war issues, which he said were among the main topics people have been bringing up on this six-day swing through eastern Montana.

He has an energy policy that emphasizes ethanol, wind energy, biofuels and conservation.

He called the health care system broken, and said he would put everything on the table to fix things like fully funding children's insurance and repairing Medicare Part D, which he called flawed.

On Iraq, he rejected the "cut and run" label that Republican Sen. Conrad Burns' campaign ads have mentioned. He said we need to support the troops in the field with better equipment and at home with the care they were promised.

"We need a plan to get out," he said. "We should redeploy our troops, pull back, and let the Iraqis take over."

At the meeting Tester received a surprise endorsement from state Sen. Sam Kitzenberg, a Republican.

Kitzenberg called Tester a great friend. He praised Tester's bipartisan leadership in the Montana Senate, especially on wind energy and alternative energy sources, plus his support for getting the state's share of money for the St. Mary water project.

He said Montanans have a hard choice this fall. It is [hard?] to give up the seniority Burns has, but Kitzenberg wants someone who can handle the big oil companies and fight high gas prices.

A third-generation dryland farmer himself, Tester said he supports country of origin labeling. He wants a safety net of insurance, loans and direct subsidies put into the farm program, not a disaster response every year.

He worries about the doubling of the national debt in the last five years. He said the No Child Left Behind Act needs to be repealed because it doesn't work and takes accountability away from school boards.

On illegal immigration, he would see resouces put into securing the borders and laws about employing illegal aliens enforced.

"Let's make trade agreements that work for the U.S. that don't drive foreign farmers into poverty," he said. "Agribusiness uses the border as a moneymaking tool. It doesn't have to be that way."

Tester supports Kitzenberg's 4 for 2 plan for U.S. 2, and would work for money to get the project done.

Taking off the gloves a bit, he chastized Burns for his voting record on veteran benefits. He said that after 18 years in Washington, D.C., Bunrs is a different man than he was.

Citing Burns' record of taking more money from convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff than anyone else in Congress, Tester said, "He [stayed true] to his trade as an auctioneer. Always sell to the highest bidder."

http://www.testerforsenate.com/testertime/jon-tester-visits-glasgow-on-senate-campaign/