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Guest Editorial: Stop Wasting Taxpayer Dollars on Legislative Fan Mail
Author: Bob Carter, State Representative Missoula

Stop Wasting Taxpayer Dollars on Legislative Fan Mail

Why do Montanans send legislators to Helena? It is to solve problems – it’s as simple as that.

It’s a simple concept that voters across the political spectrum likely agree on. We elect representatives to make state government work better for the people. We should not expect the Legislature to spend valuable time passing symbolic resolutions that accomplish absolutely nothing. Yet, every legislative session in Helena, we see taxpayer funds being spent on performative politics.

One cringe-worthy example from the 2025 legislative session is House Joint Resolution 7, a piece of legislation that perfectly illustrates the absurdity by some members of our legislature.

HJ7 is a house joint resolution congratulating Donald Trump on his inauguration as the 47th President of the United States. It expressed support from specific members of the legislature on his victory.

Whether you supported or opposed Donald Trump is irrelevant to the larger issue. Like it or not, he won the election. But should that warrant the time, energy, and financial resources of our entire state legislature to draft, debate, and pass a formal greeting card?

HJ7 did nothing to make life better for a single Montana family. It is, in every meaningful sense, a political statement masquerading as legislative business. Our constituents didn’t send us to Helena to write fan mail to the White House. They sent us to do the people’s business, and when legislators prioritize symbolic gestures over tangible results, we are failing our ethical and fiduciary duty to the people.

The true absurdity of HJ7 isn’t just that it was a colossal waste of time on the taxpayers’ dime – it gets better than that. The absurdity of HJ 7 was the bizarre, self-serving provision that was amended to the bill. The amendment specifically mandates that the official copy sent to the President, “must include a list of full first and last names and titles of all of the legislators who co-sponsored and voted yes on this resolution.”

Think about what this actually means. This isn’t about showing respect for another fair and free election. This was purely a vanity project. It was a mechanism designed to pat the participating lawmakers on their own backs, allowing them to claim they were part of the squad who broke out their pom-poms and officially cheered for the new administration in the hopes they would get a personally signed trading card in return.

When I asked the amendment sponsor if he sincerely thought the president was going to read this piece of fan mail, he told me that not only did he expect the president would read it, he expected that each person listed would get a personal reply.

We’ve all seen the frustration when politicians use their office to promote their own egos rather than serve the public. When members of the legislature use state resources to generate a roll call of political cheerleaders, it turns the serious business of governance into a reality show.

Every committee meeting, staff review, legal analysis, floor debate, printed document, recorded vote and court challenge uses taxpayer-funded resources. Citizens deserve to expect those resources will be devoted to solving problems and not generating self-serving political applause.

If legislators wish to congratulate a president, a sports team, hometown hero, or anyone else, they have every right to do so as private citizens or even as a member of their political party. They can issue press releases, post on social media, hold press conferences, or try this - send them a handwritten note.

Taxpayers should not be asked to subsidize political messaging disguised as governing.

This is also an opportunity to recognize the fiscally responsible legislators who voted against HJ7. Although this legislation was passed by a majority in the GOP party, seven republican lawmakers broke with their caucus and voted against it. Regardless of their reasons, I expect they recognized that the Legislature's limited time is better spent legislating than engaging in symbolic politics with no tangible outcome. They deserve credit for putting the institution ahead of partisan theater.

Our Legislature meets for only a limited time every two years. Every hour spent on symbolic, self-serving resolutions is an hour not spent addressing the many other challenges facing our state.

Montanans deserve legislators who measure success by results, not by offering a high five to the president with the hopes of getting a souvenir in return. Let your legislators know what you expect from their time and with your money. If a piece of legislation doesn’t do something to improve the lives of Montanans, then it probably doesn't belong on the legislative agenda.

Bob Carter

State Representative Missoula