A mailer was recently sent to the constituents of house district 18 by the Montanans for Responsible Leadership PAC, whose treasurer is Ross Fitzgerald, the representative from house district 17, and colleague of my opponent, Llew Jones.  Sadly, none of what was said about me was true.  It seems our Republican legislators lack the moral courage to keep campaigns clean and honest.

The mailer stated that I have made transgender issues for minors a central part of my campaign.  This is a complete fabrication.  I have never talked about transgender issues in my campaign nor is it printed in any of my literature or posted on my social media. The mailer went on to state that I support puberty blockers for children and endorse radical surgeries on minors. As a medical professional, I have never prescribed or even discussed the use of puberty blockers for children.  I am not qualified to offer an opinion on the use of these drugs and neither are our Republican legislators.  Gender reassignment surgery for minors is not recommended by the professional medical groups that specialize in this area and I would never advocate for such personally or professionally.  For those who are interested in the facts, gender reassignment surgery is not advocated for children by medical professionals and is not advocated within the transgender community. Even among transgender adults, this type of surgery is rare.

The final lie stated in the mailer, and perhaps the most egregious, is the assertion that I have an agenda that puts our children at risk.  As a physician assistant, I have faithfully served the families and children of our community at Pondera Medical Center (now Logan Health - Conrad) for over 16 years.  I have always advocated for the well-being of our children and treated everyone who has come to me for help with professionalism, dignity, and respect.  I strive to always do what is best for all of my patients, especially the children of our community, and I always will.  To lie about my character and professionalism for political gain is reckless and does harm to the very community I have served for so many years.

In American culture, transgenderness is a controversial topic and worthy of constructive dialogue.  But for me as a political candidate, the real issue here is not the controversy surrounding transgender children but government overreach through bills like SB99, which I fully oppose.  I am a proponent of small government and reduced government regulations.  I oppose government interference in our personal lives. It’s that simple.

It’s clear that my candidacy has threatened the political establishment, so much so that my opponents in the Republican party have chosen this one particular topic to lie about in order to distract from their failures.  My opponent, Llew Jones, has been in the legislature for many, many years and yet we have skyrocketing property taxes while he gives tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals in our state and big businesses like Northwestern Energy.  We have business closures in Conrad with Joe’s Family Steakhouse closed and still empty, Country Charm Floral and Gifts now closed, and the Home Cafe soon to close.  We have underfunded public schools that suffer while Mr. Jones votes to divert critical public school resources to fund his “Community Choice Schools” project.  We have families struggling with alcoholism, drug abuse, and poverty that can cause real harm to children. We have families struggling with skyrocketing rents and housing prices.  These are the issues that concern my campaign.  These are the issues that all of our elected officials should be focusing on.