This is a letter to the Editor Bozeman Chronicle 4/2/06
Esther Fishbaugh's March 29th plea to the Chronicle to be fair in its coverage of Rep. Roger Koopman and stop portraying him as a fringe politician calls for a response. In defense of the Chronicle, let's just allow some representative samples of Mr. Koopman's voting record to speak for themselves. Mr. Koopman; Voted against all eight bills to fight METH. (He was the only legislator in the House or Senate to vote against all 8). On two of those votes, the votes were 98-2 and 97-1. All other Gallatin County House Republicans voted "yes." Former Gallatin County Republican Senator Don Hargrove called one of these bills "possibly the most significant legislation of the session;" Voted against "Dane's Law." Billing’s day care provider Sabine Bieber was convicted of negligent homicide for causing the death of a child by giving her allergy medications (without parental permission) so she would take a nap. Legislation requiring parental permission to administer meds passed (87-17) and was signed into law; Voted against HB113 to require convicted felons to provide a DNA sample for the DNA "Cold Case File" bank. The DNA bank now links an average of 26 murders and 57 rapes or sexual assaults to suspects in the United States every month. Thanks to this important bipartisan legislation, Montana is now part of the growing effort to protect people from violent crime and the criminals who commit it. I could go on, but one thing is for sure; It’s not the Chronicle that created Mr. Koopman's reputation as a fringe politician, it's none other than Mr. Koopman himself.
Larry Morris Gallatin Gateway
Posted by admin at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)
Thanks to the Chronicle and reporter Ted Sullivan for the March 25th front
page story "Living With Meth," which provided a gripping and painful insight
into the "living hell" Bud and Shauna Morris have gone through because of
the prior manufacturing of METH in the home they purchased right here in
Bozeman.
That METH affects more than just its users apparently never crossed the
mind of Rep. Roger Koopman (R) Bozeman, who voted against the Methamphetamine
Cleanup Program cited in the Chronicle article (HB60) during the 2005
legislature. The bill wasn't controversial, and was about as nonpartisan and
nonpolitical
as a bill can get. It passed 97-1, with Rep. Koopman voting against it.
Obviously, all other Gallatin County representatives, both Democrat and Republican,
voted for this important bill.
Of course, Rep. Koopman voted against all of the other anti-Meth bills
introduced, passed and signed into law during the 2005 session, including five bills
backed by Montana's Attorney General and SB270, the anti-meth bill former
Gallatin County Republican State Senator Don Hargrove called "possibly the most
significant legislation of the session."
The Morris's story provides ample evidence of the need to fight the evils of
meth in every way legally possible. It's more than tragic that Rep. Koopman
hasn't seen fit to fight Meth at all.
Dennis Farnham Gallatin Gateway
Posted by admin at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)